Mystery Men (1999)

It's years since I've seen Mystery Men, one of the first DVDs I ever bought and re-watched, and Andrew hadn't seen it, mostly because he doesn't like Ben Stiller. I made him watch Zoolander, thinking it's one of Stiller's better movies (I'm not a massive fan) but it turned out he didn't like that either. Thankfully, it turned out that Mystery Men was a hit - maybe this was because, made in 1999, Ben Stiller wasn't a big a-list star then. 

Rather than a Stiller vehicle, Mystery Men features a top-notch ensemble of indie comic actors, such as Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush, and an early movie role for Eddie Izzard. The Mystery Men are a rag-bag collection of wannabe superheroes, whose special skills include throwing forks, fighting with a shovel, and going invisible - but only when no one is looking. With this cast and this premise, the film rarely fails to raise a chuckle at the very least. The look of Champion City, where Captain Amazing keeps the piece, and the Shoveller, Mr. Furious and the Blue Rajah just get in the way, is reminiscent of Batman Forever or Batman & Robin, all futuristic and dark, but with day glo edges. 

The stand-out of the movie is Rush's Casanova Frankenstein, who other than being expertly-monikered, has a killer way with a pointy finger nail and for reasons which are never explained, just loves disco. His mansion is a feast for the eyes, with rooms to suit any disco-dancing occasion. Lena Olin, his sidekick, is woefully underused, and Mr Furious' (Stiller) romance with non-hero Claire Forlani never really goes anywhere, but the plot, the look and the wry humour adds up to a very funny movie, that I still appreciate, and can't believe how many times I've seen it! It also has a wicked soundtrack. I've just looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently it didn't do great business in the States and was considered a flop - I bet if it was released today, when every other blockbuster is a superhero movie, it would be massive.