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Mystery Men| Director: | Kinka Usher | | Writer: | Neil Cuthbert | | Universal Pictures; 100 minutes; PG-13 | | Release: | 8/99 | | Cast: | Hank Azaria, Greg Kinnear, Paul Reubens, Janeane Garofalo |
Superhero spoof-flick Mystery Men is too bad for its own good. Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), in danger of losing ad contracts with Pepsi, decides to unleash an old nemesis to keep employed. He promptly gets captured. A band of marginally talented freaks (a fork-thrower, a magic bowling ball wielder, Pee-Wee Herman's “silent but deadly” gas leaks, et al.) decides to save the day. The premise is good, and the ensemble cast really gels into an offbeat, humorous whole as each character realizes his or her wacky capability against a preposterous backdrop. Yet Mystery Men manages to disappoint. The action sequences detract from the pop cultural kitsch, and one is left with the vague suspicion that TV commercial whiz-kid cum director Kinka Usher simply didn't try hard enough.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. More on Mystery Men from Infoplease:
- Mystery Men - Starring Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Paul Reubens, Claire Forlani
- Ben Stiller - Biography of Ben Stiller, Star of There's Something About Mary and Zoolander
- Geoffrey Rush - Biography of Geoffrey Rush, Star of the 1996 movie Shine
- Greg Kinnear - Biography of Greg Kinnear, Co-star of As Good As It Gets and Little Miss Sunshine
- Hank Azaria - Biography of Hank Azaria, The voice of Apu and Chief Wiggum on TV's The Simpsons
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