Do you wanna sit here and play Susie homemaker with Captain Conundrum, or do you wanna be superheroes?!
I just found one of my favorite guilty pleasures on Netflix. Looks like tonight the lone wolf rides… alone.
Talk about some obscure comic book pulp! We’re not your classic heroes. We’re the other guys. One of the most overlooked superhero movies of 1999, Mystery Men was comic silver.
No, it wasn’t gold. It had it’s awkward moments. Yet, it gave us such memorable characters as The Shoveler, The Spleen, and Casanova Frankenstein. With a cast of brilliant comic talent like William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Hank Azaria, Paul Ruebens, Eddie Izzard and Geoffrey Rush, and some damn fine writing, it had everything befitting a great comedy movie. First time (and only time) director by Kinka Usher handled the visuals well. Even Greg Kinnear, not known for comedy of this type, made an amazing Captain… Amazing…
It was loosely based on Dark Horse’s Flaming Carrot… wait, really? Disco is NOT dead!
It did poorly in the theaters, making only $33,000,000 against a budget of $68,000,000.
Shades of superhero movies to come are found in this, as well as homages to those that came before it. The whole thing is timeless, and it’s renaissance is overdue!
Now go! Watch it! I say, what the fork! Let’s do it! And quote away! Cosplay some GREAT obscure superheroes at your next convention! You will be sure to get the looks!
OK, now I’m going back to graduate school. That was the agreement.