Mystery Men movie is what MCU "comedy" movies trying to be.... but failed. The reason the Mystery Men flopped back in the day could be that it was ahead of it's time.
Love this movie. In fact I used to work at a convention and we had gotten the OK to air the movie. I can't tell you how many people we had in an hour and half walk up to viewings and go "OH Mystery Men! Are you showing it later? Dang it I'm in the middle of (event here) right now."
I hadn't seen this film until a couple of years ago and couldn't believe I had missed out on it for so long. It's so wonderfully weird and charming and you covered it fantastically here. Thank you so much for discussing it and hopefully for bringing it to others' attenion who haven't yet seen this gem. I'd also like to give a shout out to my favourite composer, Shirley Walker, who wrote awesome additional music for the film.
That's interesting, I was wondering how this movie would be received by modern audiences who have no nostalgia for it. I think it holds up well but I have also loved it for decades so I'm not objective I think this movie was ahead of its time. That's one of its two main issues. The other is it was made at a time when superhero movies weren't being taken seriously. It looks more like Steel or Batman And Robin than an MCU movie and that's always been hard to make work financially But fortunately we're now in an era where the ridiculous/goofy side of superheroes is being embraced again and with most of the cast becoming far more bankable names now I think it would be a great time for a sequel. It would probably go straight to streaming but you don't need a huge budget to make this work. The cast is probably the biggest expense
Oh no it most certainly is not. I love this movie and absolutely remember how good it was. In fact, in this era of superhero movies and legacy sequels I think we should get a Mystery Men sequel. With a cast like this it would be a shame if we couldn't see them again
We all do, kind of crazy this was the director Kinka Usher's only feature-length credit. He was mostly known for doing commercials, and the higher-ups at Universal hired him for this picture because of his visual style.
100% well said. Mystery Men has always been my favorite movie because of all the charm and character you highlighted here ❤️ Also the puns. Such great gags in this movie.
My mom and I have a hard time not quoting this movie to eachother even after all these years. Any time something confusing happens in a movie, one of us will mutter “and why am I wearing the watermelon on my feet?”
One of my favorite movies, watched it to death as a kid (literally, one of the VHS tapes I watched til it wore out) and I will go to bat for it any day. When I think of All Star, I think of this movie. When I think of superhero movies, I think of this movie (and The Incredibles 😂) thank you for this review!
At last, someone actually gets this movie. I hate it when I cough up a lung watching this hilarious masterpiece and an "expert" tells me why I shouldn't.
I have never seen nor heard of Mystery Men before, but watching your review convinces me to add it to my watch-list. Plus the aesthetics used are really eye-catching for real.
This was a fantastic film. At first you think, “what the hell have I just watched” then after a few days you go back to it, and the more you watch it, the more you get it. Was it ahead of its time, it is timeless.
It's weird how, despite it being a flop when it first came out, I remember nearly every actor for their role in this film than any other role they portrayed. When I thnk of Ben Stiller, I immediately think Mr. Furious. When I think Janeane Garofalo, I think the The Bowler (I used to have a huge crush on her back then). When I think William H. Macy, I think The Shoveler (although is character in Fargo comes close). Hank Azaria will always be remembered as The Blue Raja, Ke Mitchel will always be remembered as The Invisible Boy, Wes Studi as The Sphinx. It seems like these are the actors' most iconic roles (at least to me). The only exception is Paul Reubens, who will of course be more remembered as Peewee Herman than anything else, but had he not played Peewee, I bet Spleen would indeed be his most iconic role.
I thought it was great the first time I watched it. My older brother recommended it. I rented it and did something I've never done before. I watched it three times in a row!
Mystery Men has so many wonderful characters, awesome music, and so many wonderful moments and memorable quotes! To "I can't feel my ass," "pull my finger," "why don't you tell me", "crazy chicken world," "maybe you should put your clothes on if you want to keep fighting evil!" I just simply love the movie! 🤣🤣😍😍
Brilliant analysis. Just got the 4K UHD and this film is just gorgeous. One of my favorite movies since release. I appreciate all the thought and effort in this review.
Ah yes, Mystery Men. The movie where Hank Azaria had a British accent and Suzy Eddie Izzard had an American accent. Damn the 90s were wild. Even the DELETED SCENES in Mystery Men have more laughs than most scenes in most modern-day comedies: ua-cam.com/video/5rGyE5CpZwU/v-deo.html Incidentally, though Neil Cuthbert is the only credited screenwriter, I've heard that most of the REALLY good stuff in this movie comes from an uncredited rewrite by Brent Forrester, who's also written for The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show, King of the Hill, The Office, Undeclared, and some of the most famous classic Simpsons episodes, including the masterpiece "Lemon of Troy."
I'd like to see a reboot of this movie, maybe as a TV series. I could see people tuning in every week to catch up on what this team of low level heroes are doing.
“One … weird … Sam Raimi finger-cam thing.” As much as I love this movie, you really did justice to it with an extremely insightful analysis of it. Well done! I’m subscribing now.
I remember this movie being good but your review is awful. You use a lot of glittering generalities and very few examples for what you are talking about.
Mystery Men movie is what MCU "comedy" movies trying to be.... but failed. The reason the Mystery Men flopped back in the day could be that it was ahead of it's time.
i remember this film. I thought it was pretty good and always fun to keep watching. I had no idea it actually flopped.
Love this movie. In fact I used to work at a convention and we had gotten the OK to air the movie. I can't tell you how many people we had in an hour and half walk up to viewings and go "OH Mystery Men! Are you showing it later? Dang it I'm in the middle of (event here) right now."
I hadn't seen this film until a couple of years ago and couldn't believe I had missed out on it for so long. It's so wonderfully weird and charming and you covered it fantastically here. Thank you so much for discussing it and hopefully for bringing it to others' attenion who haven't yet seen this gem.
I'd also like to give a shout out to my favourite composer, Shirley Walker, who wrote awesome additional music for the film.
That's interesting, I was wondering how this movie would be received by modern audiences who have no nostalgia for it. I think it holds up well but I have also loved it for decades so I'm not objective
I think this movie was ahead of its time. That's one of its two main issues. The other is it was made at a time when superhero movies weren't being taken seriously. It looks more like Steel or Batman And Robin than an MCU movie and that's always been hard to make work financially
But fortunately we're now in an era where the ridiculous/goofy side of superheroes is being embraced again and with most of the cast becoming far more bankable names now I think it would be a great time for a sequel. It would probably go straight to streaming but you don't need a huge budget to make this work. The cast is probably the biggest expense
Michael Bay is actually in this movie, playing one of the Frat Boys.
I can’t hear his name without seeing him in that damn sweater, asking if he can “bring the brewskies”.
That was him!?
@@joshuaperrin3910 yes it was!!!!
Oh no it most certainly is not. I love this movie and absolutely remember how good it was. In fact, in this era of superhero movies and legacy sequels I think we should get a Mystery Men sequel. With a cast like this it would be a shame if we couldn't see them again
This movie is awesome.
Better than I remember? How could it be better than perfect?
I love this underrated superhero comedic gem 😂💕🎥
We all do, kind of crazy this was the director Kinka Usher's only feature-length credit. He was mostly known for doing commercials, and the higher-ups at Universal hired him for this picture because of his visual style.
In the realm of “this was the guy’s first feature film” this is really high up there, I was so surprised to learn he’d only done commercials before
man I love this one, I remember seeing it in the theater on its opening weekend. then later the DVD had a metric ton of deleted scenes too.
Yes! The deleted bits of backstory for the heroes was super nice, though it makes sense why they got cut
Saw this in theaters and have always loved it. Glad to know it's loved by so many others AND by one of my favorite UA-camrs.
Mystery Men were the Boys before they had a graphic novel then adapted to live action series.
Yesss! I watched this VHS on loop as a kid!
Me too it just cracks me up so many small little jokes sprinkled all over the movie.. and they just constantly makes you smile every time you watch it
A borderline lurid take on modern superheroes with a warm, gooey, leftist center.
I think I can get with this!
100% well said. Mystery Men has always been my favorite movie because of all the charm and character you highlighted here ❤️
Also the puns. Such great gags in this movie.
My mom and I have a hard time not quoting this movie to eachother even after all these years. Any time something confusing happens in a movie, one of us will mutter “and why am I wearing the watermelon on my feet?”
One of my favorite movies, watched it to death as a kid (literally, one of the VHS tapes I watched til it wore out) and I will go to bat for it any day. When I think of All Star, I think of this movie. When I think of superhero movies, I think of this movie (and The Incredibles 😂) thank you for this review!
At last, someone actually gets this movie. I hate it when I cough up a lung watching this hilarious masterpiece and an "expert" tells me why I shouldn't.
Growing up with this movie was great! My brothers and I still randomly quote this movie.
I have never seen nor heard of Mystery Men before, but watching your review convinces me to add it to my watch-list. Plus the aesthetics used are really eye-catching for real.
It's really funny, I quote it all the time 😂
This was a fantastic film. At first you think, “what the hell have I just watched” then after a few days you go back to it, and the more you watch it, the more you get it. Was it ahead of its time, it is timeless.
It's weird how, despite it being a flop when it first came out, I remember nearly every actor for their role in this film than any other role they portrayed. When I thnk of Ben Stiller, I immediately think Mr. Furious. When I think Janeane Garofalo, I think the The Bowler (I used to have a huge crush on her back then). When I think William H. Macy, I think The Shoveler (although is character in Fargo comes close). Hank Azaria will always be remembered as The Blue Raja, Ke Mitchel will always be remembered as The Invisible Boy, Wes Studi as The Sphinx. It seems like these are the actors' most iconic roles (at least to me). The only exception is Paul Reubens, who will of course be more remembered as Peewee Herman than anything else, but had he not played Peewee, I bet Spleen would indeed be his most iconic role.
Who didn’t have a crush on Janeane. Yeah I agree. I think the movie hit on all cylinders.
One of my all-time favorites!!! 😃
I thought it was great the first time I watched it. My older brother recommended it. I rented it and did something I've never done before. I watched it three times in a row!
Mystery Men has so many wonderful characters, awesome music, and so many wonderful moments and memorable quotes! To "I can't feel my ass," "pull my finger," "why don't you tell me", "crazy chicken world," "maybe you should put your clothes on if you want to keep fighting evil!" I just simply love the movie! 🤣🤣😍😍
Brilliant analysis. Just got the 4K UHD and this film is just gorgeous. One of my favorite movies since release. I appreciate all the thought and effort in this review.
Ah yes, Mystery Men. The movie where Hank Azaria had a British accent and Suzy Eddie Izzard had an American accent. Damn the 90s were wild. Even the DELETED SCENES in Mystery Men have more laughs than most scenes in most modern-day comedies: ua-cam.com/video/5rGyE5CpZwU/v-deo.html
Incidentally, though Neil Cuthbert is the only credited screenwriter, I've heard that most of the REALLY good stuff in this movie comes from an uncredited rewrite by Brent Forrester, who's also written for The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show, King of the Hill, The Office, Undeclared, and some of the most famous classic Simpsons episodes, including the masterpiece "Lemon of Troy."
Obsessed with this movie as a kid! Thought it was way ahead of its time!
I'd like to see a reboot of this movie, maybe as a TV series. I could see people tuning in every week to catch up on what this team of low level heroes are doing.
A clut classic!👍👍
Love this video. Agree with your premise. These actors and roles they played was cool. This was 25 years ago.
THIS movie i love it so much, thank you for highlighting all the reasons why it's brilliant :')
thanks, needed something to watch :D
“One … weird … Sam Raimi finger-cam thing.”
As much as I love this movie, you really did justice to it with an extremely insightful analysis of it. Well done! I’m subscribing now.
Mr Amazing reminds me of Homelander
Homelander from The Boys is basically Captain Amazing but not as funny and a lot more psychotic.
Great analysis.
Beautiful pros man! Love your descriptive style.
What's sad is that if they had just made a few changes, it would have done way better.
Classic movie
Better than any MCU today.
What mystery men proves is that it is possible to be politically correct without being bland.
Love this movie, macy was epic 😂
My god, I forgot the Spooner 😂, also the invisible lad was so funny
clicked so fast
All others are #2 or lower.😆, I see what you did there. Great review
Have you seen the boys
I saw both seasons of the new The tick tv show it is not better than The Boys or Invincible
One of only two good superhero movies.
😎🙏💯
I remember this movie being good but your review is awful. You use a lot of glittering generalities and very few examples for what you are talking about.
If you are someone who understands my one word movie review below, then we, my beloved fellow hopeless dweeb, are now funny book family.
UT!