Main      Site Guide    
At-A-Glance Film Reviews

Mystery Men (1999)

Rating

[2.5]

Reviews and Comments

I wanted to like this. I really did. So much did I want to like it that I was prepared to go a long way to forgive its shortcomings. I did forgive it on several counts, but ultimately I have to give it an affectionate, marginally negative review. A lot of it is funny, and I certainly like the idea: misfit superheroes with dubious powers do battle to save the world and its greatest superhero Captain Amazing (love that name) from the clutches of his arch-nemesis Casanova Frankenstein (love that name even more).

If only it were a little more funny...or less crude, which it certainly is in too many places -- but alas, it is what it is. So there are a lot of big laughs (big laughs if you're in the right silly frame of mind, that is, which I was and like to be in), but a lot of failed scenes, too. And there's still room for dry stretches that would have benefited from a bit more punch. It's too bad all there is to like in this movie didn't add up to a better whole.

Links