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Segue Zagnut examines MYSTERY MEN
Alright, you've already read Moriarty's look at MYSTERY MEN, and you want to see what Segue Zagnut felt about the film eh? Well gosh, sure go ahead. Remember though that this is an advance showing and tweakings will inevitably occur between now and the final release. And now.... Here'sssss Segue!
Head Geek
My name is Segue Zagnut. Tonight, I am not shy. Tonight, I saw Mystery Men. Tonight, I have a super powers to predict the
future. If this film is not one of the biggest films of the summer then I'm not.. ah..not.. ah.. then I'm not really blessed with super
powers. The movie was not perfect, but wow was it great. Very smart. Very sure.
Mystery Men takes place in the fictional Champion City, where real life super hero Captain Amazing has pretty much rid the
city of crime. Caped crusader frenzy for Captain Amazing means product sponsorships and wannabe costumed crime
fighters. Although it is never really clear if Amazing actually has super powers it IS clear the others don't. Of course that
doesn't stop them from fighting crime or at least trying. When Amazing is captured, by recently released from prison arch
nemesis Casanova Frankenstein, ours heroes decide it's up to them to save him... or at least the city... or at least try. This is
where the movie starts.
William Macy is The Shoveler he brings reality home. His character is made the most real, with a wife who barely tolerates his
nightly outings and kids who look up to him. Macy is a wonderful actor that never gets enough credit for what he brings to the
screen. He is the back bone of this movie. Ben Stiller is Mr. Furious and the movie is mostly seen through his eyes. The man
that proved stalking can be funny in Something about Mary, proves here that anger is cool. You get a chance to feel for him.
His real life is what I always figured a real super hero's life would be like... lonely, frustrated and just wants to be loved and
excepted. Paul Reubens is The Spleen and if any one actor stole the show, it was Reubens. Perfect and ridiculous, he filled in
some great moments. Jeneane Garafalo is The Bowler and for the first time in history the female super hero doesn't wear a
G-string. Not that I would have minded, but simple issues like that are part of what makes this smart. There is no reference or
sub plot about her being female, it is just accepted as obvious and irrelevant. She also gets one of the best lines in the film
during the climax and I'll bet she add lib it. Hank Azaria is The Blue Rajah and this is the role that could have broken the film.
If he had played this too over the top, it would have been silly. He's the closest character to a cartoon and it works because of
him. Kel Mitchell and Wes Studi both are solid and mostly well used. Greg Kinnear is Captain Amazing and his part is
ultimately pretty small. What perfect casting to have him be the good looking self congratulatory Pepsi sponsored superman.
Kinnear is right on target. In fact this is some of the most inspired casting ever. What a perfect ensemble to play these
characters. No one tried to steal the show and yet almost everyone did. I can't pick a favorite. Although I think many adults
will want to be Mr. Furious next Halloween... really.
Everyone is good, but what has to make a movie like this is the writing. I sadly don't know who wrote it, but they got it.
Unlike any of the Batman movies, this is about the good guys. This movie is about the Mystery Men not the Joker or the
Riddler. That's fine for a sequel but we have to know the main characters first. We know these people. We like them and
even though we laugh at them, we understand them. That is not to say we shouldn't know the bad guy also. I would have liked
to have understood Frankenstein a little more. We don't even know why that's his name. In fact, the bad guys are the week
point in this film. Most of the motivation is obvious, but some understanding of why, would have added depth. Half way
through the film, something goes wrong for Frankenstein and I for one was disappointed that he didn't seem to really care. This
would have been a perfect moment to get to know him and they dropped the ball.
The climax is a little too much of a summer movie big comic book action type solution. It here that the originality becomes a
little derivative. But frankly, I didn't care that much and the very end with the news crews is brilliant. Surprisingly, the end was
actually kind of touching. This film every bit deserves to be as big a hit as Men in Black and it hits the same audience. I love
it. My parents will like it. And kids will worship it. I just hope that McFarlane gets the action figure contract, because I will buy
everyone.
Now I've said too much. Consider This..
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+ Expand All
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HA I'm first. I think. Anyways I personally can't wait for this movie. It looks pretty kill...I hope they fix it up if the ending is a bit of a disappointment but I'll have to see.
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Just thought I'd double check on it.
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Wow, what a great cast. There are a lot of brilliant actors in this film that don't get the credit that they deserve (Macy, Stiller, Azaria), hopefully this will change that
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The character of The Shoveler sounds quite a bit (in personality)like that of The Human Bullet, from The Tick. The Human Bullet's wife just didn't understand when he would get his son to fire him across town, from a giant cannon in their back yard. I'll never forget his call phrase, "Fire me, Boy!"
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Just a quick plug here for the new Playing Mantis Mystery Men action figures. I think they're coming out with 6 figures at first (including Janeane as The Bowler!). For a look at some of them, go here http://209.197.117.27/databases/features.cgi?Q=fig.&SF=&L=5&C=actionfigures&T=2&P=40&S=2&A=1 . Playing Mantis should soon have some new pics up at www.playingmantis.com . Check out their Polar Lights site too for some very cool TV and movie based model kits at www.polarlights.com .
And, sadly, no, they didn't pay me to write this... -
I also was at the screening last night up at Universal and dutifully signed that I would not reveal any details of Mystery Men online and so I must take a moment to address the the studio, pollsters et al - TOUGH TITTY! There, I feel better. I agree pretty much with Moriarty and Zaguenut (sp.?) but would like to add a couple things. First off, not having read the script, it seemed that a lot of the best lines were of the ad libbed knocked off variety, and that the lion's share of them came from Ms. Garofalo, who is a joy every single moment she is on screen. Second, even though the movie was PERFECTLY cast, the overall direction - shot design, pacing, etc. was piss poor. This (apparently low budget) movie looked like a lot of student films I used to have to sit through on a regular basis. Lots of random use of fisheye lenses, bright colors randomly flung next to drab scenery, ugly wide outdoor shots with no design at all, et al. If you put this film against a well designed comedy a la Austin Powers (directed by Jay Roach) this one would not show at all well. But casting, as they say, can be 99% of directing, and here that can be said regarding the positive aspects of MM. Besides the GREAT Garofalo, Ben Stiller and Bill Macy were great, Kinnear was spot on perfect and should be in the movie more. I got tired of Hank Azaria's shtick. Louise Lasser is as frighteninng as in last year's Happiness. Maybe more. Wes Studi doing comedy - don't think I ever had the pleasure of seeing that before. He was quite good. Paul Reubens rocked the house. Tom Waits was sort of underused but got a nice hand from the crowd. The saddest thing was, Geoffrey Rush, who was so great doing broad comedy in Shakespeare in Love, here didn't really have anything interesting to deliver as Casanova Frankenstein. All the supervillians, all eight million of them, on The Tick were better developed for comedy. And there's one potential problem with this film ... A lot of this material has already been done brilliantly on The Tick. I agree that this mostly clever comedy turns its back on its satirical roots at the end when it decides it's just another crappy B action movie, and that was a tad on the disappointing side. I will see this again when it comes out, but I'll really be curious to see how much the audience takes to a smart-ass comedy with no romance, unless you count Stiller and the gorgeous-waittress-template Claire Forlani. When you see this film, you will say to yourself ... where was Andy Dick?
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There was a book signing at Barnes and Noble in Santa Monica this evening. I gave Stiller an old contract his mom(Anne Meara) had done for television in 1959. He flipped! Thought it was cool! An assistant there didn't want me to give it to him(REAL FAT PIG THAT LOOKED LIKE MONICA LEWINSKY! ARROGANT AND STUPID TOO!) She said, "Duh, who's Anne Meara?" Moron! Where do they get these people?! Told him I saw the "Mystery Men" and loved his performance. I said it was going to be a hit too. He was pretty overwhelmed. A cool guy. Barnes and Noble should not hire pigs. Thank you.
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I don't know who's involved in the screenplay, but I know the Mystery
Men were created by comics author Bob Burden, creator of the hilarious
Flaming Carrot comic, a superhero spoof along the same lines as (but
weirder than) the Tick. The location has been changed from Iron City, a
working class midwest metropolis nowhere as big or important as
"superhero meccas" NYC, Gotham or Metropolis. There was an issue of
Flaming Carrot (giant annual #1,1997) that had lots of info in the back
pages about the Mystery Men project, but I had no idea it was actually
being made. Flaming Carrot is published by Dark Horse Comics, publishers
of the Mask and others. Hope this helps....
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