Mystery Men

Year: 1999

Actors: Doug Jones, Hank Azaria, Claire Forlani, Ben Stiller

Duration: 121 min

Wealthy benefactor Lance Hunt, in his alter-ego of superhero Captain Amazing, has largely cleaned up crime in Champion City. He's done such a good job that his financial bread and butter of commercial endorsements has been drying up as all the supervillains are out of commission. He gets his wish when one of the more infamous of the supervillains that he got incarcerated, Casanova Frankenstein, has been released back into the general public, giving him that public exposure once again to reap those commercial deals. Things don't go quite his way when Casanova Frankenstein is able to kidnap him. Friends Roy, Eddie and Jeff have always envied Captain Amazing as the three also have alter-egos as small "s" superheros, they in the minor leagues as their powers are niche and somewhat useless individually even if they could focus those questionable abilities properly: Roy as Mr. Furious (power of rage), Eddie as the Shoveler (power of using a shovel), and Jeff as the Blue Raja (power of throwing silverware, excluding knives). Their quest for superherodom has been at the expense of any sort of meaningful personal life. When they believe that Casanova Frankenstein is behind Captain Amazing's disappearance, they further believe they have to step up to the plate to save Captain Amazing and Champion City from whatever evil Casanova Frankenstein has in mind. Knowing they can't do it on their own, they initiate a recruitment of other minor superheros, all with equally or even more questionable powers and abilities. With those questionable powers, their admitted inexperience and self-doubts, more about their teammates, and infighting, the question becomes whether this expanded group can band together as a superteam to save the day.—Huggo

Genre: Action   Comedy   Fantasy   Sci-Fi