A LOOK BACK AT A DUMB, IRREVERENT SUPER HERO FILM THAT REMAINS MY FAVORITE.
Man, 1999 was such a vibrant year for film. You had movies like Being John Malkovich, The Matrix, 10 Things I Hate About You, Office Space, American Pie Fight Club, The Mummy, and even Kubrick’s last film Eyes Wide Shut. A veritable cinematic feast, if you will. I can’t think of another time period that such an impact on my taste, humor, and sensibilities.
Which brings us to this super weird, super dumb, and just plain super comic book film. I love Mystery Men for it’s irreverent attitude, and it’s ability to plumb the depths of dorkiness for a laugh. As a huge awkward dork in the 90s, this spoke to me on an almost spiritual level. It let me know that it was okay to memorize dumb movie quotes and to appreciate the weird world around me.
With its big visual references to Schumacher’s Batman films, and extremely of-the-times selection of music, Mystery Men to me stands as a flashpoint to the genre and its ability to be both fun and funny, and the above trailer stands as a nice vertical slice of the super hero pie.
Before I leave, I’d like to leave you with a bonus embed of one of my favorite scenes in this film (and there are many):
Writer/Creator/Web Guy for After the Hype. Created an animated fantasy webseries called Flagon. GM for Demon Dayz: An Actual Play Podcast, which you can conveniently find here on athpod.com