Mystery Men

The only mystery in Mystery Men is trying to figure out which Hollywood executive thought the script was funny enough to give it a "go" to produce.

It’s a real mystery when a film assembles some of Hollywood’s brightest performers- Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, and Janeane Garofalo among them- and saddles them with a totally outlandish storyline that is as funny as a case of advanced gum disease.

Mystery Men starts out as a satire about comic book superheroes. Taking place in futuristic-looking Champion City, action figure Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), who dresses like a NASCAR driver, is kidnapped by his nemesis, Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush).

To his rescue comes the Mystery Men, kind of the B-team of action figures. Included are Mr. Furious (Stiller), the Shoveler (Macy), and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria), who looks like a turban-wearing attendant from a Turkish bath.

They reinforce their ranks with the Bowler (Garofalo), who lugs a bowling bowl containing her father’s skull (?!) and Spleen, played by none other than Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman. Spleen’s weapon is his laser-guided flatulence. I’d rather have seen him do his Pee Wee shtick again. Anything would help.

Granted that I saw this stinkbomb with about 20 patrons. Two young kids and their mom laughed all the way through at the film’s silliness and sight gags. Several people got up and left. The rest of us sat there mesmerized by the absurdity of it all.

One of my favorite stories came from the late Jackie Gleason. In an interview he told about a 1950’s TV show he made called "You’re in the Picture." After only one week, the show bombed. Gleason showed up the next week and apologized to the audience.

In the spirit of the Great One, I watched the end credits of Mystery Men hoping that William H. Macy would appear to apologize to the audience in his typical droll delivery. No such luck.