(projector whirring)
- [Speaker] I want you to hit me as hard as you can.
- [Narrator] In today's world, it's not uncommon
for movie theaters to have the majority of their screens
dedicated to the latest comic book film.
Their lobbies displaying posters and cardboard standies
for the onslaught of comic book movies yet to come.
Back in the year 1999 however,
there was but one film based on an existing comic book
that saw a theatrical release,
and the film's entire worldwide gross
would be less than the latest Spider-Man movie
would make in half of a day during its opening week.
So how is it that a film meant to parody a genre
that had been seeing diminishing returns
turn into a parody in and of itself?
Sit back, grab a fork, or a shovel,
as we discuss just what the (beep) happened to this movie.
Mystery Men was first unleashed onto the world in 1987
in the pages of the Dark Horse Flaming Carrot Comics,
created by Bob Burton.
About a decade later in 1997,
Dark Horse publisher, Mike Richardson,
would pitch the Mystery Men concept
to producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin
at Universal Studios, who immediately
took to the relatability of these not-so-superheroes.
That would bring on writer Neil Cuthbert,
who at the time had only two
produced scripts under his belt:
89's The Return of Swamp Thing
and the far more successful Halloween classic,
Hocus Pocus from 1993.
After Cuthbert signed on, the producers found
some pretty big names for the job of director.
First up was Danny DeVito,
who was fully on board to direct the film,
as well as star as the Shoveler.
But DeVito and the producers couldn't quite agree
on who would produce the film soundtrack.
Something DeVito felt quite strongly enough about
to walk away from the film and his $13 million payday.
Producers then went to Ben Stiller to direct.
Stiller had not taken on a directing gig
since the box office disaster of his previous film,
the Cable Guy, and ultimately turned down the opportunity,
citing that the size and scope of the film was just too big.
With two strikes, producers turned
to award-winning commercial director Kinka Usher,
who had made a name for himself
with the Taco Bell chihuahua ads,
as well as the "Got milk?" ad campaign.
Usher said that at that point in time,
he had been fielding many offers to direct studio films
but turned down most of them because he felt
that when commercial directors transitioned to film,
the movies they offered were generally
heavy on visuals but light on plot.
- [Speaker] Thanks for watching Joe Blow videos.
If you enjoy our shows, please like and subscribe
and click the bell to be notified when new videos go live.
Now back to the show.
- [Narrator] Wilshire admitted that when he
first read the script for Mystery Men,
he found it boring, but found the concept intriguing
and the characters quite interesting.
Janeane Garofalo would be one of the first
to be approached the star in the film.
However, she originally turned down the offer
only to quickly return,
after William H. Macy and Jeffrey Rush were cast.
Garofalo claimed she returned because those were two actors
she had really wanted to work with.
With Garofalo on board, she would help
convince her longtime friend Ben Stiller
to return to the project.
This time, only as an actor.
Stiller had a gap in his schedule
after departing the still-in-development Monkey Bone
and decided to meet with the director
to discuss a role in the film.
At that time, the role in question
was meant to be the Blue Raja character,
which Stiller declined, saying he didn't want to be typecast
as playing the nerdy guy, after doing it so successfully
in the just-released, mega hit
There's Something About Mary.
However, he was intrigued by the character
of Mr. Furious, who in the original script,
was meant to be angry all the time.
Stiller thought simply playing rage
the entire time might be boring.
So he changed it up to where Mr. Furious
simply has the least super power of any of the characters,
comparing him to a guy who starts a band
but can't play a single instrument.
Although the film is an adaptation
of an already established comic book,
only three of the comic's original characters
made the leap to the screen.
Stiller's Mr. Furious, Macy's the Shoveler,
and Paul Reubens' Spleen.
Despite the film being adapted
from the Flaming Carrot Comics,
studio heads felt that the character
was a bit too bizarre to bring to the screen.
So the character of Captain Amazing
was created in his place.
With the cast and crew officially set,
filming began on October 21st, 1998.
It became quickly apparent, however,
that the director was in way over his head.
Coming from the world of commercials,
he wasn't prepared to deal with massive budgets,
deadlines, and more importantly, egos.
The script is constantly being rewritten
and the cast didn't really get along,
with each performer fighting to get the laugh in each scene
and no one ever really agreeing
on a true comedic tone for the movie.
It got so bad that one day, Ben Stiller and Greg Kinnear
got into a heated argument on set,
resulting in Stiller asking producers
to be completely released from the film.
It was then apparent that Kinka Usher
had lost control of his set.
He was tasked with creating a movie
that could parody the recent trend
of splashy superhero films, such as The Neon Soak,
Joel Schumacher directed Batman films.
Of course, he wouldn't have to go very far
to get that aesthetic, as many of the sets on the film
were the exact same ones used in Batman Forever.
With everything in disarray behind the scenes,
it's a surprise that anything worthwhile was approved.
In fact, some of the best moments in the film
were simply happy accidents, such as the time
Paul Reubens was mid-scene and someone accidentally
threw a lighter in a nearby trashcan,
causing a minor explosion
directly behind the flatulent Spleen.
Reubens, being the genius performer that he is,
quickly ad-libbed the, "Excuse me,"
and the scene made the final cut.
The film would be littered with cameos
such as comedian Dane Cook, Guillermo Del Toro,
Doug Jones, and most random of all,
director Michael Bay,
playing one of the frat guys at Casanova's party.
After a lengthy and laborious six months,
the shoot would finally wrap up in April of 1999.
When it came time to edit the film,
it became fairly obvious that the disjointed shoot
yielded an abundance of footage
with no discernible focus, whether it was
the different tones each actor took with their character,
or little things like actor-musician Tom Waits
using his hands as a way to remember his lines
by actually writing the words on them,
using a very strange character trait
of talking with his hands.
But as with all films, while putting it together,
certain elements had to go.
And for actor Louise Guzman, it meant his entire role
as a Mexican restaurant owner got 86ed.
Another casualty of the edit was Claire Forlani,
who originally had a much bigger role in the film
as Mr. Furious's love interest.
The film would go into reshoots
after the first test audience did not respond
to the film's original ending.
So the director went back and made
what he dubbed the "big cheer ending."
Originally set for release on July 30th, 1999,
the studio decided to hold off a week
to avoid opening against the Blair Witch Project,
which had gained massive buzz
after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.
Even though August 6th, 1999
had already had a number of films slated for wide release,
Universal felt Mystery Men could hold its own
against the competition, and why not?
Surely a comic book movie with a recognizable ensemble cast
could slag a remake of a 30 year old film
and a little ghost movie from a director
whose only previous credit was
a Rosie O'Donnell film, right?
Yet, when weekend box office results arrived on August 8th,
Mystery Men couldn't even crack the top five,
finishing in sixth with just $10 million.
The film finished behind the remake
of the Thomas Crown Affair,
and the soon-to-be cultural phenomenon
known as the Sixth Sense,
as well as holdover's Blair Witch Project,
Runaway Bride, and Deep Blue Sea.
Critics weren't much help either,
saying the film had an intriguing premise
and an excellent cast,
and that certain bits were quite funny,
but they felt that the film's sluggish runtime
of just over two hours meant that the jokes that landed
were too few and far between,
resulting in a bit of a jumbled mess.
Those reviews, combined with a C+ cinema score
and the fact that 1999 would see
new hit films released nearly every week,
meant that Mystery Men had no chance to bounce back.
Each week, the film lost nearly 50% of its box office
until it petered out with an abysmal $33.4 million gross
off of a $68 million budget.
That quarter, Universal Studio's parent company Seagram
had to post a $38 million quarterly loss,
blamed primarily on the failure of Mystery Men.
Garofalo has said that the shoot had very long hours
where very little was accomplished,
and that it was a great script
made into a fairly mediocre movie.
She claimed that when she saw it, she had no idea
what it was they were trying to to do with the film.
But whatever it was, it wasn't accomplished.
Hank Azaria recalls that director, Kinko Usher,
told him while they were filming
that he had absolutely hated every second of the process,
and when it was done, he was going back to commercials,
saying he would much rather make cool one-minute shorts
than have to deal with all the nonsense
that comes with a feature.
True to his word, the director
has not made a single film since then.
Returning to the world of commercials,
including the successful screaming one for Bridgestone Tires
that aired during the 2011 Super Bowl.
But it wasn't all horrible.
♪ Somebody once told me ♪
- The film soundtrack featured a song
that nearly a quarter of a century later
is still stuck in all of our collective heads.
Smash Mouth's "All-Star" became the true hit of the film,
climbing the charts, and ultimately reaching number four
on the Billboard Hot 100.
The video, directed by Charlie's Angel helmer, McG,
featuring the cast of the movie would be a staple on MTV
and has amassed over 220 million views on YouTube.
Even with a negative box office performance
and critic takes, something has happened
over the last 23 years.
Mystery Men has garnered that ever-important cult status,
with many calling the film "ahead of its time."
Countless articles have popped up over the years,
hailing it as a misunderstood masterpiece
that was perhaps released 10 to 20 years too early.
When you look at some of today's forays into the genre,
such as the Amazon original, The Boys,
it's hard not to see the influence of Mystery Men in them.
And now with the massive rise
in superhero films at the box office,
the world may need a band of misfits to come along again
and skewer the sometimes self-serious genre.
When asked in a recent interview about a potential sequel,
Ben Stiller said he would be down to return,
saying quote, "I'm all for it.
I had fun doing it.
Yeah, it would be a blast.
It was a really, really fun cast.
And there's still some rage and fury
inside me somewhere, I think."
So perhaps someday soon, the forks will be flung,
the shovel will be wielded, the fury will be unleashed,
and the farts will be lethal.
We may see these Mystery Men reassemble
when the world truly needs them the most.
(exciting music)