Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
REWIND 009 - Mystery Men (1999)
47 Plays20 days ago
“We’re not your classic heroes. We’re the other guys.”
With Marvel’s team of ‘other guys’ entering the MCU in theaters across the country, we’re taking a look back at our August 2023 episode on this 1999 classic we recorded in memory of the late, great Paul Reubens. We’re talking about one of the best casts in any superhero movie ever and our endless and enduring love for this cult classic! (And, yes, Stephen DOES own this on 4K now in accordance with Scripture.)
Frakunow or frakulater, but make sure you check us out in the various points we exist around the Internet:
- @Disenfranchpod on Bluesky, Letterboxd, and YouTube.
- Email us your thoughts or requests to disenfranchpod@gmail.com
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky and Letterboxd.
- Check out Stephen’s first novel - Check In, Check Out - on Amazon, now available in paperback or ebook: https://amzn.to/44idk8y
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Letterboxd.
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram.
- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including bi-weekly episodes of What Are We Watching? at https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
- Watch our big screen debut in Circle City Supernatural from our buddy J.P. Leck! You can either buy it on BluRay through his website, buy/rent it through Amazon Prime, or watch it free with ads on Tubi!
Recommended
Transcript
Introducing The Disenfranchised Podcast
00:00:19
Speaker
A franchise right alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams. Welcome to the Disenfranchised Podcast, that podcast about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their faces after the first film.
00:00:38
Speaker
I'm one of your hosts, Tucker.
Re-airing of Mystery Men Episode
00:00:39
Speaker
The boys and I planned on doing a proper episode this week, but Stephen's really busy and Brett took a bit of a tumble, so we're re-airing our August 2023 episode on 1999 superhero comedy, Mystery Men.
00:00:51
Speaker
Please enjoy this blast from the past, and until next week, courage. Zeig gesund and welcome to the disenfranchised podcast. We're um the number one podcast about those franchises of ones and those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
Meet the Hosts: Stephen and Tucker
00:01:09
Speaker
All other podcasts on the topic are number two or lower. I am your host Stephen Foxworthy. God gave me a gift. I podcast well. I podcast very well. And joining me as always is my co-host who dresses in the manner of a male prostitute.
00:01:23
Speaker
It's Tucker. Hey Tucker. Rage subsiding. Hi, Steven.
00:01:31
Speaker
I mean, better rage subsiding than testicles rising, I guess, right? I guess. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, how's it going, man? It's going, man. I should mention that our good buddy Brett Wright, is he's easy's stormed off, and God knows we expect him to storm back anytime now.
00:01:46
Speaker
ah But we we wish him a speedy return when he does return. get Tucker, this has been an episode that I have been waiting for for so long.
00:01:58
Speaker
Same. For so long. This has been kind of one of those like put a pin in it because I really want to cover this one, but I don't want to like cover it right out of the gate because then we're going to run out of good shit to cover. And I want to know that I have this one in my back pocket. But yeah.
00:02:12
Speaker
It's time. Full disclosure, we had a guest prep for this episode, and it it fell through at the last minute. He wasn't feeling well. I'm actually recovering from something right now. You might be able to tell from my voice.
00:02:23
Speaker
And my throat's starting to hurt. So you'll probably be in this boat next week because... Maybe. About this time last week was when it started happening for me, too. so Shit, maybe. Yeah, maybe. hope not.
00:02:36
Speaker
ah But God, Tucker, I'm so excited to talk. This is a movie I've loved for so long. And for all the shit I get on this podcast, mostly from you and Brad about being ah ah a dorky film snob, dorky film snobs cannot love this movie as much as I love this movie. God, I love this movie so much. Tucker, what movie are we talking about today?
Diving into Mystery Men: A Genre Parody
00:02:56
Speaker
We are talking about 1999's Mystery Men. Mystery men from 1999, directed by the great Kinka Usher, written by Neil Cuthbert, based on the comics by Bob Burden, and starring... Flaming Carrothead comics. Yes, Flaming Carrot.
00:03:17
Speaker
um And starring... I've got to work myself up for this one. Yeah, it's a big list. Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Jeffrey Rush, Janine Garofalo, Cal Mitchell, Paul Rubens, the late...
00:03:31
Speaker
great Paul Rubens. We will do a whole sidebar on Paul Rubens. Don't worry about it. Greg Kinnear, Wes Studi, Claire Forlani, Susie Eddie Izzard, Tom Waits, Lena Olin, Artie Lang, Louise Lasser, Ricky Jay, Jennifer Lewis, Praz Michelle, Ned Bellamy, Joel McCrary, The Goody Mob, Corbin Blue, Phillip Bolden, Ricky Rockman, Michael Bay, Mark Mothersbaugh, Dane Cook,
00:04:00
Speaker
Doug Jones, Dana Gould, Monet Mazur. What a cast. Tucker, what a picture. I agree with both of those, but I'd like to amend your goodie mob ah section because it is worth noting that CeeLo Green is was and still is a part of the goodie mob.
00:04:21
Speaker
He is. Yes. i you that that's It's ah Cameron Gipp, ah Willie Knighton Jr., CeeLo Green, And Robert Barnett, ah known as Big Gip, Cujo, CeeLo, and Timo.
00:04:36
Speaker
And anybody who's not familiar with the Goody Mob, ah they came up in the 90s alongside Outkast and other groups from the Atlanta area. And they formed a super group, much like the Wu-Tang Clan, called the Dungeon Family.
00:04:54
Speaker
And I definitely recommend checking out the Dungeon Family's one and only record. I don't remember what it's called, but just like look up Dungeon Family on your your streaming service and listen to that one record, specifically the song Rollin'.
00:05:07
Speaker
And you're going to have a good time. Also, Outkast is rad. Goody Mob is rad. Like, all those guys in that collective are rad on their own. so Holy shit. This is... Well, there's first gen, and apparently there's second gen.
00:05:19
Speaker
ah But their one album is called Even in Darkness, and it came out in 2001. It's so good. The thing that's great about all of these groups... is is that they have such a unique sound, but they blend the same sorts of genres and they have the same kind of sensibilities. So to put them all together, it's it's fantastic.
00:05:40
Speaker
um There's a lot of... of Flow jams, old school funk kind of stuff mixed with like high concept hip hop. Atlanta was where it was at in the 90s. I'm a big West Coast guy when it comes to hip hop.
00:05:56
Speaker
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Warren G, shit like that, Ice Cube, WA. But Atlanta was hotbed in those days. Everything that came out of Atlanta in the mid to late 90s is pure gold.
00:06:10
Speaker
like Detroit in the 60s, man. Just kind of something about it. Yeah, dude. Dungeon Family is the Motown of Atlanta. Right on. Yeah, I looked over that that list of of performers and holy shit.
00:06:25
Speaker
That's like a ah veritable who's who. Like this movie is a veritable who's who of like alt-90s comedy. um The Dungeon Family is like a veritable who's who of 90s hip-hop and R&B. Like that's that's really impressive. That's an impressive assembly there. So Yeah, right on.
00:06:41
Speaker
Mystery Men. Tucker. God, this is the one, man. This is a... It's a big one. it's It's a big one for me. i God, we could go for hours on this movie, and I have a feeling we might.
00:06:54
Speaker
There's a very good possibility, even without a guest, even without our third host. We might go for a while on this one. We really might. Because God, I i really, really, really love this movie.
00:07:07
Speaker
And there's so much to love about it, I think. um And there's so much to say about it, too. yeah And not even like just stating our opinions, but there's so much backstory to this movie happening and the making of this film. Exactly. Exactly.
00:07:26
Speaker
it's a wonder that it's even worth watching, honestly, based on the production history of it. It should be a shitty movie. It should, should be shit. Yeah.
00:07:37
Speaker
And look, I would not call this a good movie, but I will call this a great movie because despite the fact that there are clear flaws in this movie that I could point out and show you like, look, this, this, this not good.
00:07:49
Speaker
Um, like inconsistent tone, um green director, like all this, all this shit that you could point to. Everyone here seems to be having a really fun time.
00:08:02
Speaker
They're working off of each other very well, despite doing like five different styles of comedy within the same film. And it is, it is such a well observed,
00:08:16
Speaker
parody of a genre that had yet to take off that it feels like it was a good 20 years ahead of its time honestly at least at least yeah yeah like this is this is this is the boys of the 90s mystery men walked so that deadpool and the boys could run absolutely they crawled so those motherfuckers could walk and skip mm-hmm Absolutely. Like, Mystery Men died for your sins. Absolutely. Boys and Deadpool. Like, is basically what happened. Because it in this movie, make no mistake, this movie died.
00:08:50
Speaker
And it, like Bruce Willis, it died hard. um But, God, it's so it's so... And I loved it from the moment I saw i saw this movie. I think it was in the early two thousand I think it would have been in high school. i think it was my buddy Jeff who introduced me to Josie and the Pussycats.
00:09:09
Speaker
And it was one of those similar situations where I was like, really trying you have to watch this movie. Like you have to see this. And I was like, okay. And we watched it and I was like, this is, this is, this is it. This is exactly my brand of humor.
00:09:26
Speaker
This is absolutely the kind of movie I want to watch. I love this so much and I've only grown to love it more over time. Absolutely. It's a movie that really holds up.
00:09:38
Speaker
um I think ah the older you get and the more you watch it, the more you can kind of see the cracks in it. But honestly, they're beautiful fucking cracks.
00:09:49
Speaker
They are. Like, I mean, the more I learn about this movie and the more I watch this film, which I probably watch it probably once a year, once every couple of years, whenever the mood strikes me, when i remember about it.
00:10:01
Speaker
Every time I watch it, it's I don't want to say a completely new experience, but I feel like I walk away differently than I did each time that I watched it. And it's always positive. It's always positive. And I actually call this.
00:10:13
Speaker
ahead. No, I was just I always have a good time. This is what was going to say. I always have a good time with it. I actually saw this at the movie theater in 1999. You succumbed to that ubiquitous advertising campaign for this movie.
00:10:28
Speaker
It was the cast. I was way into the main cast at the time. Ben Stiller. I was way into Ben Stiller because of ah like Cable Guy and the Ben Stiller show. ah i think Greg the Bunny.
00:10:40
Speaker
i think I'd seen a little bit of that. Reality Bites. I'd seen lot. Reality Bites, yeah, my sister was way into that movie because she's a couple of years older than me, so like that was right up her alley when it came out. um But yeah, Ben Stiller, those early years of Ben Stiller, he was kind of popping for a certain audience, and I was that audience.
00:10:59
Speaker
Janine Garofalo, I had a crush on from like the moment I saw her. Oh, so you were you were alive in the 90s, right, Han? I was alive in the 90s, and that's that's not to say that I only value her in an objective way.
00:11:14
Speaker
I think she's also a fantastic actress, and as far as I can tell, a fantastic human being. ah But back then, i just i just had the hots for her. I think it's because she was pretty, but also she she would tell you how it is, dude.
00:11:33
Speaker
She won't fuck around. Jean Garofalo does not fuck around. she's never She's never had a fuck to give. Never has she had one. She's never owned a fuck. That has been her entire persona, and I love her for it.
00:11:46
Speaker
Um, no, I, I love Janine Garofalo. Like, I don't remember my first exposure to Janine Garofalo, but I remember just being like, okay, like it, you know, the angry, the angry Jewish, the angry Jewish chick. Like, I love this. Like, this is, this is absolutely a mood as the kids say.
00:12:04
Speaker
Also William H Macy. i'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah. I also William H Macy. i was a big fan of from, ah obviously Fargo and, Boogie Nights.
00:12:15
Speaker
Well, yeah, Boogie Nights, but that was a movie he did. It came out around the same time as Magnolia. No, it's little bit less remembered than that. That's why I can't fucking remember it.
00:12:26
Speaker
ah Yeah, I'm going to go down that rabbit hole because I have to mention this film because I can't remember what it's called. When did it come out? It would have been around the same time. probably would have been after Fargo, but not much.
00:12:42
Speaker
after where is he was in psycho i remember he was arbogast in psycho but that movie i have a complicated relationship with it he was in pleasantville jerry and tom was a movie that i completely forgot about until this moment but it's not the one i was thinking of uh wow maybe i skipped timelines again because i don't see anything looks familiar
00:13:07
Speaker
Ghost of Mississippi. Yeah, he was Major Caldwell in Air Force One, apparently. Obviously, I just i just looked at that. but like ah Boogie Nights, Wag the Dog.
00:13:19
Speaker
Down Periscope. I i love him. and down And also, I think my first exposure to William h Macy was nineteen ninety five s Mr. Holland's Opus. Oh, yeah. you love You're the audience for that movie.
00:13:31
Speaker
ah well I well I was in 1995 my mom took me to the theater to see that movie ah yeah that that that tracks it seems like that would definitely happen I don't know what the fuck movie I'm thinking of I don't either man I guess but I mean I know you're probably a big fan of Tall Tale haven't seen that motherfucker in a long time so i don't remember him being in it no actually I do remember him being in Benny and June I've never seen Benny and June should I see Benny and June oh
00:14:01
Speaker
uh i don't know if it holds up i'm not sure it's it's a specific kind of movie that worked at a specific time and i'm not sure if the sensibilities i mean i'm reading the uh i'm i'm reading the uh the the synopsis here the little so the blurb on imdb and i'm thinking maybe not I don't know.
00:14:24
Speaker
It's a mentally ill young woman
Benny & Joon and Soundtrack Critique
00:14:26
Speaker
finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton. This is where I found Buster Keaton was Benny and June.
00:14:35
Speaker
Seeing Benny and June is what for like introduced me to Buster Keaton. So it definitely gets credit for that. And I do really love this movie. And it's, I feel like it's kind of a 50, 50 is either going to work better now or it's going to fall flat.
00:14:53
Speaker
Hey, listeners, let us know ah how well does Benny and June hold up? Disinfranchepod at gmail.com. Should Stephen watch Benny and June? That's the question for this for this week. The whole deal is that Mary Stewart Masterson, I don't know if I'd call her mentally ill. I would i would say she's probably on the spectrum.
00:15:11
Speaker
They didn't have that word back then, but she was definitely autistic. Right. And Johnny Depp. was probably a little lower. His character was a little lower level. Maybe he was like, like Asperger's level, you know, he was definitely on the spectrum too.
00:15:28
Speaker
So I don't think this, this description is very good because I feel like if you're going to call her mentally ill, ah then you gotta, he's not just a center either. This dude is out there, man. He's at least, and I don't mean that in a bad way to anyone who's on the spectrum, but he's, it's, it's definitely obvious that he's somewhere.
00:15:48
Speaker
on there he's a little more high functioning than she is in in the regard of being able to you know live like take care of themselves uh but i'd i don't know if i agree with that that description and i think you should see it okay I don't know if you're looking at the cast but I took a glance yeah took a it's directed by the guy who did um Christmas Vacation yeah you love that guy the sure do god Jeremiah S. Chechik one of my favorite filmmakers of all time always talking about that guy i can't get you to shut up about that dude try and stop me
00:16:34
Speaker
Stop talking about that, dude, for real. No, I think that you should watch it. I think that we should both watch it and do a disenfranchised at the movies Patreon special.
00:16:45
Speaker
ah Steven and Tucker and Brett, if he's into it, watch Benny and June. You know what we should do? We should just do a commentary track on Benny and June. And you should do like all the research on like the movie and stuff. And then Brett and I watch it for the first time. And you can you hear us react live. Assuming Brett hasn't seen it. Maybe he has. I don't know.
00:17:05
Speaker
You know, the only thing that has survived from that movie is the Johnny Depp's career somehow. No, the 500 Miles song, dude. That was oh this from the Proclaimers.
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah, dude. That was speaking of this soundtrack. Speaking of songs, speaking of songs written specifically for soundtracks that no one remembers were written for that soundtrack specifically.
00:17:26
Speaker
This is the movie, not Shrek. This is the movie that gave us Smash Mouth's all star. And it's the only thing I will ever say negative about this film. It's the only thing I can never forgive this film for because Smash Mouth is music for people who hate music and possibly maybe even hate themselves.
00:17:48
Speaker
I don't know. It's just such garbage. I can't imagine any self-respecting person enjoying any moment of Smash Mouth. With an opinion like that, Tucker, you might as well be walking on the sun. That's all I got to say.
00:17:59
Speaker
You son of a bitch. mr
00:18:03
Speaker
um No, and the music video, like the the cast of this movie is all over the music video. And do you know who directed the music video, Tucker? Was it the Kinka person? It was not Kinka Usher. It was a director who went on to make many more films than Kinka Usher. This is Kinka Usher's only film.
00:18:21
Speaker
So we have now covered the entire filmography of Kinka Usher. No, it is a little filmmaker called Mick G. Mick G. I really like those Charlie's Angels movies.
00:18:33
Speaker
And I really like Supernatural and like, not for nothing, hot take, but I thought Terminator Salvation was kind of the shit if you detach from the rest of the series. We're going to cover it on this podcast one day. i have that. I bought that Blu-ray because I like that movie so much.
00:18:46
Speaker
Right. Oh, so you're the one. okay Not as part of the series, but as its own thing. Well, they were trying to make it its own. It was basically going to be like a prequel spinoff and launch its own trilogy.
00:18:57
Speaker
Please, I wish they would have because I loved that And then that lighting guy dropped the light and or walked through the back of Christian Bale's shot in the middle of a take and someone recorded his response and that movie did not survive.
00:19:10
Speaker
Look, look, Christian Bale needed a Snickers, man. That's all, man. That's all.
00:19:17
Speaker
You're not you when you're hungry, Christian Bale. And, you know, sometimes, especially on movies like that that are effects heavy and you're on location and stuff, you know, I'm not making excuses for the guy because he was an outright prick.
00:19:29
Speaker
Oh, no. He was an outright prick. I'm just saying, like, we've all kind of been there. Well, and apparently the guy he's yelling at, like, that was something that he just did. Like, he just, the like, no regard for the performances and the performers, like, just would. And as a performer, I'm like, dude, like, you gotta give a little and take a little. And if if something's not right in the middle of the shot, you wait till the end of the take and then you fix it.
00:19:54
Speaker
You don't you know walk through the middle of a fucking take to go change a light because, oh, they can shoot it again, like particularly when it's something incredibly emotional. like that i I get Bale's frustration.
00:20:04
Speaker
I'm not saying what he did was right. I'm also not saying I would have reacted any differently, but like, oof. I mean, on on the spectrum of terrible things that ah actors could do,
00:20:19
Speaker
Like, you know, he's not sexually assaulting anyone. so Could do slash have done. Yeah, big win. Big win. Right. it's It's just a drop at the pool. It's not that, like... Like, yeah, remember when, like, that was enough to spark a controversy? Now it's... yeah Now there are actual controversies that get buried somehow. Like, oh, God. I hate it here.
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah. And with that, let's do the plot in 16th. see boom but but but boom No, Mystery Men. No, I love Mystery Men. Let's do a little background on the property itself before we launch in.
Indie Comics Influence on 90s Cinema
00:20:53
Speaker
and So Mystery Men, as as you mentioned earlier, created by Burden as background characters in ah Flaming Carrot Comics, published by Dark Horse Comics.
00:21:03
Speaker
Flaming Carrot was itself a parody of... Published lot of different comics companies, honestly. that that At the time, it was Dark Horse, but yeah. Yeah. At the time, it was Dark Horse, which honestly, Dark Horse had a pretty good track record at the movies at this point.
00:21:20
Speaker
Well, they don't spawn at that point. No, that was Image. Sorry. That's Image. Yeah. um But you've got... No, the two that they had... Men in Black... In 97, but before that, it was The Mask in 94. Oh, yeah. I have those trade paperbacks, the the three that are good.
00:21:38
Speaker
yeah But like those were both based on Dark Horse comic, and... So I gave in a very early episode, i think it was episode five of this podcast. was like our Constantine episode.
00:21:50
Speaker
I did like a run through of like the history of comic book movies up to like in and around the late 90s, early 2000s and kind of did like a breakdown of what comic book movies were like. And so 1999 The Like there is this three year period between 1997 and 2000 where comic book movies exist in this kind of nebulous wasteland between Batman forever and he who must not be named X-Men.
00:22:19
Speaker
ah George, Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin, and he must not be named X-Men. um I would, I would say Blade kind of started it. No, there are two. There are two movies in that wasteland.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah. There are two movies in that wasteland and it's Blade and it's this pretty much. and Blade hits really well, becomes its own franchise.
00:22:41
Speaker
This one dies on the vine.
Comic Book Movies: Decline and Resurgence
00:22:44
Speaker
And I think a big part of the reason why it does is that it is... Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Okay. Because I do want to go back. Like, in the 80s, two things happened that pretty much make comic book movies a hot Hollywood commodity.
00:22:59
Speaker
One, 1987, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. And just the rampant, outright popularity of that property, those action figures, that merchandise, that cartoon, those films. Like, it was it was everywhere.
00:23:17
Speaker
jk continue sure well i think we talked about this last week tucker um one and a half there's one and a half second one's okay uh and we talked about one even even later than that last week um i have no recollection convenient um but the um but then in 1989 you get burton's batman
00:23:40
Speaker
So the late 80s are kind of this weird time for comic book movies. um The lesson that Hollywood learns from the Ninja Turtles weirdly is let's adapt indie comics.
00:23:52
Speaker
Specifically. So you get things like the tick turning into a TV show, things like the mask getting the crow, like all the shit getting rushed out into production. Like that is the result of that. It's indie comics.
00:24:07
Speaker
And a lot of those have become classics since then. They have be fair, but still continue. No, ah you're and you're absolutely right. um But then the the lesson, weirdly, the lesson that Hollywood learns from Batman is, and I've talked about this on this podcast before, and I think it's the fucking weirdest thing, because I think I mentioned this on the Dick Tracy episode, aka the episode where I just talk for like 90 minutes while Brett occasionally chimes in.
00:24:30
Speaker
um Hollywood's big lesson from Batman was, hey, let's take old pulp comics from like the 30s and 40s and let's make those into movies. where How do you get that from Batman's success?
00:24:44
Speaker
Batman was a newspaper strip in the 30s and 40s. I actually had when I was younger. And look, I get that. So is fucking Spider-Man. like So is Spider-Man. So is a lot of them. But they're not comic strip characters. They're comic book characters. They started out that way. They endure that way. The strips have always been a side thing that aren't even part of the main continuity. That's just such a weird take.
00:25:07
Speaker
The Joker for the Ex-Ex and Holidays. Well, I believe that. And I think I actually knew that. But doesn't fucking matter, man. But here's the thing. it's It's all of these Hollywood executives who in the late 80s, early 90s grew up in the 40s and 50s. And so they're looking back at all the things that they loved about comics when they were a kid.
00:25:28
Speaker
And saying, well, this is what the kids are into now. So that's why we get Dick Tracy and the shadow and the phantom. And like, oh that's why that's why all the shit from when I was a kid is just like being farted out because people my age are in charge of everything. And it fucking sucks.
00:25:44
Speaker
Exactly. No, I mean, it's it's a cyclical nostalgia cycle is really what it is. Like I'm waiting for the kid that was really into Dick Tracy to call up Warren Beatty and try to get another one of those motherfuckers made.
00:25:55
Speaker
Let's do it. I'm into it. Well, he – you know what Warren Beatty does? And he did it like a couple years ago too. Every time the rights to Dick Tracy are about to leave, he'll make like a special or something with Dick Tracy in it.
00:26:12
Speaker
to try to like re-up the rights and it works every fucking time. So did. Like the Roger Corman Fantastic Four, you keep the rights by putting something out there, even if it doesn't fucking go out there at all.
00:26:23
Speaker
Even if it's a tax write-off, you did it. but they're they're But they're TV specials. He does them as TV specials. The cinematographer for the first one is fucking three-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubetzky.
00:26:38
Speaker
And wet even know that name. It's Warren Beatty and Leonard Maltin sitting at a table. Warren Beatty in character is Dick Tracy. Yeah. And Leonard Maltin sitting at a table talking about the legacy of Dick Tracy, the character,
00:26:53
Speaker
And Dick Tracy's talking about him as though he was the actual person all this is based on. There's this whole bit that he does. like, you you look great for your age. How have you aged so well? he's like, can i get can I tell you secret?
00:27:04
Speaker
It's pomegranates. And he does like five he does like a tight five on pomegranates. And it's and's fucking weird. It's on YouTube. You can go watch it. Like, go watch it. It's bizarre. Very similar to the the writer of Buckaroo Bonsai, how he how he treats that shit. That's wild. I do want to see that now, just for that connection, because I think that it's great when people kind of buy into the mythos of their own fiction and sort of just present that as true.
00:27:30
Speaker
But even though we don't know all know it's bullshit, like it's still really cool to see and like really fun to be a part of. But he did it again like just just like a year or two ago. Like he did it again. and it was all over Zoom because of pandemic restrictions shit. But it's again, it's the same kind of thing. It's him and fucking Leonard Maltin. But again, him in character as as Dick Tracy. And i think at one point there's a three-way call between him as Dick Tracy Leonard Maltin and then the actor Warren Beatty one point.
00:27:58
Speaker
Wow. Like it's, it's fun. Fucking insane. and Like go, you know, gochino in there and you'll just have like, you'd be good. Are you, you'd have to send fucking makeup artists to make him up like big book Caprice.
00:28:11
Speaker
Um, God, though that I love Dick Tracy. like That movie is amazing. But like it it boggles my mind that that was Hollywood's takeaway. but so So this is part of that like indie comic – this is I think the last gasp of that like indie comic boom because the comic book genre is essentially dead 97.
00:28:31
Speaker
Like, and what this movie does, and it does it by a casting a director who is very much a part of like, who who does commercials specifically. Like he is a commercial, but he was a commercial guy to start with. He does this movie, hates it so fucking much. He goes right back to, before the production's even over, he's like, I'm going back to commercials.
00:28:52
Speaker
Fuck it, I don't care. I hate this so much. um go And he's still a very successful commercial director to this day. He's the Got Milk guy, and he's also the the Taco Bell Chihuahua guy. He is. He is the guy that the reason we hero Taco Bell is because of Kinka Usher.
00:29:09
Speaker
Can I tell you all coworkers? The reason Viva Gordita's happened is because of Kinka Usher. All of my coworkers are like half my age. I work at a campground, so I'm pretty much the only adult there at any given time. Yeah, it makes sense. They're all like...
00:29:25
Speaker
They're all like half my age. And i had to explain to them what the Taco Bell Chihuahua was. I had to pull up the commercial on YouTube. I'm like, you know, you'll care of Taco Bell. They're like... oh it No, dude, they were in they were infants if they existed at all when those commercials were out. Yes.
00:29:43
Speaker
yeah You know what I remember? i have tattoos older than some of my coworkers. I believe that. You know what I remember? Going to fucking Taco Bell, getting the gorditas, and getting myself a big-ass glass of Fruitopia.
00:29:56
Speaker
i dude Oh, I miss Fruitopia. There is no more like late 90s, early 2000s bullshit than Taco Bell like getting the the Baja Gordita and a fucking glass of Fruitopia.
00:30:08
Speaker
like That was the shit.
00:30:12
Speaker
Thank you, Kinka Usher. I still get down on a cheesy Gordita crunch from time to time. Of course, I replaced the beef with potatoes, and it's not as bad as it sounds. Actually, it's really good. That doesn't sound too bad, actually.
00:30:25
Speaker
It's real good. But yeah, um so so, but this is, the Mystery Man is kind of the last vestige, and it is the parody.
Unique Production Design of Mystery Men
00:30:34
Speaker
And generally, generally speaking, this is not always the case, but generally speaking, once the parody hits, the genre is dead.
00:30:44
Speaker
It's gotta to be. Where else can you go from there? Well, exactly. Nowadays, that's not true, because Deadpool is absolutely a parody of comic book movies, and that genre so shows absolutely no sign of slowing down.
00:30:57
Speaker
Like it's all we watch these days. Like it's fucking insane. Yeah, it kind of seeps into like the regular comic book movies. Exactly. Like it's just one of the others, right? But like this was this was seen in a lot of ways as the death knell of the comic book movie. And then the very next year, Hugh Must Not Be Named decides to make X-Men and it it it kind of relaunched it. And then two years later, you get Spider-Man and we're back to the races.
00:31:22
Speaker
like It's a slow start. it's It's like a sputtering start. You get – it's Blade, Sputter, Sputter, Mystery Men, Clunk, X-Men, ooh, Spider-Man, ah, and then even the Hulk can't bring it down and then you're just boom, boom, boom, and it just keeps – like I think there were a few – I think the early 2000s are a rough time for comic book movies because – There's some real gems in there though.
00:31:45
Speaker
There are. I subscribe, and and again, this is something that I, this is a term that I've coined based on something I read that Neil Gaiman said once called the Gaiman Principle, where he basically says the truer you are to the source material that you're that you're adapting, the more...
00:32:01
Speaker
um accepted your your your film will be, your adaptation will be. um And this movie is not faithful to the comics at all. In fact, I think a lot of those early 2000s movies weren't.
00:32:17
Speaker
And I think that's where there's problems. Well, I mean, that is a problem, but I think the ones that hit, and specifically Mystery Men, um is that a good adaptation, no matter what it does, it has to It has to present the same tone.
00:32:35
Speaker
It's just like he who shall not be named X-Men. Yes. Like you don't have the costumes. You know, there's not a big world of superheroes. You know, several things have changed because it's a different media.
00:32:47
Speaker
here But it stays true to the tone. And I think that's what mystery men get so well. Because I read Flaming Carrot comics. ah back in the day and I've read some of the trades since then.
00:33:01
Speaker
And like despite the the wildly fluctuating comedic styles in this film, it still does stick to the basic tone of the comic. It's about blue collar guys that they're not the best superheroes. They've got like mid level powers or no level, no powers at all.
00:33:19
Speaker
Right. And they're fighting guys and they're doing it because that they feel like that's what they need to do. So I think it does actually ah stay true to the tone and the original intent of the comic.
00:33:33
Speaker
ah Yeah, I should refer. It's not true to the letter of the comic. Very not true to the to the letter, but very true to the spirit of the comic. Like, there are only, from what I understand, there are only three characters in the movie that appear in the comics, and they're all very different.
00:33:49
Speaker
it's With the exception... the Sorry, go ahead. No, it's the Shoveler, it's Mr. Furious, and it's the Spleen. Yes. And then you have a fourth that was never part of the Mystery Men, but the Sphinx was an old comic book character in the th thirty s and 40s. Right. Right.
00:34:10
Speaker
right And the company that owned the rights to the Sphinx went defunct in the 50s. And he became public domain. And that's why he's in this motherfucking movie.
00:34:21
Speaker
And good friend. There is... The character of Invisible. Yeah. No. No. um No. you don't be know Because there's so much to say. And that's just it. That's the problem, right? Like, there's so much to say. And we both love this movie so much that it's this is pretty much going to be us fighting pretty much this whole fucking episode. I'm going to do my best, Steven. I'm trying so hard.
00:34:40
Speaker
I am also going to try. I'm probably going to fail so much. Hey, if – We'll be fishing with each other. If you get pissed off about – podcast hosts talking over one another this might not be the episode for you guys honestly this might not be the podcast for you but please stick around we love you and we love your downloads please and thank you um but the um you're right no and and i i had i had read that that had come up in my my my research for this episode another thing the invisible boy was all he did not appear in the comic but he was created by bob burden
00:35:13
Speaker
it was a drunken joke at a Hollywood party. yes. That the producers heard and liked so much. They just included it in the movie. Like, i don't know. Based on a drunken sentence fragment by is what the credit should have read. Yes. Should have read. Yeah, absolutely.
00:35:29
Speaker
But like the bowler and the blue Raja and... well You said it wrong. It's the blue Raja. The blue Raja. Granted, I don't wear much blue and I speak in an English accent, but if you know your history, it really does make sense.
00:35:43
Speaker
The point is, your son's a limey fork thing about a hard cheese to swallow, but there it is. What will the bridge cob say? God, I love this movie. His monologue on colonialism is especially wild.
00:35:55
Speaker
No, dad, he is neither a kami nor a fruit. ah Honestly, I think you could do a queer reading of this film through the Blue Raja because that scene where his mom finds him pilfering the silverware reads like a coming out scene.
00:36:11
Speaker
It reads like a guy. It is the best case scenario coming out scene and it's beautiful and it's wonderful. It is. And even the thing she says where I was saving these for your wedding, but from the looks of things, that's a long way off. Like gay marriage was not a thing in 1999. Like you could, you could absolutely do a queer reading of this movie. And I think that's really, again, that that's really smart and really sharp and really fun.
00:36:35
Speaker
ah that you even You can have shit like that in this movie. Even some of the criminal gangs are a bit queer coded, I'd say. The fact that you've got Susie Izzard as as the lead of the Disco Boys The Disco Boys!
00:36:48
Speaker
and And she does... is Okay, her American accent in that is... I've never heard her speak in anything but you know that natural British. And it's spot on. That's why for years I didn't even know that was her.
00:37:03
Speaker
Yeah. For years. And she she does an almost pitch perfect recreation of John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever dance. Yeah. ah to to the Bee Gees in that early scene. And it's so fucking good. like she is She is my favorite stand-up. I have gone on record so many times as saying that Susie Izzard is my favorite. She's actually coming to Chicago in October. And I am like, if I had if i had money in my bank account right now, I would be buying tickets for my partner and I to go see her.
00:37:34
Speaker
When in October? let me let let's Let me Google this. Everyone's favorite part of the show. Steven Googling shit in real time. I can explain the context of my question while you Google it.
00:37:45
Speaker
um The camping season here where I live and work ends the second week of October. Pretty much any time between then and starting of the season in May, I can take a vacation and come to Indy or Chicago or whatever monday october 2nd fuck you man well damn it i'll i'll get you some tickets for your birthday or something i mean yeah i'm gonna see if she's coming to new england anytime um like atlanta tennessee north carolina
00:38:22
Speaker
It's hard to get anybody to come up here outside of Boston, and I just really don't. was going to say she's going to be in Medford on September 16th and 17th. I'd much rather be in Chicago. It looks like that's the closest she's going to come, yeah.
00:38:35
Speaker
Which is weird because Chicago is is arguably a rougher city than Boston. I don't know, in some ways. I'm about to say it depends on who you are. I was going to say it it's... or I feel much so much more comfortable in Chicago. I think just because I've been there so many times over the years. I grew up like three hours away.
00:38:51
Speaker
Right. Yeah, we both did. Yeah. I mean, it is it's it's the nearest big city to where we grew up. Right. So when I've had friends like that, I've met over the years that lived there. So I'm constantly visiting there and hanging out with friends and stuff.
00:39:06
Speaker
Well, one of the reasons, um I guess. No, yeah I get it. Like I've never even driven through Boston. It just scares me because of what I've seen on TV, man. I've been to Boston a couple of times. i i i i have I have one of my very best friends lives in Boston.
00:39:21
Speaker
People tell me I need to see the cemeteries down there because apparently they're fucking wild. The New England cemeteries are honestly – Well, the ones up here – go ahead. We're doing it again. We're not even talking about mystery men.
00:39:33
Speaker
God, what is our problem? No, the ones in Salem, Mass, are really incredible. Oh, word. I'll bet. I, I, my, my ex and I went to Massachusetts all the time. Like we, we loved it up there all the time. We went twice, but still like we would, we would, we would stop in Boston to visit friends and then we'd head out to the Cape. And then on the way to the Cape, we'd stop it. We'd go like an hour out of our way and go to Salem and Salem. So it's very tourist heavy, but very cool.
00:40:02
Speaker
um Apparently October is the time you need to go.
Spotlight on Susie Izzard and Chris Kattan
00:40:05
Speaker
But like there are a couple of friends of the show that live up and up in Massachusetts, up Massachusetts way, which had I started the show the last time I visited, I would have probably looked them up. But friend of the show, Mike Snunian and friend of the show, Kat Scully are both Massachusetts residents. So. Nice.
00:40:21
Speaker
um and so i know kat usually hits the salem horror fest in october to like peddle her her art and her books so uh need to get up there sometime in october to to see her and and get like my my halloween salem fix but yeah stephen's going back to massachusetts ah
00:40:48
Speaker
thank but Thank you. Thank you. be here week. One of the one of the reasons I was kind of bummed our guest wasn't able to join us tonight is our guest is the person who introduced me to Susie Izzard. oh no So like I was looking forward. If we can get a hold of them to come in at some other time, we might do like a Patreon something or maybe a special episode or something where we just kind of talk to them about this movie and just kind of let them go on about it.
00:41:13
Speaker
Yeah. like That's a unique perspective, you know, like that's that's a whole you you got history with that. Yeah, absolutely. Like she had seen or. He had seen her do Dressed to Kill when he was like in high school and was like, do you know Dressed to Kill? You need to see Dressed to Kill and introduced me to Dressed to Kill. And I was like, fuck, this is amazing. Like, this is so funny. Like, that's the one you show people.
00:41:37
Speaker
Yeah. of all of them. I think that's the most successful. And so many of them are are on streaming right now. Like so many of her specials are on streaming right now that I'm like – and so many that I haven't seen because I stopped watching her on Circle or Sexy.
00:41:48
Speaker
So I'm like, oh, I need to go back and like watch all of these that she's done in like the last 15 years that I haven't caught. like yeah Like, yeah, i'm I'm a huge, huge Susie Izzard fan.
00:42:02
Speaker
Love her to death. um would Would love to see her when she is in Chicago in October. um But yeah, God. um and And this is probably the first movie that I think I saw that she was in And of course, did not realize that she was a stand-up. And I think it was Dan who said, oh, you know, no, it's it's it's one of the disco boys. And I was like, wait, really?
00:42:26
Speaker
then I... i I watched the the stand-up and I was like, oh, yeah, I guess that's her. That's awesome. Yeah, I have a similar ah reveal for someone. I didn't realize it was them in this movie.
00:42:39
Speaker
I didn't realize Artie Lang was in this movie. yeah I've seen this movie probably, I don't want to say 100 times, but probably somewhere around 60 to 75 times I've seen this movie in my lifetime since it came out.
00:42:52
Speaker
And until this viewing, I had no idea that he's the the bad guy at the beginning in the opening scene, right? He's the leader of the Red I had idea.
00:43:03
Speaker
And I can spot an Artie Lang from a mile away. The voice is what gave it away to me. Yeah. Like the voice is what gave it away to me. um But like, I mean, half his face is covered and he's got those giant goggles, like with the red glowing in them that had to have been fucking so uncomfortable as fuck to wear. And I know Artie Lang talks a lot about all the shitty movies that he's done. And I think this is the one that he's like is probably the worst one.
00:43:29
Speaker
He was great in Dirty Work, though, with Norm MacDonald. But anyway... I haven't seen that one either. You should. It's great. In a nineties raunchy comedy kind of way. Right. Yeah. early Brothers kind of way. Speaking of a genre that has not aged particularly well, it doesn't, but some of them, you know, are, have a lot less offensive stuff than others that they still got to hold up.
00:43:51
Speaker
Yeah. I've, I've, I was half baked was another one that a lot of my friends really liked when I was in high school. I liked that movie too. But I, Probably been about 10 years since I've seen that. I'm not sure if it's still, it held up 10 years ago, but I'm not sure it's now.
00:44:04
Speaker
Well, and Dave Chappelle being ah an outspoken turf is kind of an unfortunate turn of a turn of events, but yeah. I, I, I'm not sure Jim Brewer's politics are particularly great either. Oh fuck Jim Brewer.
00:44:22
Speaker
I never even gave a fuck about Jim Brewer though, but me and Dave. No, you know what? No one did. Right. Like, and Jim Brewer began and ended with Goat Boy.
00:44:33
Speaker
it all but Goat Boy was the shit, though. For mid-90s SNL, Goat Boy was where it was. You got Mango up in that mug, too. I hated Mango. I did not get Mango. You Mango?
00:44:47
Speaker
I did not like Mango.
00:44:52
Speaker
Such is Mango. love Mango. Can you hold a boom-boom in your hand? No. Sasha's with Mango. I didn't get it. Like, it just, it didn't. But with John Goodman and David Duchovny.
00:45:03
Speaker
I know, I saw that one. I didn't, I was just like, this is right going right over my head. another and Another Chris Kattan character that I just did not care for, Mr. Peepers. Did not like Mr. Peepers. I feel like there's a 50-50 split between the population of people who, ah for them, Chris Kattan really slaps.
00:45:23
Speaker
And for the other half, it' just they it's not. You might be in the other half. You might be in the latter half. You know what I do like Chris Kattan in, though? um future Future episode of this podcast, Monkey Bone. Yeah.
00:45:34
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, wow. We are 100% going to cover Monkey Bone on this podcast one day. Well, I mean, that's great because it's on my voodoo, so we can all watch it for relatively free. I paid for it at one point, but it's paid for itself by now because I've watched it several times.
00:45:49
Speaker
ah I mean, you we could have done, had we not already done Who Framed Roger Rabbit, we could have done a really cool miniseries of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cool World, and Monkeybone. Like that animated world inhabited by real people trilogy that came out in the late 80s, early That's not a bad idea.
00:46:10
Speaker
i could I've seen Cool World as well. i haven't seen it since it came out. Cool World is bad. Cool World is very... I watched it during the pandemic. It's your Brad Pitt. Oh, it is Brad Pitt, but it is not...
00:46:24
Speaker
It's not Brad Pitt dialed in. It's also Gabriel Byrne, who I love. And Kim kim Basinger like from LA Confidential. Yeah, she voices the character lady. And then plays her in real life.
00:46:35
Speaker
Like, it's Hollywood is the character's name, which, oof. She definitely would. That's that's the joke. and And literally, that is the class of joke that you're getting from Cool World. Like, Cool World is supposed to be the adult Roger Rabbit, and it it doesn't work in my mind. It just doesn't. and You know, there's one Chris Kattan performance I want to speak about before we move on in this unrelated Mystery Men episode. Chris Kattan, who is not a part of the cast of Mystery Men. He's not in this movie. No. And you might not even be able to six degrees him, honestly. Like, you could try, but I know how easy that would be.
00:47:12
Speaker
I could six degrees him, but yeah. I believe you. Yeah. I think Chris Kattan's, his peak performance of his career, and I support him in all of his roles, and I have enjoyed and him in most of his roles, and I think the main problem is that nobody knows how to write well for him, but the people who wrote Undercover Brother, they Another movie I have not seen.
00:47:39
Speaker
They knew what Chris Katan was all about. Undercover Brother would be a wonderful double feature with Puti Tang. Unfortunately, we can't we can't cover it on the main feed here because it got a sequel. It did get a sequel. right I refuse to watch. Also, Dave Chappelle in this movie as well as as a Revolutionary Brother. Revolutionary Brother?
00:48:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah denise denise ah Denise Richards yeah is in Undercover Brother as a White She-Devil.
00:48:14
Speaker
Oh my God, Steven, this movie's great. You got to see Undercover Brother, dude. I wish we could cover it, but that fucking stupid-ass sequel that I will not watch. With Michael Jai White, though. Michael Jai White, though.
00:48:25
Speaker
I don't care. i mean, I do care, but also I don't care. ah There's a story that Griffin Newman from the Blank Check podcast tells about when he met Neil Patrick Harris and says, I really loved you in Undercover Brother. He was great in Undercover Brother. That was, oh he was so wholesome in that. It's like the sweetest boy. And apparently Neil Patrick Harris just looks at him and goes, that one? Yes!
00:48:47
Speaker
To which Griffin was like, fuck you, dude. You were great in that movie. How dare you? yo yo, Harris was the bomb. In Undercover Brother, yo. Yeah, dude.
00:48:59
Speaker
I asked you to bomb in Undercover Brother, yo. And, you know, it's only it's a few years ah removed, but I feel like this tangent does belong on this podcast because it is kind of a superhero movie in that same era. It's going for a much more blaxploitation tip on it. But it is kind of I could see that being a comic adaptation of some sort, even though it wasn't.
00:49:26
Speaker
Well, it being in the same genre. In my research, I came across a comparison between this movie and another nineteen ah late ninety s parody movie that really did actually hit big, which was Austin Powers.
00:49:39
Speaker
And Undercover Brother is really doing what Austin Powers was doing, but for blaxploitation films. Yeah. I mean, kind of. Kind of. In a way. In a way. You know, the most the most interesting thing... um about my love for this movie is that it comes from the most unlikely source of past and future guest and friend of everyone on the podcast. J.P. Leck.
00:50:03
Speaker
Love that. Introduced me introduced me to Undercover Brother. Now, you know, J.P. Leck, I do. and And you're looking right here at Undercover Brother. Does that look like a combination that you would naturally think was going to happen?
00:50:16
Speaker
This man introduced me to this shit. But here's the thing. i know i know his brother pretty well. his wife. His wife. right yeah Past and future guests the show, same Dumas. But that they grew up on a i know that they grew up on a lot of like 70s tv like the blaxploitation kung fu shit like they were in to that so i guess that that it surprises me but at the same time i get it like i kind of get it also so yeah he's he's kind of surrounded by people who have the sensibilities that attract this film yeah so it does make sense but still definitely a curveball
00:51:02
Speaker
Yeah, when if you think about it for more than like 20 seconds, it it makes sense. But and but for those first 20 seconds, you're very confused. Like, wait a minute. Love you, Joseph. um Yeah. yeah he's He'll be he'll be on very soon. hand ta way areaage Very, very soon. very soon.
00:51:19
Speaker
Very soon. Unless he gets detention. And then I don't know if he'll be able to make it, I'm being honest. um Tucker, let's talk more about Mystery Men because I fucking love this movie and I can't believe think we should we've gone almost an hour into this podcast and have talked so little about the movie we're actually supposed to be talking about.
Plot Summary Challenge
00:51:39
Speaker
you think we should do the plot? the the The Canadian Quarter of Indifference? Let's do it. I've got it ready. I got the moose right there. i see ya. ah So yes, let's do the plot in 60 seconds. For those of you just joining us for the Mystery Men episode, hi, welcome. We're glad you're here.
00:51:55
Speaker
um But also, the plot in 60 is a part of the show to plop in on. Right? Welcome. Normally, you're like, i don't know why you're here because this movie sucks, but not this time. Not this time, man. This movie fucking rules, and I'm glad you're here. But look, man, it look if you're here for this episode and this is your first episode,
00:52:13
Speaker
then clearly you are a person of exquisite taste and we welcome you to this podcast. And also buckle up. Buckle the fuck up And and check out that journey check out our back catalog too because there's some good shit back there.
00:52:24
Speaker
um we've We've covered, oh we're what are we like, almost 150 now? This episode is episode 146. So this episode is episode one forty six so yeah ah we've We've covered a lot of ground on this podcast over the years. And so um for that reason, we are ah happy to do this. This our 146th plot in 60 seconds.
00:52:48
Speaker
ah This is the part of the show where we recount the plot of the movie we're watching. In this case, Kinka Usher's 1999 film, mystery men in 60 seconds or less. And to decide which of us will be doing that, either Tucker or myself, we will flip what is known as the Canadian quarter of indifference.
00:53:07
Speaker
Tucker has that queued up. The queen is heads. The moose is tails. ah Tucker will flip. I will call. And based on that call, it will determine which of us will be recounting the plot of 1999's mystery man. Tucker, take it away.
00:53:24
Speaker
Call it in the air. Here it goes. Tails. It is heads. ha Honestly, either way, I win. ah Because if i if if it's if it's heads, I get to talk about Mystery Men some more. So, yay. Go ahead and put 60 seconds on the clock, my friend, and i will recount the plot of 1999's Mystery Men.
00:53:47
Speaker
I will start the clock when you start, and of course, I will give you the 30-second and 10-second warnings. Thank you very much, sir.
00:53:57
Speaker
You have to start talking for me to... The red eyes break into a nursing home and start stealing a bunch of shit. ah The mystery men come to stop them. The shoveler, Mr. Furious, the blue Raja, and they get their asses kicked until they're saved by Captain Amazing, the sort the champion of Champion City, um who is mad because all of his villains are pretty much put away.
00:54:17
Speaker
And so he, as in his alter ego, his billionaire Lance Hunt breaks out the ah criminally insane Casanova Frankenstein played by Jeffrey Rush from the mental hospital where he is. He then proceeds to, upon being free, blow up the mental hospital and and then build the psycho fraculator. He kidnaps Captain Amazing.
00:54:35
Speaker
And then the mystery men, um they recruit, they get a few more members. ah They end up killing Captain Amazing. then they go back to, With a Herkimer Battle Jitney and using the power of teamwork and the sort of the hammer of not bickering, they end up striking down and all of the foes that Casanova Frankenstein has gathered together.
00:54:55
Speaker
ah They chuck him into the Fraculator and then come out to meet their adoring public and win one for the little guy.
00:55:04
Speaker
How do I get it to stop? You push the button. I did push the button, but then everything just disappeared. I don't want to get fraculateated fraculated, psycho fraculated, still fraculated.
00:55:16
Speaker
yeah God, I love this movie so much. i I am always amazed at how quotable this movie is. And it is so incredibly calc ah like quotable. Like, I love it.
00:55:29
Speaker
I love it. And I will tell you two things about this movie. This movie has one of my all-time favorite jokes in film history. Where he is talking to his publicist, played by Ricky Jay, the great Ricky Jay.
00:55:44
Speaker
like i We could probably spend two hours just talking about the cast of this movie and how insanely stacked this cast is and how they got most of them for a song because no one knew who the fuck these people were in 1999. Yeah.
00:55:58
Speaker
Like it's amazing. Like Ben Stiller is probably your – and William H. Macy are probably your biggest names in this movie and they're both indie guys. Like madness. Like – and now they're fucking huge. Like Academy Award nominated. Like insane. Like it's it's mad how – this movie is insane to me.
00:56:18
Speaker
What was I saying? You were saying the cast is rad. ah You're talking about Ricky Jay. Ricky Jay. um When he's talking to his publicist, Ricky Jay, who a magician, Ricky Jay, who at one point says I'm a publicist, not a magician.
00:56:34
Speaker
Ha ha ha. Funny. um He says he's talking to Ricky Jay about how frustrated he is that he doesn't have any good villains anymore. He goes, i don't know. Get... Death Man and Ricky Jay just very deadpan goes, Death Man is dead.
00:56:47
Speaker
um That is one of my favorite throwaway jokes in film. it I love it so much. Death Man is dead. Like I love that is, that is a great line that like the, just the construction of that line is perfect. I love it so much.
00:57:03
Speaker
And then Greg Kinnear's delivery of odd dang, right? Right when he gets chloroformed by Casanova Frankenstein is maybe my favorite line reading ever.
00:57:13
Speaker
Like his delivery of that is perfect. I love it so much. There's the perfect amount of Greg Kinnear silliness in this movie. And if there were any more, it would have been too much. Had there been less, it would not have been enough.
00:57:27
Speaker
I love when Greg Kinnear gets a little bit silly.
00:57:32
Speaker
he's And this character, it's this character like bring your appetite if you're great in here. you're going to eat this shit up. And great the the Captain Amazing role is the stand-in for the Flaming Carrot because CGI is a relatively new thing and they're like, there's no way we can fucking do this on screen in 1999. I would have liked to have seen the Flaming Carrot, but I get it.
00:57:52
Speaker
I think if they had done a sequel, we probably would have, honestly. i think we would have seen The Flaming Carrot if there had been a sequel. um but you But Greg Kinnear's Captain Amazing is the stand-in for The Flaming Carrot.
00:58:03
Speaker
And he is Superman. I love the riff on the Superman-Clark-Kent thing. Where it's so obvious and yet everyone is completely ignoring it. like he wears Lance wears glasses. Come and why How would he see? Are kidding me? He takes them off when he transforms. That's insane. How would he see?
00:58:26
Speaker
And then he's like holding up the like the two the two like circles and like holding up them in front of his face and going, do you know Lance Hunt? Yeah, it's me. Really? No, I'm just kidding. I've always wanted to do that. Like, you're just like, oh my God, how stupid is this man? And it's so good. Like, it's so funny.
00:58:43
Speaker
It is good. there's a lot of There's a lot of good comedy in this, but I think for me, the best running joke that just that never leaves the film, it's a joke that is presented at a certain time and then it stays with you for the rest of the film.
00:58:58
Speaker
And it's when um when Mr. Furious is... talking to the Sphinx and like calling him out for how like shitty his philosophical speak is.
00:59:09
Speaker
And so every time he does it from that point on, you're still laughing. like When he's like, but until you master your rage... Your rage will become your master? That's what you're going to say, right? right Not necessarily. And motherfucking West Studi, can I just give some love to the great the amazing West Studi? That guy...
00:59:32
Speaker
He was popping around then, dude. He was in everything around that time. Okay, so he is in one of my all-time favorite movies ever, ah Michael Mann's Heat. Oh, yeah, yeah. He is. i I fucking love him in that movie. And and honestly, he does a couple Michael Mann films because he's Academy Award nominated for Last of the Mohicans.
00:59:50
Speaker
Which is a Michael Mann film. He's also in he's in Avatar, too. Like, one of the highest grossing movies of all time. um And he's the weird, naked Native American in The Doors movie.
01:00:01
Speaker
Yes, he is in 91. So, 1990, he does Dances with Wolves. um My least favorite actor, Kevin Costner, is Dances with Wolves. He does Indian in the Desert in The Doors in 91. Last in the Mohicans in 92. Yeah.
01:00:17
Speaker
93, he's in Walter Hill's Geronimo and American Legend. 94, I forgot he was in this. He's in, he's Sagat in Street Fighter in 1994. Yeah. on like Tiger Flame.
01:00:32
Speaker
Yeah. 95, he does Michael Mann's Heat. 96, he's in Crazy Horse. 97, he does The Killing Jar, which I don't know. 98, future episode of this podcast, Deep Rising. was say, you better not skip Deep Rising.
01:00:46
Speaker
No, dude. We're going to cover Deep Rising one of these days. can't wait. I might have a guest for that. Okay, right on. i've I've been waiting for you to bring in some guests. You you you know some great people. I want i want to get them on.
01:00:57
Speaker
um but and then And then in 99, of course, we have Mystery Men. But no, you're absolutely right. Wes Studi is popping. an eye And he is one of the Native American First Nations actors who has done so much to advance the negative Hollywood stereotypes surrounding Native actors.
01:01:18
Speaker
For so long. He's in Reservation Dogs. was going to say. I think that's why it's very. ah it It makes sense that he's in Reservation Dogs. Because that's kind of what that show is all about.
01:01:29
Speaker
Him and. um I want to say. Graham Green is another one who is who is very much like, again, another another First Nations actor who is just, again, also in Dances with Wolves.
01:01:47
Speaker
um He was in previous episode of this podcast, Maverick. Also in Reservation Dogs. Just an insanely great actor um who happens to be a First Nations actor and is, again, does so much to advance that group and that cause. And it, I, I, I, God, I love, I love both of those actors so much. And I, this is my first exposure to West duty. And then after that, I just started seeing him everywhere. And I, God, I love West duty so much pops up all over the place. Fucking. cat And every time I see him, I am excited.
01:02:21
Speaker
happy to see Wes Studi. Like I am never not excited for some Wes Studi action in my life. Like I fucking, and and he is one of the, him and like William H. Macy and Jeffrey Rush,
01:02:36
Speaker
add such a level of gravitas to what is a deeply silly movie and you can tell jeffrey rush is having a ball in this movie yeah he kills it in this movie he's having if you don't think jeffrey rush is having a good time just watch the look on his face when he is fighting ben stiller with his pinky At the end of this fucking movie, it is he is having the time of his fucking life.
01:03:04
Speaker
And honestly, Casanova's Frankenstein is a lateral move to Captain Barbosa in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Like that is a lateral fucking move. Bigger paycheck, but yeah.
01:03:16
Speaker
Yeah. No, 100% bigger paycheck. but like But in terms of like performance, that is a lateral move like he is being He is going so huge and over the top in both of those. And honestly, that is a fun mode for Jeffrey Rush. i like He may not be a great person in real life.
01:03:33
Speaker
ah he's He's been accused of some shit. um And I tend to prefer to believe the victims on that shit rather than the courts. But Do with that what you will. But he is, God, i he he when he is going big like that, I i love it.
01:03:49
Speaker
have I'm having a good time. Well, I think even when he's not going big and other things that he's in, he he always knows what kind of film he's in. You never you'd never catch Jeffrey Rush phoning it in or misinterpreting the tone of a film. like he's He always knows exactly what movie he's He understands the assignment, as the kids used to say.
01:04:10
Speaker
like that And that is absolutely the mode that he exists in here. like He knows what movie he's in. And apparently, he, along with like some of the comedians and the guys, he's he's up there improvising.
Behind the Scenes of Mystery Men
01:04:21
Speaker
Like the scene with the mobs, uh, with all the mobs kind of gathered around the table where, um, um, uh, Michael Bay was in that scene and Jeffrey Rush started improvising.
01:04:36
Speaker
Dude, can we bring the brewskis? Yes, of course. your Most memo certainly brings the brewskis. um Like Michael Bay's in that scene and Michael Bay hated being in this movie.
01:04:48
Speaker
Like Jeffrey Rush started improvising and he said his line at the wrong time and then called cut himself, forgetting that he was not the director. He's like, shit, cut. I fucked that up. The tracks. Yeah.
01:04:59
Speaker
And then like Kinka Usher was like getting in his face with like a len like with a with a ah camera lens. And Michael Bay's like, you cannot be that close to me with that shitty fucking lens. like And then he just was like not prepared for how long actors would have to like wait in their trailers while a so a shot was set up. So he was like bored out of his mind. So he's like...
01:05:18
Speaker
When I, when it was like, there's nothing in the fridge, there's like no sheet on the bed. I'm like bored out my mind. So now on my movies, anytime, like anytime I have a trailer, there's going to be a stock fridge and video games and copies of all my movies, which I mean, we could probably pick some better movies, but okay.
01:05:35
Speaker
It's something, man. Like, good for him, you know? Right. That's cool. But, and I, there's no real, like, way that, like, there's nothing really documented about why Michael Bay is in this movie, but I assume, but because Bay got his start in commercials, too.
01:05:49
Speaker
Like, Bay did the Aaron, the infamous Aaron Burr got milk commercial. So, like, I'm sure, I'm sure they were, and in this, this was the time when commercial directors were, like, getting work in Hollywood. Like, 99 was kind of the summer of the commercial filmmaker.
01:06:04
Speaker
Yeah. And you've also got like Michael Bay, David Fincher are the two big ones that kind of made it out of there. But like the guy who directed commercials and music videos around that time.
01:06:15
Speaker
Exactly. um Like it used to be like those guys would have to like come to Hollywood and like really pitch a script hard. Now people are like knocking down their doors going, please, please make our movie. And there's a certain sensibility in it.
01:06:29
Speaker
it Particularly with a like a Michael Bay movie, and i've I've heard this observation, but this is not an original observation of mine, but a Michael Bay movie is shot like every shot is the most important shot in the movie.
01:06:42
Speaker
And that is 100% the vibe I get from here because the way everything is lit in this movie, the way everything is framed in this movie, you get the fucking Dutch angles out the wazoo in this movie. like it is Everything is the most dynamic, the most important, the most insane shot you can possibly do.
01:07:00
Speaker
And it makes for a really interesting and engaging film. I can see how might give someone motion sickness – but it like makes the film like really dynamic and interesting in a very, very incredible way. And I think if Usher had enjoyed this more, and I think if there had been like more, if he had had more of a desire to do this, I'm interested to see what filmmaker, what kind money, I'm anxious to see what kind of filmmaker he would have become had the circumstances. that you definite Yeah, absolutely.
01:07:31
Speaker
Absolutely. Um, I really like the the production design in this too. I read that they used some of the sets from Batman forever. And I've always kind of equated these two movies. It'd be a great double feature. Honestly. Yeah, it would.
01:07:49
Speaker
and I think in terms of style like stylistically, that's one of the things that this movie is parroting or parroting is i love rocker bad eightyies that future. of it you know what i mean the fact that this is a city that is like exists in every country in the world simultaneously.
01:08:07
Speaker
Like you've got the Cyrillic letters on the diner sign. You've got like the Japanese, like costuming on Claire for Lonnie's character at one point, like it, this place, this, this city is everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
01:08:24
Speaker
And it's kind of great for that. Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah. yeah And Casanova Frankenstein's castle is the mansion from Casper. Like it's the same set.
01:08:36
Speaker
Like they just use these sets from these earlier nineties films. And I think it works really well for what this film was trying to do. Like it sets it apart aesthetically in a way that's really interesting. Like they're not going for boring sets. They're really trying something fast. And, and CGI is not progressed enough to where,
01:08:55
Speaker
you can get away with doing this on a, on a big digital backdrop. Like most movies are set today. Like you get a parking lot in Georgia and just put up a bunch of green screens and then that's your movie.
01:09:05
Speaker
Like you actually had to like find locations and sets. And I love that. That's not to say that there's, there's anything wrong with that when done right. And I think the original sin city is, is pretty positive.
01:09:16
Speaker
that um but no it is nice to see the physical uh sets and everything the actual locations but then um cgi being a part of it and cgi i think at that time was kind of in kind of the beginning of that it was sort of you know cgi corner kind of became a thing in the early ninety s And you can tell based on the digital effects here. world and yeah And then it kind of peaked with Jurassic Park and then it just kind of got shitty for a while.
01:09:46
Speaker
But I think much like ah your 70s and 80s horror films that had super low budgets and sometimes the low budgets actually worked well. for the films same with the cgi in this movie i think because of the tone of this film i think because of the production design and the way that this film is shot the cgi even though it doesn't age well it age ages fucking perfectly because it fit it fits this film even though it's not good cgi it's not at all like movie it it works for this movie
01:10:17
Speaker
anytime something is getting cycle fraculated in this movie, it is very obvious that it is very bad CGI. and but by the same token, it absolutely, like, and when you're doing that push, all the pushes through champion city are very clearly like CD CGI models. And you're just kind of pushing through like the CGI models.
01:10:34
Speaker
And it, it's a step up from like, say like the 98 Godzilla, but it still works pretty well. I think. Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's, it's like a good shitty beer, man. Like,
01:10:47
Speaker
It just works. It's not great, but it fucking works. And speaking of things that are digital and CGI, like I would like to take this opportunity to speak a bit on the 4K release.
01:11:00
Speaker
Yes. I purchased a couple months ago. i was honestly eyeing that on Amazon today. And is it worth it? I would say yes, just because it's not that expensive, honestly.
01:11:13
Speaker
um And also 20 bucks, right? according to the yeah According to the back of the the box here, it's it's it's put out by Kino. um keyno I do love Kino Lorber, yeah.
01:11:25
Speaker
My boutique brand, which is who is also who puts out ah my the version of Brick that I have, the copy of Brick that you currently have. I do need to send you that along with a copy of the Scream 2022 Yeah.
01:11:39
Speaker
yeah Yes, it's yes, yes. um And also i have a copy of their print of My Boyfriend's Back, Bob Balaban's second film, which we will definitely cover at some point on my show if it ever happens. If at this point, like, God, we we've made no headway on that. We keep promising and promising and teasing and teasing and nothing comes it. a theme song. Thanks to Jimmy. I have a theme song bought and paid for. I paid this man $75.
01:12:06
Speaker
to write this theme song. That is 75 more dollars than we paid you to write any of our music. That's because I don't fuck around, man. I'm trying to help out artists. I've got, you know, I don't pay any rent and I work all the time. So I got, don't know what to tell you, Steve. I got little money to throw around. So all your income is disposable is what I'm hearing.
01:12:25
Speaker
Not all of it. I mean, I do have a child that requires feeding and clothing and other such things. I have a vehicle and I have a cellular telephone and other such things. It's just the big one that most people have, I do not have.
01:12:37
Speaker
Right. Which is, yeah I mean, nice for you, man.
4K Transfer and Editing Insights
01:12:40
Speaker
But speaking of the Mystery Men 4K. That is some pretty box art, too. According to the back, this is um it's a 4K scan of the original camera negative.
01:12:53
Speaker
which I believe and which I will also say is fine. And I think that's because there's so much digital stuff in this movie that it never really looks like a movie that's on film.
01:13:07
Speaker
oh So even the 4K transfer, it looks great, but it's not, it doesn't, it doesn't blow me away. Like something like the Virgin suicides, you know what I mean? Sure. Like I could probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this and the Blu-ray that's in here.
01:13:22
Speaker
Just because that's i mean that's the kind of movie it is. like yeah A lot of this is is digital stuff. And especially with the color gradient, it's a very dark film. ah The colors are very muted. you know ah There's a lot of digital stuff in there. So I'm not saying that this is not an accurate 4K transfer.
01:13:42
Speaker
It's just, I would say, maybe not a necessary one. I'm glad I have it. I'm glad I have it. This is the best quality I can have it in right now. And I'm glad that I own it. ah It also has the commentary that was on the original DVD.
01:13:55
Speaker
um It has four extra new featurettes plus the old featurette that was on the DVD. i I love that featurette, that making-up featurette. That's a good one. It has some deleted scenes as well. I haven't checked any of that shit out, though I have actually listened to the commentary because I used to own the DVD.
01:14:14
Speaker
oh So let's talk some of the deleted scenes because this is a movie that feels like there's a lot... left on the cutting room floor like it feels like there's easily movies i feel like or or like a good like two and a half hour movie and i mean for this it kind of it does the same thing as putty tang does to where like they they expected something a lot bigger so a dialogue is that this thing is happening in a week or this thing is happening in three days or four days
01:14:44
Speaker
But because they had to squish it all together, and you can see, just like in Puditang, you can see their their mouths are not saying what they're saying. They're like, this is happening tomorrow. This is happening tonight.
01:14:56
Speaker
And so much shit. This whole movie takes place in, like, I think two days? ah Like two or three days, yeah. What? There's so much. There's so much. There's so much. hope There's at least three evening scenes in this movie. Yeah.
01:15:11
Speaker
um And honestly, so I think – so there's the the first night where they're where they they go up against the Red Eyes. That's night one. And then that same night, he follows – he follows the Disco Boys to Casanova Frankenstein. Yes.
01:15:31
Speaker
So that's night one. The next night is the night where they –
01:15:38
Speaker
Like apparently like sometime over the course of the next day or two, question mark, they recruit Invisible Boy, Spleen, and The Bowler. Spleen. Yeah. that that That should be about two days or up to three days now.
01:15:57
Speaker
that feels like a week to me, though. In the movie, it feels like a whole week. No, you're right. It feels like a whole last week. And then the next night is when they ah get they attack Casanova's car. So that's night four.
01:16:10
Speaker
And then the night after that, like well, then there's the training montage. And God only knows how long that takes. Like, that's left up to interpretation. that like come on Right. There's no way to know. They do so much in that montage. They make costumes in that montage. costumes. they like this the The Sphinx like dispenses all of his like wisdom.
01:16:33
Speaker
like when you When you can balance attack hammer on your head, you can head off your foes with a balanced attack. Yeah. And why am I wearing the watermelon on my feet?
01:16:44
Speaker
i don't remember telling you to do that. speaking of watermelon jokes that don't make any sense, I read a lot about how Buckaroo Bonsai might have been a bit of an inspiration for this film.
Script Inspirations and Character Analysis
01:16:56
Speaker
I believe that. I want to believe that that is a shout out to Buckaroo Bonsai having a watermelon joke that just doesn't make any fucking sense at all.
01:17:07
Speaker
I've heard funny. I've heard that it is an allusion to the old vaudeville joke, the watermelon and the sledge-o-matic, which I think was later picked up by comedian Gallagher. That's yeah, that tracks, but still, I hope maybe it was a little inspired by that.
01:17:22
Speaker
I mean, but one, one can hope whenever I hear that joke, I do think about Jeff Goldblum asking about the Yeah. I don't remember telling you to do that. o I, i and and maybe that part of it was inspired by, by, by a buckaroo bonsai. Maybe, maybe it's it's a dual inspiration kind of a thing, but.
01:17:44
Speaker
Maybe the world may never know. The world may never know. We we might have to ask, what was the – Neil Cuthbert about that. Neil Cuthbert, by the way, and another writer whose oeuvre we can pretty much cover most of on this podcast. We cannot cover – Hocus Pocus, but we could recover the return of Swamp Thing on Unenfranchised one of these days.
01:18:07
Speaker
um Hocus Pocus, we cannot. Mystery Men, we are. And then his last movie, the movie the last film he ever had a ah writing credit on, Eddie Murphy's The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
01:18:19
Speaker
happened to him he's still around he just he'd found another profession you get that far and then you just you're like okay whatever umm well he's not getting credited on he's not getting credited on shit but like he might be doing like script doctor work which pays pretty well, but you don't always get the credits like WGA arbitration and the way that works is, is kind of fucking weird.
01:18:39
Speaker
Like I had heard that Bob burden had worked on the script, but like he doesn't get a credit on it. And I don't know to what extent that's true. Cause I feel like if Bob burden had worked on the script, it'd be a little more like there'd be a lot more characters from the comics here.
01:18:55
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. Like most of the time, um, when the that's the creator right bob burton yeah bob burton most the time when the creators work on these sorts of things it's more of a consultant kind of thing like they might be on set same as the writer but they it's i feel like it's more of a consultant role like even kevin eastman and peter laird on a lot of the ninja turtle films like they were around they were just kind of
01:19:27
Speaker
there to maybe answer questions about well mean sometimes they do let the original writers of things write the scripts like sometimes that does happen yeah
01:19:39
Speaker
and and and a lot of a lot of sources can call Bob Burden a co-writer, and I don't know to what extent that's true. Because Cuthbert is the only credited screenwriter on this film. All we have is speculation at the moment.
01:19:50
Speaker
Exactly. Jury's still out. um Results unclear. um But no. God, I love i love Mystery Men. So let's let's talk about some more of the cast of this movie.
01:20:02
Speaker
Oh, no. I know what I was wanting to talk about. like the The deleted scenes. Because a lot of this movie feels... incomplete Like, you don't see it happen, but like the last shot you can tell they throw the can, the tornado in a can into the fraculator.
01:20:20
Speaker
original ending yeah yeah which was the original ending which kink usher kind of re-edited and re-shot because the studio wanted a more like heroic big cheer kind of ending um so he he's a perfect ending for the bowler i'm just saying it kind of is for carmine yeah for sure your baby bowler I'm the man who gave your daddy the shaft.
01:20:45
Speaker
God, I love her so much in this movie. um She's so fucking good in this movie. um But I think any female character that is not named the bowler gets really short shrift in this movie. Like Lena Olin...
01:21:02
Speaker
is fucking wasted in this movie. Like she is the psychiatrist. She's got like one line at the beginning. She shows up again and doesn't say another fucking word. She just kind of like Casanova's arm candy through the whole movie. Like that's it. That's all she does. And when she's, when she's introduced, like with the twist of like, of course you knew that she was bad.
01:21:24
Speaker
The way she delivers the line. Yeah. You can tell. But with the twist that she's like directly Casanova Frankenstein's like right hand, Casanova Frankenstein's like right hand man.
01:21:36
Speaker
And then nothing ever happens with that. We don't even know what happens to her. We have no idea what happens to her. No idea. disappears from the film at a certain point. And she's – I mean she's a good actress. She's been in like The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Romeo's Bleeding. Like she is – she was on – I know her most from Alias, from like the season of Alias that she did. Like she was fucking great on Alias. Like she is – she's an absolutely incredibly talented performer and she's just relegated to a background role. Like – um
01:22:07
Speaker
Claire Forlani as well um The Ninth Gate Same year as this, the Ninth Gate she's in as well Mallrats, Claire Forlani, Mallrats, yeah She, I think um I read that she did have a lot bigger role Originally in the original script Mm-hmm ah where she actually had a bigger role involved with Mr. Furious and also helping the team in their final battle in some way. I don't know.
01:22:36
Speaker
Right. But I mean, hers is she is his redemption arc. Like she is his redemption arc and we just don't end up seeing that. Like none of that made and it to the screen. I mean, it does still work. Like that whole scene does still work. It's a little, it's a little out there, but if you're, if you've held on this long, then that's not that out there.
01:22:56
Speaker
Right. You know, um it still works, but it would, it would be nice to see, you know, maybe a two part version of this film or, you know, of kind of editor's cut. An extended cut. Yeah.
01:23:08
Speaker
Yeah. i'm Like tone, tone and pacing be damned. I just want to see all the shit. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I absolutely want to see what was left out of this movie. Like I, yeah again, there's, there's, there's just arcs that seem to like be like a little clipped and a little cut short. Like I feel like blue Raja never gets his hero moment in the final battle.
01:23:33
Speaker
Like his, his hero moment is helping Mr. Furious get up the wall. That's his hero moment. Like every, every, literally every other character gets a big hero moment in that final battle with the exception of the Sphinx.
01:23:46
Speaker
Like with all the guns in that final battle, you'd think the Sphinx would split some of those in half with his mind. Like that's, right that's his whole deal. That's his whole deal. um Plus I hear he can like break guns in half with his mind.
01:24:00
Speaker
Like I, I, And the Disco Boys and all the guns just like, put up pop but but like it's so good. um But like all the guns and the Sphinx is not like, so the Sphinx and the Blue Raj really don't get it. here I think the Sphinx's hero moment is when Mr. Furious asked for the group hug.
01:24:17
Speaker
And like the look on West Judy's face, he is so happy. Like the Sphinx is so happy that they're doing the group hug. He's like, yeah. He's like so excited. Wow.
01:24:28
Speaker
And we we haven't even mentioned Tom Waits yet. I have got to tell you Tucker, um Ruby's Arms is maybe the saddest song I've ever heard in my life.
01:24:42
Speaker
um I cry every time I hear it. And even before I was just a constant depressive mess, like I am now, I would cry all the time, ever anytime I heard it. Because it's just such a beautiful, melancholy song. And I love his voice. I love his experimentation with instruments. And it feels like a lot of that shit made its way into this movie and that funhouse scene.
01:25:09
Speaker
Well, it did. Yeah. Yeah. He's I mean, in a way, he's very similar to his character as a musician because Tom Waits just like makes shit.
01:25:21
Speaker
He does. Like he'll he'll use regular ass instruments, but he's also like, what if we put some strings on that motherfucker? would that sound like? Like, what if we hit that with a drumstick? Let's see. that What if we hit it with that?
01:25:32
Speaker
What if we hit it with a hammer? Like, he's he is an incredibly experimental ah musician. I almost said filmmaker, but he's not a filmmaker, a musician. Like, and that's his like main thing. He'll he'll act. aate And i love when he shows whatever Tom Weiss is in a movie. I get on on.
01:25:49
Speaker
unnecessarily excited like when he shows up he's got one you know he doesn't just show up for anything exactly he's got like a scene in the movie domino tony scott's domino a movie i did not like but when he showed up ae cheered i cheered when tom white shows up in that movie yes yeah I did not like Domino, but God, I love Tom Waits in that movie. Like my favorite Tom Waits story. And i don't know if I've told this on the podcast or not.
01:26:16
Speaker
My favorite Tom Waits story. So one of my all time favorite television shows is HBO's The Wire. I love that show. It is a fucking masterpiece. um I got stuck on the third season, but eventually I'll get through it.
01:26:28
Speaker
Season four is is incredible. Season four might be the best season of the show.
01:26:34
Speaker
So just if that helps you at all. And that one's also got a young Michael B. Jordan in it. So I know you love your Michael B. Jordan. Michael B. Jordan was in season one. Was he?
01:26:45
Speaker
You season four. Yeah, Michael B. Jordan's in season one, and I don't think he's going to come back for another season, if you know what I mean. I do know what you mean. I thought he was in season four. That's my mistake. No, that's season one.
01:26:56
Speaker
And then season two is white people at the docks. and i i like so I am one of the weird people. I'm one of the weird people that really loves season two.
01:27:07
Speaker
like I think season two fucking rules. I don't think there's anything for the characters that are kind of left over from season one to do, but I'm sure they'll find something for them to do in the third season.
01:27:19
Speaker
Yeah. um Season four though is um season four is kind of incredible. um I like what they ended up doing with Prez Beluski in season four. um i haven't seen season four.
01:27:30
Speaker
I've only seen the first two seasons. I know. I just got burnt out on it because it was so good. I just couldn't stop watching it. And then the third season rolled around and I was like, oh I got to take a break. season The third season, that's that's like that that ties up a lot of the Barksdale shit, which is really I might get back on that. It's been a couple years. It's about time.
01:27:50
Speaker
I mean, restart and do a full rewatch. like it It's worth it. um It's
Improvisation Challenges on Set
01:27:55
Speaker
been a while since I'm due for rewatch. Clearly, I'm due for a rewatch if I forgot that Michael Jordan is in season one. That's season one, dude. what are you doing Fuck me, I guess. um But um the theme Tom in The Wire.
01:28:08
Speaker
No, the theme song for The Wire, though, is a Tom Waits song yeah called Down in the Hole, which is a great fucking song. And the one of the fun things about it is that every season they get a different artist or set of artists to perform it. They do the same thing with True Detective, which I think is fucking rad. Yes.
01:28:28
Speaker
Yes. um But they do the same song, just a different artist covering it every time. And they asked the first season, they and Tom Waits actually does it for season two, which it might be part of the reason why I love season two is because I get to hear Tom Waits every episode.
01:28:44
Speaker
Never skip those credits. No, I don't. I never do. i never have. Cause I fucking love down in the hole. Like I, I think when Brett and I were doing the, we got five on it blog and we did our top five favorite theme songs.
01:28:57
Speaker
I think I had the wire on my list because I love down in the hole so much. Every version, yes. Every version of it. And it's it's always different and it's always great. But Tom Waits is always my favorite because i fucking love Tom Waits.
01:29:09
Speaker
um ah One of my students back when I was teaching burned me a disc of like 10 Tom Waits albums called Tom Waits for No Man. And so I had like on my Zune back when I had a Zune because I refused to get an iPod.
01:29:22
Speaker
I had like... Good Army Forever. Yeah. I had like just acres and acres of Tom Waits music and it was so great. Like Everything from like swordfish trombones through like.
01:29:34
Speaker
That's my favorite record of his actually. It's it's the one. Like if if there's one Tom Waits record you get, it's that one. That's the one you people, yeah. It is. I think I also got his ah Glitter and Doom when Glitter and Doom came out. Like I ran out to buy Glitter and Doom. Yeah.
01:29:49
Speaker
Which is a good album. um Anyway. Yeah. They asked Tom Waits for permission to use down in the hole for the wire. and he And they sent him ah they sent him the letter and they just hadn't heard from him.
01:30:04
Speaker
And like weeks and weeks and weeks went by. They hadn't heard from him. So eventually they call him. They're like, hey, did you get our request? We're really wanting to use it for the show. Like it's we're coming down the The wire. Yeah.
01:30:18
Speaker
Um, we're coming down to the wire here and we really needed an answer from you. He goes, oh yeah, sorry. I gotta, I gotta wait till my wife gets back into town because, um, he wanted to see the show first. That was what it was. He wanted to see the show before he gave permission.
01:30:31
Speaker
Understandable. Um, he goes, yeah, I, uh, I gotta wait cause my wife's out of town and she's the one who knows how to work the VCR. So he had to wait like a week till his wife got home so she could put the show on the VCR.
01:30:46
Speaker
But then he watched it and immediately gave permission. he's like, yeah, this is great. So and I another story from this movie that I love about Tom Waits is all the weird shit he's doing with his hands. is because he had a hard time memorizing his lines like Marlon Brando style.
01:31:00
Speaker
So he fucking wrote them all on his hand. So the way he's like holding his hand, he says some really weird words. He does probably have to like, shit. i don't even know what the fuck he's talking about. Like I'd probably have to write that on my hands too.
01:31:12
Speaker
Based on simple dry cleaning technology. Like, I got to love everything here is completely non-lethal. like I like the stance. This whole movie takes a like like ah anti-gun, you know, ah you like sort of ah a traditional sort of Batman stance, like no killing, no guns.
01:31:33
Speaker
Only the villains use guns. 100 percent non-lethal yet 100 percent effective. Like, all the weaponry they use, from the tornado in the can to the shrink ray to the um the blame thrower, like, all of it is...
01:31:51
Speaker
like he says 100% non-lethal, but 100% effective. And then, and like just like the little throwaway shit things that he does, like when he sits down in front of the TV at the end, and he's like, what, do what, what that cycle, that fraculator thing work. whats what's What's the story with that? Like you can tell he's like completely ad-libbing shit and it works so fucking well. Like, and that was one of the things that led to so much difficulty on the set is the fact that Usher knew he had a cast of,
01:32:19
Speaker
Of improvisers. And so he let them improvise. And unique voices. to but and And I think it's it's the fact that A, they're all great improvisers, but B, all the voices are so unique that none of them could cohesively agree on what the comedic tone of the movie should be Which, and for promotional purposes, that does not work. But for me, it's fantastic.
01:32:43
Speaker
It's a too-many-cooks scenario, right? But in a good way, when you're watching the movie, in a bad way if you're trying to promote that bitch, you know what I mean? But you can see in the movie – because, again, there's multiple comedy styles at play at any a given moment – Like what William H. Macy is doing is very different from what Ben Stiller is doing is very different from what Hank Azaria is doing. And yet they're just three protagonists. What Kel Mitchell's doing, like, and even Paul Rubens, like Jeffrey Rush. Everybody's doing something different, but I don't know. It works for me. Like sometimes.
01:33:15
Speaker
It's a symphonic cacophony. Some, sometimes there's beauty and chaos. And this film, comedic wise, tone wise,
01:33:26
Speaker
should not it should not work there's no reason this fucking thing should work no but somehow it's perfect it is it's fucking perfect and that and that's that's ah and again i'm i'm of the mind where i'm i'm like i will not say this is a good movie like it just i mean strictly speaking good movie probably not but i think this is a great movie like i love this movie like i bought howard the duck on 4k i fucking adore this movie i can't I cannot sanction buying Howard the Duck on 4K, but I can sanction buying this film on 4K or Blu-ray if it's cheaper because honestly, probably look about the same.
01:34:09
Speaker
But i'm yeah i put I definitely put the on my Amazon wish list. So if you if you love me, find me on Amazon and buy it for me, please. Thank you. um and but um But yeah, and I fucking love, love, love this movie so much. And like i get I get Kink Usher's frustration, though. like You're dealing with...
01:34:30
Speaker
A lot of very powerful, very prominent, very up and coming voices. And one of your, at least one of your cast members is a filmmaker in his own right. ah Like Ben Stiller directed Reality Bites. Like that is a Ben Stiller movie. Like it's...
01:34:47
Speaker
Like he is he is a direct – and he was actually attached to direct this at one point. At another point, guess who else was attached to direct this movie, Tucker? And I kind of want to see his version of this movie. Danny DeVito?
01:34:58
Speaker
Danny DeVito was attached to this movie at one point. Was also supposed to play the shoveler in that version of the movie. And I kind of wonder what that would have been like. He would be very mole-like, which would have kind of fit that character, It would have worked really well.
01:35:13
Speaker
And you can guarantee like Vincent Chiavella would have been in that movie. I fucking love Vincent Chiavella. Ben Stiller was going to direct it at one point, but right he said it was like too much. He's like, fuck that. He had a very Kevin Smith, Superman lives moment where he's like, ah, this is probably above my pay grade. don't know I can do this. No. So he was supposed to direct it. And then DeVito was supposed direct it. And apparently DeVito dropped out because of problem, like issues with the soundtrack.
01:35:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I read. I didn't quite understand that. I didn't get that either, but I read that and I was like, I don't know what that means. What does that even What does that even fucking mean? I mean, this movie has a gloriously late 90s soundtrack.
01:35:52
Speaker
You know, next time they have Danny DeVito on the Always Sunny podcast and they they field questions from the audience, I'll see if I can pop in there and be like, what was the soundtrack issue on Mystery Men? The world needs to know.
01:36:05
Speaker
Look, man, i you know and I know I've said this on this podcast before, but Danny DeVito is one of my like favorite underrated directors. He's an amazing director, yeah. He's an unbelievable... And he he hasn't directed anything since The Duplex, which is a fucking shame.
01:36:20
Speaker
Because, look, no one directs like ah a black comedy like Danny DeVito, and there are na enough... That does me, G. Eek Danny DeVito. Thank you, yes. And and again...
01:36:30
Speaker
The yes I would have had on this episode is the guy who introduced me to death to smoochie as well.
Mystery Men: A Chaotic Symphony
01:36:36
Speaker
Like he's got to do death to smoochie and have him on. I, I, I don't know how we do that movie. There's no way that movie was supposed to have a sequel.
01:36:44
Speaker
think make it work. I look, we, maybe we covered on your show. um But I just, I fucking love death. to that That movie. That's another movie that I don't think is good, but I think is great.
01:36:56
Speaker
Like in my mind, that movie is perfect. And I love every fucking second of it. It is dark. It is twisted. It is weird as shit, but I cannot get enough of it.
01:37:07
Speaker
And mystery men, I feel the exact same way about like, if I had a guilty pleasure movie, it would be mystery. The mystery men is my guilty pleasure movie, such as that is for whatever the fuck that means.
01:37:19
Speaker
I think the person that has, has kind of taken over for Danny DeVito in, in, filling that void of the movies that Danny DeVito normally does stuff like death to smoochie is Bobcat Goldthwait.
01:37:32
Speaker
I feel like we're getting a lot of the same kind of stuff out of him, like world's greatest dad and even shakes the clown for back in the day, like Bobcat. He kind of has that same kind of sensibility. So even though Danny DeVito is not out there doing that, I feel like he's kind of passed the torch on to someone else.
01:37:48
Speaker
Right. An upcoming guest actually is a host of a Bobcat Goldthwait podcast. Fuck yes. Who is it? When is it? I want to talk to him right now. Where are they called him?
01:37:59
Speaker
wait i'll I'll tell you off, Mike. um Fuck. Double fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Mother. Mother. Fuck. Mother. motherfu Fuck. Mother. Fuck. Mother. Fuck. Mother. Fuck. No. No. No.
01:38:10
Speaker
um Why did I just do that? I don't know. um Because it was appropriate and I appreciated it, Steven. That's all that matters. I'm glad you appreciated it. God, i I feel like I'm i'm ah paradoxically running out of things to talk about it about Mystery Man, but I feel like just one thing will like push the dam open and I'll just like start talking about Mystery Man again. like i I do. I love this movie so much. like I can't say enough good things about this movie. Again, is it good?
01:38:39
Speaker
No. Is it perfect? Yes. Like... I don't know how that makes sense, but it does. It is the perfect storm. um Even behind the scenes, even the making of this film, according to everyone involved, was not necessarily an easy or fun experience.
01:39:00
Speaker
no Yeah, no one had fun making this movie, like at all. Everybody regards this as like their worst film, which is a shame, but also understandable. If you have a bad experience on something, it doesn't matter how well it comes together, you're still going fight.
01:39:13
Speaker
hate it i get exactly yeah but it was the perfect storm you have like brilliance everywhere but like in different shades and somehow somehow it all comes together and makes just beautiful chaos like i said before like everybody's going in different directions here everybody's doing something different but somehow it all fucking comes together into something that is cohesive something that has even though it has a fluctuating tone it has its own unique kind of tone yep i feel like there's nothing like this fucking movie no and i agree with you it is perfect there's nothing in this movie that i would take out it's a frankenstein one thing this movie is a frankenstein
01:40:01
Speaker
Like it is – the pieces are kind of a bit of a jumbled mess. But the way it all kind of coalesces and comes together, it is it is a movie that is somehow greater than the sum of its parts.
01:40:17
Speaker
And I feel like that is rare in filmmaking. like And I know there are some who would probably say, i don't know that this movie holds up or – I don't know. For me, i I always have fun with this movie. I've never not had a good time with this movie.
01:40:32
Speaker
And the fact that you've got so many people from so many different backgrounds, like you've got musicians, like you got fucking- Indie film actors, you've got comedians, you've got established character actors, you've got everything in this movie.
01:40:45
Speaker
People from everywhere. This is just like, we need one person from every- specific genre and every specific... The only thing you don't have in this movie is an athlete.
01:40:55
Speaker
Really. They should have thrown Michael Jordan in there, but that wasn't my choice. Like... put Bo Jackson in there right Bo knows Bo knows Bo knows mystery man like that but like that is that is one thing that's just not in this movie but you've got like yeah you've got your your alt comedians you've got your indie stars you've got your fucking indie filmmaker you've got your rappers you've got classic actors Louise Lasser Yes. Come on man. Straight up junk it. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Yes. Yes. Fuck yes. Like it's this movie is such a perfect storm.
01:41:36
Speaker
And you're right, there's nothing like it, and I don't think there ever could be anything like it again. like it is it's It's a lightning in a bottle kind of thing. Because I don't
Cameos and Cast Legacy
01:41:45
Speaker
think anybody meant for it to be this fucking good. This is all some kind of big cosmic mistake that turned out phenomenally well.
01:41:55
Speaker
And that's it. Somehow. I don't get it, but I fucking love this movie. dad I can absolutely see why someone would look at this movie and go, that is a piece of shit that I will never watch again. No, bury me with this motherfucker.
01:42:07
Speaker
i get Look, i I can understand where you're coming from, but by the same token, absolutely not. I will not give you credence. This movie is incredible.
01:42:18
Speaker
like This movie is such it's a master. It's a fucking piece of art. And this is the only time you will hear Stephen say that about a movie that features Dane Cook. Yes!
01:42:28
Speaker
can we talk about Can we talk about the audition scene? Can we talk about the audition scene? Yes, let's please. Because that might be one of my favorite scenes of the movie. Like everything from the Jennifer Lawrence, William H. Macy, like like banter at the beginning of it.
01:42:44
Speaker
You know, there's a lot of men interested. Still are. I understand. Yeah. Someone vomits in my pool. I will divorce you. That's fair. i love their chemistry, man. I love them as a couple. I love their fucking kids, dude.
01:42:58
Speaker
The payoff of that scene of that, of that whole arc too, where he's like on TV and the little kids like, that's my daddy. And she was my hero. And I'm like fucking crying. And I'm like, damn straight, man. You love that man.
01:43:11
Speaker
Stand by your man. Like I fucking love it. And, and, but then you, you get Dane cook as the waffler. You get Indianapolis. misunderstood the site the assignment. Oh, yeah. According to, and not that kind of waffle date, but still, thank you for coming.
01:43:32
Speaker
V, that's great. And I also have my truth syrup, which is ah low fat. Yes. Fucking nails it. Like, like Dane Cook definitely has this moment. She put that man at the right place at the right time. he can, he can spend some gold.
01:43:50
Speaker
And look, it doesn't happen often.
01:43:53
Speaker
um But then you get Indianapolis, Indiana native Doug Jones as Pencilhead. Dougie Jones. Dougie Jones. I fucking love Doug Jones. he is a is a fucking master of physical acting.
01:44:09
Speaker
Just an absolute... Yeah, dude, he was in the Pan's Labyrinth. He was the the Pale Man and the Fine. Yeah. Yeah, he was the he was the in the shape of water.
01:44:21
Speaker
He was. he was the creature from the Black Lagoon in the shape of water. and he does so much. toro to The back lagoon is called Gill Man. Right, right, right. You're right. Scientifically, the nomenclature is the Gill Man.
01:44:33
Speaker
But anyway, yeah, Gill Man. Gill Man. and that yo ma' Well, actually, let's go, man. um the um But no, he does so much Del Toro and he's so good in all of it.
01:44:49
Speaker
um And then you get date like Simpsons like writer Dana Gould as Squeegee Man. I really liked Stan Against Evil, which was really good and everybody should watch it. ah Yeah, he's Squeegee Man.
01:45:04
Speaker
ah a You sense its power? Yes. And then you get ah Fast and Furious actor sun Sung Kang as one of the Suisies in the final gang scene at the end.
01:45:18
Speaker
Like this, Mark Mothersbaugh is the band leader at the beginning of the movie. You know Mark Mothersbaugh is my boy. i know Mark Mothersbaugh is your boy.
01:45:29
Speaker
Like I have a tattoo of his band right there. I know. I've seen it. You showed me it. like We are boys. I've seen him in person. ah Yeah. just Just context for any listeners that are new. the Devo is is one of the bands in my top five that never moves places.
01:45:48
Speaker
Yeah. um You've also got Jack Plotnick in this movie as well as as a character called Mr. Pups. I don't know what that is or what that means, but like he's in there.
01:45:59
Speaker
Right along your friend, Miss Izzard, you've got Prazwell from the Fugees, dude. Praz Michelle, yeah, absolutely, yeah. Who recently has had some legal troubles.
01:46:10
Speaker
Oh, no. You guys following that. have not, no. no Uh, yeah, he's like had some shady business deals with China and. o ah yeah, it's.
01:46:21
Speaker
ah ah Oh, pros. Pros. Tell me. Tell me it was an accident. Tell me didn't know what you were doing. Pros. Say it. was from way back it is So pros. My class got his back and I trust
Paul Rubens' Impact and Pee-wee Memories
01:46:33
Speaker
why cleft.
01:46:33
Speaker
So I didn't it the whole thing. Honestly. Uh, I mean, look, just tell me pros. Just tell me it was one time, one time. Um, Just learn from that shit. That's it.
01:46:44
Speaker
Like, God. Yeah. But again, and and that just speaks to how fucking stacked this movie is. Like, I think Ned Bellamy's in this movie. ne fucking Bellamy is in this movie.
01:47:04
Speaker
Yes, dude. I... yes i what Like, what what are why do we... why do we what what is What is life, man?
01:47:13
Speaker
gonna Mr. Furious is going to go Pompeii on his ass. And then you've got Mr. or You've got Monet Mazur from Tork as Becky Beaner, the the reporter.
01:47:27
Speaker
um You've got um what's ah ah from High School Musical, Corbin Bleu as one of the Shoveler's kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:47:38
Speaker
um Like, it's... the Like, this is... And again, this movie... Because this movie is 1999, so many of the people in this movie would go on to do so much bigger things.
01:47:52
Speaker
And, like, so many of these people... like Even the cameos are, like, kind of niche people that are going to go on to do much bigger shit later on down the line. And that, I think, is part of what makes this movie so special, is you get so many of these... it And it's this thing where...
01:48:07
Speaker
You're able to amass so many people right but before they hit or a few years before they hit to where when people like us cover it 20 years down the road or I guess almost 30 years down the road at this point.
01:48:23
Speaker
Like we're able to look at it and go – Fuck this is this is incredible this is amazing And smack dab in the middle of that Incredible cast is fucking Pee Wee Herman of all people let's let so yeah let's do it We um were at the time Of this recording ah Paul Rubens the great Paul Rubens ah Passed away Just like Literally a week ago today As of the day that we're recording this died on the 30th yeah
01:48:56
Speaker
ah We're recording this on the 6th, which is just ah like a few days before it this episode is is scheduled to drop. And this was, I will say this was already on the schedule for this. It, it tragically. And I found out from you when you texted the group chat, like, well, and I was just like, fuck who died.
01:49:14
Speaker
And I was expecting it would be someone like Jeffrey Rush or. Yeah. Somebody that's old. Or William H. Macy. Yeah.
01:49:26
Speaker
or we i was I was deathly afraid. When did Paul Rubens 70? Probably on his last birthday. Shut the fuck up, Stephen. Anyway, moving on.
01:49:38
Speaker
But no, like Paul Rubens, like such an unbelievable performer, like a perennial child. Of course, we all know him probably best and most as Pee Wee Herman.
01:49:52
Speaker
um i I mean, you and I are of an age, Tucker and Brett as well. We're all of an age where like Pee Wee Herman was it when we were kids.
01:50:04
Speaker
I dressed up as Pee Wee Herman for Halloween when I was seven years old. I have a photo of it that I will ask my mother for and see if I can share it with the group chat so that you all can see it. and i was going to say, I will put it on the social medias if if you are able to send it.
01:50:18
Speaker
want you to. I'll see I can get that. um But like, but I mean, just look, I mean, he started, his first movie was 1968. He played a wedding guest in the movie, The Brotherhood.
01:50:32
Speaker
ah The first – the earliest thing that I have seen him in is probably 1980s The Blues Brothers where he plays one of the waiters at the restaurant, the wrong glass, sir. um But he's in Cheech and Chong's next movie as Pee Wee Herman. Yeah.
01:50:50
Speaker
The Pee Wee Herman show, of course, in 1981 was kind of his big breakout. And from there, Pee Wee Herman is everywhere. Twilight Theater in 82, Madam's Place in 82, the Paragon of Comedy in 83.
01:51:04
Speaker
Like he just starts showing up in until 85 when you get yes the Tim Burton movie. Yeah, it's a adventure, dude. And we we were talking, I mean, he's Pee Wee Herman in future episode of this podcast, Back to the Beach.
01:51:19
Speaker
um and We can add, because that's ah that's a reboot of all those Frankie and Annette shit movies. like ah We could do um a month on that shit. There have been so many revivals of those in so many different genres, either serious or parody.
01:51:33
Speaker
We could do a whole month of that shit. But I mean. Beach movie revival movies. Let's do it. Put it on the schedule. he's he's a He's a regular Tim Burton collaborator appearing ah later in Batman begin im sorry benman Returns as Penguin's dad. He was the Penguin's dad, yeah. Nightmare Before Christmas. He was the kids in Nightmare Before Christmas, for sure.
01:51:54
Speaker
He's in future episode, ah I don't know if actually will cover this or not, but he's in Dunstan Checks in um he's in the Everybody's got to do a monkey movie. He's in the Danny DeVito film Matilda.
01:52:05
Speaker
um He's in the original film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, potential future episode of this podcast, Uncertain. He reprises his character in a season one episode of What We Do in the Shadows, if you guys aren't familiar. There's a season one episode of What We Do in the Shadows where a lot of previous vampire actors come back as, ah like even Wesley Snipes is in that episode. They don't call him Blade, but you know who he is. Yeah, like the Vampire Paul Reyes comes back the master from buffy the Buffy movie.
01:52:37
Speaker
Well, not the master, but the... the You know what I mean. I know what you mean. But yeah, I mean, like, just a man whose career spanned decades and was such an enduring part of our childhood. Now, I will make a confession.
01:52:51
Speaker
I... There were two characters... Three characters that absolutely terrified me as a child. There was Sweetums from The Muppets. There was Jim Varney's Ernest.
01:53:04
Speaker
a Steven, you poor, poor man. i grew out of it, but his face was so rubbery. It seemed unnatural. No, I do too. bottom from the Bottom of my dead little heart.
01:53:17
Speaker
No, I do too. Anyway, go ahead. And then Pee Wee Herman was the third. Oh no, Stephen, no! I think the thing that freaked me out about Pee Wee Herman was he was a grown man who was acting like a child, which seemed off-putting to me as a kid.
01:53:29
Speaker
But secondly, he was also, in addition to that, there was an episode of Pee Wee's Playhouse that my mom had turned on for me when I was a kid. And I had I i had walked out into the living room and I was in my pajamas and he ran up to the camera and he looked in the camera and like right down the lens and said and it looked like he was looking right at me and he said nice pajamas. Where'd you get them? And I freaked the fuck out because I was like he can see me through the TV And that is terrifying. So i i grew to I grew to fear Paul Rubens as a child.
01:54:05
Speaker
I grew out of it as I grew out of my fear of all of those. I i did grow out of it. But like I remember there was a bit he did for Jimmy Kimmel, and I remember it well, where he did the Age of Ultron trailer as Wee Herman.
01:54:28
Speaker
And so he did all of Ultron's lines in that trailer as Pee Wee Herman. And it's really fucking funny. I don't even have to see it, man. It's already hilarious.
01:54:39
Speaker
I will see if I can if i can find it because it is it's too good. It really is too good.
01:54:48
Speaker
oh um But yeah, he basically just redubs the the trailer as, as P. Here. will. I have, I have, I think I have found it.
01:54:59
Speaker
I will send it to Oh, video unavailable. Damn it. i Oh, I need to, I need to find it. um Cause God, that was so fucking funny.
Filming Dynamics and Cast Chemistry
01:55:09
Speaker
I laughed so hard when I saw it. I really did. It was so good.
01:55:14
Speaker
But yeah, no, I mean, Paul Rube. And again, this this was already on the schedule. We were already planning to cover this this week. We actually were planning on covering it last month, but life ah found a way. It's been on the schedule for over a year, I feel like. It really has. It's been on the schedule for a while.
01:55:31
Speaker
And our guest was our guest. i've I've had that guest attached to this episode for for over definitely over a year. um And it just the last minute it all fell through. But like, I i love this movie.
01:55:46
Speaker
I adore this movie. And the fact that Paul Rubin's death happened so close to when we were recording this episode, it it was not intentional, but it feels like this is kind of the perfect time to cover it because Spleen is, for me, my rediscovery of Paul Rubin's.
01:56:03
Speaker
yeah it's it's either I can see that. It's absolutely my rediscovery of of that performer and that actor. And it it it hits. It works. like it He is so good in this role. like The way that he's constantly hitting on the bowler. like He's just a horny little toad.
01:56:23
Speaker
there's in that There's not enough beer in the world. There's not enough beer in the world. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. hi I'm just being... You're very attractive. like and And the way he delivers his origin story in the in the diner is a perfect. yeah um like the way And he's definitely giving like some Pee-wee Herman energy.
01:56:50
Speaker
like It's Pee-wee Herman energy, but it's a different character entirely. Well, the only thing for me that gives him away is sometimes the voice comes through because a lot of Pee Wee Herman's voice is based in Paul Rubin's natural voice.
01:57:05
Speaker
Like when he gets loud, he does he does kind of have of a Pee Wee Herman sort of thing going. And I don't think that that says anything bad about his performance. that no That's just his voice.
01:57:16
Speaker
Exactly. it's very easy. Something that's that's that's remarkable to say about that is that even though you hear that, I don't equate Spleen with Pee-wee at all. Like they're two completely different characters.
01:57:30
Speaker
Any more than I equate Pee-wee with Amelin from Bethany the Vampire Slayer. Or that motherfucker he plays in Blow, which is, if you haven't seen Blow, Stephen. Oh my God, I've, no, i've sun I saw Blow years ago. I completely forgot he was in Blow. Fuck. Penelope Cruz, yeah. Oh, Penelope Cruz, yeah.
01:57:50
Speaker
I love that. I still like that. I actually watched that movie a couple years ago and it holds up. It's just a really, really fun movie. I haven't seen it since very shortly after it came out on Blu-ray or DVD. i worked at I worked at the theater when it came out, so I watched it several times then and I've seen it a few times since then. There you go.
01:58:07
Speaker
I completely forgot he was in that movie. But again, he's he's one of those actors who would just show up and do the work. like Which, again, I have great respect for actors who are able to do that. He's... he's a constant pro and part of an an indelible part of our childhoods and god we're going to miss him. Like there's, there's nothing else. There's nothing else really to say. Like he, he is an incredible performer. And as much as it pains me that he, that he did die, like the fact that we were able to cover it that, this was already built into our schedule and we're able to cover it and talk about it now is really, is it, it feels, it feels kind of God blessed in a way, you know,
01:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. and i i I kind of love that. like I love that for us, um that we get to to talk about this movie and to talk about his performance, which is is a great – like he's doing – and again, he seems to be having such a fun time.
01:59:07
Speaker
Like he's he's doing such good work.
Kenan & Kel and 90s TV Nostalgia
01:59:09
Speaker
the The chemistry between he he and Cal Mitchell is – Yes. Unparalleled. They're the power duo. They are the bros of the movie for sure. They really are. Yeah.
01:59:21
Speaker
And they're speaking, go ahead. No, I'm but just going to say like they're the two outcasts. So like they, they, they belong together. Like it's a natural fit. Like this movie kind of exists. There are these little kind of clumps and clusters in this movie. And I think their cluster is, you is one of the more fun ones. And it's not the most fun one. Yeah.
01:59:40
Speaker
in this movie. I like it quite a bit. And I like what the two of them are doing. And I like the energy that they give off of each other. It's it's a lot of fun. Agreed, agreed. um ah I think that will bring me to my final point of the evening.
01:59:55
Speaker
And that is, i love Kenan Thompson. I love everything that Kenan Thompson has ever done. But how is it that out of the two of them, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson was so successful and Kel Mitchell has barely done anything.
02:00:17
Speaker
That's not to say that Kenan doesn't deserve his success. sure I'm just saying, how does Kenan get that much success? And Kel doesn't. Like Kenan was always the straight man. He was always a straight man. And he's very good at that.
02:00:28
Speaker
very good at playing off like very, very funny actors. And even now he he does the complete opposite himself and he's amazing at it. But in those days, you had all that and you had Keenan and Kel Keenan Kel were the breakout stars of all that.
02:00:45
Speaker
But even though Kenan's name came first, Kel was the one that had the catchphrases. Kel was the one whose goofy antics everybody was giggling at. And sure, Kenan grounded it.
02:00:57
Speaker
And he was definitely, you know, a huge part of that. Kel wouldn't have worked without Kenan. I just don't understand how Kel just fell so far by the wayside. Well, I think Kenan's success you can attribute to three words.
02:01:11
Speaker
Saturday Night Live. yeah Well, they both auditioned, man. How'd they both not get it, man? Get both those motherfuckers on there. It's a natural transition, dude. it it is but But again, and I think i think Saturday Night Live has a – Lorne Michaels maybe specifically has kind of an aversion to established acts.
02:01:33
Speaker
I think very rarely will he allow them all to be on the main cast. I think the the biggest concession he'll make is like a Lonely Island situation where he'll bring on the other two as writers. please destroy.
02:01:46
Speaker
Right. Modern, the modern version. yeah Correct. He'll bring on the other guys as writers and there'll be one guy who's in like the main cast. But like... i i and And maybe he was more rigid on it in the early days. But like...
02:02:03
Speaker
I mean, they both come from all that. Like all that, it was the kid version of Saturday Night Live. And it was fucking good. It was still good. Go back and watch that shit and you're having a good time. As a 40-year-old man, I will watch all that and have a great fucking time.
02:02:17
Speaker
i i I think it's probably streaming on Paramount+. plus I need to go rewatch it because love... I own the first three seasons. Of course you do. I loved that show so much when I was a kid. I watched it religiously.
02:02:30
Speaker
um Like I loved it. Like... um ah ah what was what was What was the girl's name I had such a huge fucking crush on um on that show? don't know.
02:02:42
Speaker
Depends on what what which cast, honestly. I mean, original. OG. I'm um'm OG cast. Yeah, like first three seasons. And then I was out because I kind of aged out of it. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, i um i want to say and her first name was Angelique.
02:03:01
Speaker
But I forget her last name.
02:03:05
Speaker
Well, this is another edition of the part of the show where Steven up stuff in real time. It's very exciting. Everyone loves Angelique Bates.
02:03:18
Speaker
There it is. Angelique Bates. Had a big old crush on Angelique Bates, for sure. um Now I have to look her up to see which one she was. She was cutie. She probably still is. I just, you know, haven't, haven't seen her since all that, but I had a big old crush on her in the nineties.
02:03:39
Speaker
Cause she was adorable.
02:03:45
Speaker
so trying to somebody i'm
02:03:52
Speaker
I'm just scrolling and scrolling and I don't see this person. I think you made them up. Steven.
02:04:05
Speaker
TLC did the theme song. I just remembered. Oh, yeah. It was just an introduction before we blow your mind. and The show is all that. and Yes, we do it all the time. So sit your booty on the floor in a chair.
02:04:16
Speaker
Hands go in the air. Just don't go nowhere. Because everything we do, we all of that, we're detaining you. We all of that, my posse and my friends. We all of that, sit still. Because we're coming right back home.
02:04:29
Speaker
Oh, that. Yep. That is my stupid human trick. There you go. Steven flexing his muscles, the muscles which allow him to remember every TV theme song he's ever come into contact with. am i'm a fucking weirdo. i don't know why I can do this.
02:04:48
Speaker
I somehow can. it is my stupid human trick. I'm happy that you can do it. I hate telling people that I can do it because then all they want me to do... is All they want to do is try to stump me. Oh, another one I had a crush on, a Elisa Reyes. I had a crush on her too. I don't ever want to stump you, Steven. I'm just wondering why you have not done the entire Facts of Life theme song at this point. can You take the good, you take the bad, you take take them both in there. You have the Facts of Life. the facts alive Oh, it's because you said you weren't that familiar with it.
02:05:19
Speaker
There's a time you got to go and show you're grown and now you know about the Facts of life the facts Life. When the world never sees, you've been living up to your dreams and suddenly you're finding out the Facts Life are all about you. You, all about you. All about you. It takes a lot to get them right. When you're learning the facts life.
02:05:33
Speaker
Learning the facts of life. yeah I know the facts of life, dude. Don't don't don't step to me. you would have started out singing because the beginning of that song. You take the book, you take the book, you get the you get book, get the book, get book.
02:05:47
Speaker
It's like one of those like late 70s country pop singers. I don't remember who it is. It's somebody noteworthy. I don't remember who it is. I'll Google that, too. Yeah, fucking Facts of Life.
02:05:58
Speaker
I got to say, that's that's an S-tier sitcom theme song. You don't get much better than that. There are things better than that, but not many. And there are not many that are on the same tier also. Facts of facts of Life theme song was composed by Albertan Gloria Loring and then husband Alan Thicke.
02:06:22
Speaker
Yeah, dude.
02:06:25
Speaker
It was performed by an artist called ray Man, I wish that that Alan Thicke never had any kids. It was performed who? Ray. What? R-A-E. ah r a TV's Alan Thicke. Okay, I thought it was somebody that I'd heard of, but it's not, apparently. I mean, Alan Thicke was one the composers, which is pretty fucking incredible.
02:06:44
Speaker
I'm way into that. Now, do you know what theme song... oh God. Oh, God. Do you know what theme song Alan Thicke did sing, though? What's that? I want to know. I got to know.
02:06:55
Speaker
Do you know what show The Facts of Life was a spinoff of? Wait, I do, but I don't? What is it? Different Strokes.
02:07:06
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Alan Thicke sang the theme song to Different Strokes. I am inexplicably way into that. Yeah. Way, way into that. tv s Canada's Alan Thicke.
02:07:21
Speaker
It Takes Different Strokes performed by Alan Thicke, Linda Harmon, Gloria Loring, and Gene Morford. He is the primary lead vocalist on that songs track. Could you sing that song for us, Stephen?
02:07:36
Speaker
uh now the world don't move to the beat of just one drum what might be right for you may not be right for some a man is born he's a man of means that along come to they got nothing but the genes but it takes different strokes it takes different strokes it takes different strokes to move the world everybody's got a special kind of story everybody finds a way to shine it don't matter that you got not a lot so what you've got theirs and they'll you've got yours and they'll have theirs and i've got mine and together we'll be fine because it takes different strokes to move the world yes it does it takes different strokes to move the world Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you.
02:08:05
Speaker
Thank you, my personal theme song jukebox. And this is why I don't fucking tell people this. but Because then the whole thing just devolves into me quoting theme songs. I'm assuming that you're not that you're not singing them because you're sick. Because, you know, it would be a lot more fun if you were singing them and I could provide backup vocals.
02:08:23
Speaker
It would. I feel like that's whole other Patreon show. ah you know And here's the thing. maybe that's like Maybe that's what we do for the Patreon is maybe we have our patrons like write in with some of their favorite TV theme songs and I don't look at them.
02:08:38
Speaker
And then you and Brett just – and again, the qualifications I usually get is theme songs within my lifetime that have lyrics – Between so like and and there are a few that I know before my lifetime like some of the big ones before I'd say for me and probably for you probably from like the love boat. I know more like dick doesn't have any words but you could be all like but and and and then ban in and and That works too. like but But no, I don't – they've got to have lyrics. You can whistle the Andy Griffith theme if you want. I could.
02:09:14
Speaker
yeah I mean I could do – but like Gilligan's Island, I know. Like The Love Boat, I know. Like I mean it's just – there are there a lot that I just – again, and that was a and a ah weird obsession of mine as a child.
02:09:30
Speaker
And none of that has left my brain because my brain is deeply, deeply broken. um i can dig it. So maybe that's a Patreon show. And hey, you should join our patreron Patreon page. It's patreon.com slash disenfranchepod.
02:09:47
Speaker
You can find like literally hours of content over there. Thank you. Look, you could join for one month. You could pay $5 for one month, and you could listen to a couple episodes of whatever's on there pretty straight for those five days, and you'd still only be making a dent.
02:10:13
Speaker
Here's what get. Just dense amount of content that is on there. Hundreds. Hundreds. I'm not kidding. You think i'm joking? There's hundreds of episodes of business. Business episodes, if you will.
02:10:25
Speaker
Here's what you get. You get a weekly show that we've been doing for god the past few months called What Are We Watching? Yes, My Baby, My Brain Child. Which really just stemmed out of a segment I had already created that you just kind of commandeered and took over and renamed for some reason. I gave it structure. I gave it structure.
02:10:45
Speaker
Excuse you. I don't know that it needed structure, but okay. um But um what are we watching when we talk about stuff that we've watched? And honestly, just kind of ramble and muse. So if you like the tangents and the banter, that is a weekly version of of basically just that. Upsall Tangent is what it should be called.
02:11:06
Speaker
Brett's got a show called Upsall Video Game Corner. We've done like probably seven of those so far. Like our most recent one, I think, will probably be dropping this next week on all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle video games.
02:11:17
Speaker
In honor of Muted Mayhem, which we talked about the 2007 film last week. I've got a show that I've... love Muted Mayhem. Yeah, and and you did. and talk And Tucker talked about it. And if you want to hear more of his thoughts on that, you should go subscribe to our Patreon.
02:11:31
Speaker
um I've got a show called Oopsaw Christianity Corner where we watch movies with religious themes and Tucker and Brett grill me on on on them and we just like chat about organized religion and how fucking weird it is. It's really fascinating.
02:11:46
Speaker
it's I have a lot of fun with it. Not everyone likes it, but look, there's so much other stuff on there. You guys, I am a godless heathen and I have a wonderful time on this show because that shit, whether I believe in it or not, that shit is so interesting.
02:11:59
Speaker
And I've spent the majority, the better part of 40 years, like, studying that and teaching that. so I went to college for that shit. like I did. whole thing had Made a career out of it for a while, for over a decade. I'm trying to say Steven knows what he's talking about when it comes to that kind of shit, for sure. I do okay. um We've got commentaries that we've done on Adam's Family Values and Train to Busan.
02:12:24
Speaker
ah We've also got commentaries that we've done on trailers where we'll just watch a trailer and talk about it. We've got um reviews movie reviews of movies that we've seen like ah Scream 6 and – Weird, the Al Yankovic story. Weird, the Al Yankovic story. That's right.
02:12:41
Speaker
um Like there is – I'm the weird one. There is so much – there's our Oops! Christianity Corner Christmas episode that was free yeah that we posted last last Christmas. on the feed. Check it out.
02:12:53
Speaker
Scroll down real, real far. It's actually not on the main feed. You actually have to go to the Patreon to see it, but it's it should be free on the patrionch so and the Patreon. And we haven't even mentioned like our core shows.
02:13:06
Speaker
We have core shows. The core shows, which we haven't done in a while, like the Diss in Five Chais, which is where we do top five lists. I try to force you guys to do one a month, but sometimes it's difficult.
02:13:17
Speaker
Life finds a way a lot these days, dude. We're all busy. Here's the thing. this During the summer, we're all busy. All of us, all three of us. So it's it's really hard. it's it's ah Look, it's hard enough to find all three ah find time for all three of us to sit down and talk about a main feed episode, let alone a Patreon episode.
Patreon Content and Final Reflections
02:13:35
Speaker
um But then we've also got um uninfived yeah unenfranchise where we talk about Unenfranchised, where we talk about a movie that killed off a popular long-running franchise and we do and next year on april fools can we do un in five chized where we do our top five list of favorite movies that killed a franchise we honestly i don't think we need to wait for april fools we can just we can just do that fucking whenever like when dc and marvel came together in the ninety s and did the amalgam universe you had spider boy the dark claw you know i remember all that yeah
02:14:12
Speaker
You just birthed a brilliant idea, Stephen. Thank you for that. You're welcome. my My drunken... Your trash treasure. My drunken, tired stupor at this point is just leading to gold, apparently.
02:14:24
Speaker
Yes. And so one of the things that we're we're pitching now, and hey, if you're if you're listening to this and you're a patron, let us know what you think of that. um Should we do an episode of Stump the Chump where...
02:14:37
Speaker
You guys write in theme TV theme songs that you want to hear me either recite or sing. I am not a great singer. so It's okay. I am. but ah But yeah, so give it you get give us a write-in and see what you think.
02:14:52
Speaker
um But yeah. so we'd be We'd be silly not to mention the theoretical future show straight up. which is, is that what it's called? It's called straight up, man.
02:15:03
Speaker
Like for now, like it might change. is Is the theme song Paul Abdul or no, I straight up. aunt Tell me, do you really want to love me? Oh, Oh, Oh, um, the theme song was written by my good friend, Jimmy, a future guest of the main feed at some point, whenever we decide to cover that weird movie, I've never heard of that. He wants us to cover.
02:15:28
Speaker
Um, And also, he will definitely be a guest on Straight Up as well. He wrote my theme song um because he is a far more talented musician than I am. And I wanted my theme song to be better than the shit I wrote for this podcast.
02:15:44
Speaker
I wanted to rise above the distant franchise. How dare you try to be better than us? No, never. I would never. No, I did get Jimmy to write it, though, because I thought it would be weird to write the theme to my own.
02:15:56
Speaker
joe That theme has been in the bank for about three months, just waiting to start it up. It's going to be a show about ah obscure films, ah hidden gems, the underappreciated, the forgotten, and the unknown, if you will.
02:16:11
Speaker
We're not. And hopefully that, you know, I'm just trying to get, i you know, after the first episode, I don't care if if you if you or Brett want to join, you know, for...
02:16:22
Speaker
Whenever that's fine. I would love to have you guys there, but I have to have you for the first episode. I can't, I can't do the first episode of that without both my boys. You know what I'm saying?
02:16:34
Speaker
It would be wrong. and would be wrong. I mean, much as I love you, it always feels weird doing this show without Brett here. does it does it always does like i i love you do great but there's but there's just a little something missing there there's a brett shaped hole in my heart is what it is agreed and i wish he would come storming right back right now i love that boy um But yeah, let's, I don't know.
02:17:03
Speaker
But yeah, patreon.com slash distant French pod. ah Check that out. Honestly, you can join free for seven days right now. So go check that. was That's a much longer plug for the Patreon than we ever do.
02:17:14
Speaker
Doesn't matter. it It was a good one. And I think it came from the heart. It did. It did. um So yeah, ah that is, this is our mystery men show. I hope you guys liked it. We had a good time and God, I love this movie. um No, let's, we didn't do the fucking, we didn't do the fucking numbers. i do them Dude, I was wondering what you were doing. It's like, yes. Do I want to wrap this up? Of course, but also do them numbers. Do the fucking work, Steven. There's an unofficial and very underappreciated part of this podcast where Steven lists off the movies that were released or, or that were on the charts that week.
02:17:51
Speaker
And I, with no response from anyone else, ah just say something about each movie. um And I say it's underappreciated because no one likes it, but I keep doing it.
02:18:02
Speaker
You do. so i So let's get to it, Stephen. I'm excited to participate in this again. at first In first place this week, brand new movie, the big hit, the third film, but the first big hit from a a filmmaker we all love named Minaj Night Shyamalan, little movie that you and I like to call The Sixth Sense.
02:18:25
Speaker
Yeah.
02:18:28
Speaker
That is the number one movie in the country this week, and it it it has made $26.7 million movie. and at least no in its opening weekend great movie ah In second place, ah one of the, like, great indie hit, maybe, like, the biggest margin profit margin of 1999 in one of the great horror movies of the late It's Blair Witch, isn't it? It's the Blair Witch Project, yeah. Okay, yeah. yeah You know, i I didn't know that that was fake when I saw it because, you know, the world was different then and you could fool people.
02:19:09
Speaker
And that made it all, ah you know, I'm glad I was a fucking idiot because that made it all the more, more scarier. It made it all the scarier. All the, I can't do more and yeah ER r at the same time. All the more frightening.
02:19:20
Speaker
and All the more scary. It's two syllables. So you do more. It's not the, anyway, sorry, go ahead. I would say all the more frightening, but yeah. and um that That movie, in in the four weeks of its release, has made $80 million dollars on its way to $140 million.
02:19:36
Speaker
$60,000? It was made for like $60,000. Yeah. like it was It was just such a fucking cheap-ass movie. What a fucking return. Again, amazing. That's like Halloween numbers, dude. Yeah.
02:19:48
Speaker
Yeah. Original Halloween. Fucking A. That's good them. Really? No. Not $600,000. yeah really sick no not six six hundred thousand
02:19:59
Speaker
Oh, that's higher than I thought. I was i thought it was only about $60,000. $600,000 worldwide box office. The worldwide box office on that is $250 million. Jeez, Louise. That's over 400 times their production budget. I know.
02:20:14
Speaker
God, what an what a return. In second place, hey, what happens if we get the the stars of pretty wi Pretty Woman back together to do another movie, ah dropping three places in its – Dropping three places in its second weekend, it's Runaway Bride. What if the bride ran away?
02:20:34
Speaker
They tried to do the whole ah like Sleepless in Seattle, you've got mail thing. like if That only works if you're Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Pretty much, yeah.
02:20:44
Speaker
And even then, it doesn't really work that well, even though Stephen saw that movie 6,000 times when he was You've got mail. Yeah. my say That was my sister's favorite movie for a while. So if I wanted to exist, ah when then then I had to watch that one with my sister. So yeah.
02:21:02
Speaker
And she watched it. It just happening all around you. Incessantly. Like she would. i know I've told this. I know I've told this so many times. She would watch that movie, or rewind it and watch it again.
02:21:13
Speaker
Like one time my dad, my dad came home from work after my sister had watched it literally all day. And she was like watching it. My dad's like, oh, I wanted to watch the news. But, you know, she's watching. I'm like, you know, she's watched it like six times today. and My dad's like, what?
02:21:28
Speaker
By the time she was a freshman in high school, she'd seen that movie over 30 times. I love my sister, but good Lord. um it It is in fourth place. ah The by ah one of the last one of the later films by the great John McTiernan, a movie that I have never seen, but I've heard is very good. The remake of the Thomas crown affair. Oh, didn't see that, but I worked at the movie theater when it came out. So I watched the credits a whole bunch. Well, in fifth place, what many would agree is maybe the second best shark movie ever made.
02:22:02
Speaker
Samuel Jackson, Ladies Love Cool James, Deep Blue Sea.
02:22:09
Speaker
Deep Blue Sea in number five. And then in sixth place, we get Mystery Man. Mystery Man opens to $10 million dollars in its opening weekend. it could have kept that momentum, it wouldn't have done bad.
02:22:23
Speaker
But I feel like people were testing the waters and nobody got it. I mean, in its second weekend, it drops to $8 million. And then the weekend after that, down to 11.
02:22:34
Speaker
it's down to eleven Like it just it kept dropping by the weekend and after that. It's 19. Like it just plummets like a stone.
02:22:47
Speaker
I'm just saying back then in those times you could have a shitty opening and and come the fuck back. Like Scream. Scream got a second release. Like they re-released Scream because like the word of mouth hadn't caught up to it by the time it left theaters.
02:23:04
Speaker
You know what else got re-release?
Box Office Fallout for 1999 Films
02:23:05
Speaker
Everybody wanted to fucking see it, and then it did Gangbusters the second time they released it, like just a couple months later. You know what else? It was a big thing back then. You know else got a re-release, and they were hoping for that similar kind of thing just just last year.
02:23:18
Speaker
Morbius. Morbius. Past episode of this podcast, Morbius. Yeah, but Sony's stupid. Did they just they just heard that people were talking about it? Did they actually investigate what they were saying? Because if they did, what the fuck?
02:23:29
Speaker
I think it was the first one. you think I mean, come on. If snakes and ah on a plane have taught us anything, you can't you can't bank on a meme. can't fucking bank on a meme when it comes to releasing films just can't do it uh mystery men earns about just shy of 30 million dollars damn shame domestic ah it earns a little over just about 4 million international for a grand total worldwide box office of 33.5 million dollars off of million production budget
02:24:04
Speaker
I have also heard ah the ah l LA Times reported, I think that it was a $75 million dollar budget, which may have been factoring in marketing because the marketing for this movie was everywhere.
02:24:16
Speaker
Or even the reshoots with the ending and such. Right. So, like, it was a very expensive movie, but it didn't make... For the time, yes. Right. For the time, had a pretty big price tag. They were expecting it be a big ol' hit, and it wasn't. So, Yeah.
02:24:36
Speaker
ah rounding out the rest of the top 10 in seventh place you've got Matthew Broderick and Rupert Everett in Inspector Gadget from the Walt Disney Company i like that movie makes sense in eighth place you've got The Haunting the DreamWorks film The Haunting ah You know, I'll admit that this is a hot take, but I like that movie too.
02:24:58
Speaker
Like, that's why I was kind of excited to to see the new Haunted Mansion, because it's been a while since I've heard a wow inside of a haunted house. Wow.
02:25:09
Speaker
Wow. Wow. Mater, wow. um And then in ninth place, you've got ah maybe one of the great the last great hand-drawn animated films, The Iron Giant.
02:25:23
Speaker
Oh, fuck yeah. I was just talking about that the other day with my my coworker. we Which is how Ben Diesel should do like more roles that challenge him instead of just him playing himself and making a bajillion dollars.
02:25:36
Speaker
ah That movie opened to five point ah seven, five point eight million dollars. So not a great opening. That one does not do well. And then in 10th place, you've got American Pie.
02:25:49
Speaker
The original, which in its fifth week has already earned $85.5 million. And then, i mean, I'm going to keep going because 1999 is one of those all-time great movie years. i kind of want to shout out some others in this list. In 11th place, you've got Episode I, The Phantom Menace.
02:26:05
Speaker
In its 12th week, has earned over $400 million. dollars ah Dick in 12th place, opening this weekend. Yeah. Can I tell you a real fun story?
02:26:16
Speaker
um So I worked at the movie theater. I told you I worked at the you know the movie theater when I was a youngster. Yeah, the movie theater. You know, the movie theater where they show the movies on the screen from the film. You know the one.
02:26:27
Speaker
You get the popcorn and you have a good time. Yeah. I always got all the posters because nobody else wanted them because everybody else sucked. So I always got all the posters and I had the poster to the film Dick.
02:26:43
Speaker
Dick. ah with Dan Hedaya and Michelle Williams and Kristen Dunst and all those motherfuckers. And I also had the poster for the first reboot of Shaft starring Samuel L. Jackson. Future episode of this podcast.
02:26:58
Speaker
Until those posters met an untimely demise later in my life, I always placed them right next to each other. You always want to put your dick next to your shaft. And it was it was very wonderful. Both very different posters.
02:27:12
Speaker
Very, very different. ah They clashed ah color-wise, theme-wise. But you can't you can't you can't waste a phallic reference, Stephen. You can't. Like, dicks are like farts. They're always funny.
02:27:25
Speaker
They're always funny.
02:27:30
Speaker
That's all I have to about But looks aren't everything. And i know do love that movie, too. I do love Dick. It is a really, really fun movie. And if you haven't seen it you should totally watch it. 13, you've got The End of the Disney Renaissance, Tarzan. 14, you've got ah one of my favorite Stanley Kubrick movies, Eyes Wide Shut.
02:27:46
Speaker
Hot take there. um eight Well, it on. That movie fucking rules. That's why we're friends. I'm glad you i glad you get joy from that, Stephen. I'm i'm very happy for you.
02:27:59
Speaker
18, you've got Lake Placid. 19, Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me. 20, future episode of this podcast, Wild Wild West. 22, one of my all-time favorite underrated comedies.
02:28:11
Speaker
Speaking of Kirsten Dunst, Drop Dead Gorgeous. yeah um You've got The Matrix still in theaters after 19 weeks at 24. 24.
02:28:23
Speaker
Of course it fucking is. 1999. The Brendan Fraser Mummy at 27. South Park, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut at 29. Past episode of this podcast, Muppets from Space at 30.
02:28:35
Speaker
One of your favorite movies, Run Lola Run at 31. I movie. This box office, I mean, again, that's how good a year this is, is we're down in the 30s and still hitting bangers. Like, 1999 is considered one of the great film years for a reason.
02:28:54
Speaker
Absolutely. um So, yeah. That, oh, the tomatometer score on this movie is a 60%. per ah The critics' consensus. Anything under 97 is a crime against humanity. Please continue.
02:29:10
Speaker
I mean, higher than I would have expected for critics on this movie, to be honest, though. Critics consensus, absurd characters and quirky gags are brought to life by a talented cast providing the superhero spoof with lots of laughs.
02:29:22
Speaker
ah The meta score is a 65 based on generally favorable reviews from 24 critics. And the Letterboxd score on this is a 3.0. point zero Tucker out of five stars, how many stars are you giving Kinka Usher's 1999 masterpiece, Mystery Men?
02:29:39
Speaker
That's going to be a five, Steven. It's going to be a big same for me. and This is absolutely a five-star movie. This is a movie that I love. um We don't know how, but it's a five-star movie. i don't I don't get it. It doesn't make sense to me that this movie is five stars, but it absolutely is. And I love it so much.
02:29:55
Speaker
And I will always love it. And that's really all I have to say about that.
Mystery Men: A Beloved Flop?
02:30:00
Speaker
Like, I think this movie fucking slaps. And um yeah i will I will stand for it until the day I die. That's pretty much all there is.
02:30:07
Speaker
And I will stand there right next to you, Steven. Right on. And in hand. hand in hand to the end. And that, my friends, is our Mystery Men episode of the Disenfranchised Podcast. God, this has been a long one, but we warned you probably would be. Finally.
02:30:23
Speaker
Again, check out our Patreon, disenfranch or patreon.com slash disenfranchepod. Shoot us an email, disenfranchepod at gmail.com. Should Steven watch Benny and June is this week's question. Shoot me an email. Let me know if you think I should.
02:30:36
Speaker
um What else do we know? We do social medias. We're on all the social medias. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd, Facebook, YouTube, and threads at disenfranchepod.
02:30:48
Speaker
pod. The user interaction bay ah ah interaction rate for threads has dropped 80% since it came out. That's not surprising.
Social Media and Podcast Promotion
02:30:59
Speaker
ah so After Twitter just became like, you know, reskin 4chan, I pretty much stopped... using any social like Twitter was my main social media. i was telling Tucker before we got started, I barely remember to update social media for this show half the time because I'm just on social media so little these days. I mean, Twitter was a dumpster fire even before the current owner took over. So like I don't blame you.
02:31:26
Speaker
It just, you know, it it took that disaster for me to finally haul ass out of there. um But ah you can also ah check us out on your podcatcher of choice. And while you're there, the best way to support us, particularly if you don't want to spend any money. And if you've already spent money, I'm assuming you've already done this too. If you are spending money on the Patreon and haven't done this, get your life together. Get your life right and get on over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Sort your life out, mate.
02:31:54
Speaker
And leave us a five-star rating and review. That's going to help a lot of other people find this podcast ah because you and I both know that we're number one and all others are number two and lower. But we need you to convey that to the rest of the world so they can know that as well.
02:32:08
Speaker
So the validation is nice. It really is. And you know what? If you leave us a nice review, we might read it on the podcast. Who knows? Maybe. i'm not I'm not above such things. Same with email. Send us an email. I might read it on the podcast.
02:32:20
Speaker
so do No, we absolutely will. If you send fan mail, Like, or like some straight up fan art. Like, we're gonna talk about it for a while. We're going to mention your name at least three or four times. And the fan art will go up on our Instagram as well. And we will tag the the hell out of you. The fan art will go on my wall.
02:32:36
Speaker
I will print that shit out and put it on my fucking wall. he you you you you You can believe Tucker will slide into your DMs and give you his address so you can mail that shit to him. Believe that.
02:32:48
Speaker
Believe that. um You can find Disenfranchised Podcast on all those platforms at Disenfranchised Pod. You can find me, your host, Stephen Foxworthy. Hi, hello. On Twitter, Instagram, letter... Well, I mean, fuck Twitter. I barely use that anymore. Instagram, letterboxd.
02:33:05
Speaker
um threads and blue sky. I'm on blue sky now at chewy walrus. Nobody even knows what that is. That's because they haven't been cool and gotten invited yet.
02:33:16
Speaker
Oh, that's right. You got invited. I forgot you're part of the elite. That's right. um And usually like people with like a high degree of positivity. so i don't know what that that says about Oh, I don't belong on there. No, you don't.
02:33:29
Speaker
I bet you a lot. You do. You really do. Look, Brett joined Threads recently, and I was shocked. Hey, look at that. Yeah, you can you can find our good buddy Brett on Instagram, Letterboxd. And now threads at sus underscore warlock. Tucker, what about you?
02:33:46
Speaker
Of course, I'm still on the YouTubes at ice909. That's I-C-E-N-I-N-E, the number zero and the number nine. I also have an Instagram page um called Tuck's Mugs.
02:34:02
Speaker
It's on Instagram at tuck underscore mugs. Give that page some love. We had a ah ah both Brett and Steven have had guest mugs on the Instagram page. But this very last week we had our first actual fan guest mug.
02:34:21
Speaker
Friend of the show, future guest, Andy Greetings dropped that for us. And it glorious. And I loved the mug. I loved the story. It definitely fit the tone and the spirit of the Instascam page, if that's even a thing that an Instascam page can have.
02:34:39
Speaker
ah I thought it was wonderful. And i loved having the the guest mug on there. It was wonderful. And everybody everybody else on on the hardworking staff at Tuck Mugs really just just enjoyed seeing that and putting that post together.
02:34:54
Speaker
They did. They really did. A lot of hands and a lot of minds to put Tuck Mugs on Instascam. it's ah It's a big operation. So, you know, if you can go by Tuck Mugs and give us a follow, like some of our posts and and send us a guest mug.
02:35:09
Speaker
You can send that your guest mug post, which would just be you'd follow the format of of the page, which is to send a mug. Tell us the story, the origin of the mug, if you will, and then tell us what you're drinking out of the mug.
02:35:21
Speaker
And just email that to disenfranchpod at ah straight up gmail.com. Or you could also send it to us in DMs on Instagram. That also works.
02:35:32
Speaker
You could, but emails are way cooler. I'm just saying there are, you got options. You got options. Sure. Sure. But it's just like when you ah make a frozen dinner, the preferred method is email.
02:35:48
Speaker
There you go.
Episode Wrap-up and Friendship
02:35:50
Speaker
Well, it is almost 1 a.m. m where you are, Tucker. So I'm going land this i just plane ah because I know you got to work tomorrow. So and you worked all day today.
02:35:59
Speaker
So same God, it ever was the same, ah same as it ever was. And look where my hand was. Yeah.
02:36:08
Speaker
I almost said that. We're friends, Stephen. don't know you knew this, but we are friends. We are friends. That is all we wrote for the for the Mystery Men up The long-awaited, long-time-coming Mystery Men episode. And long-winded longre fucking winded Mystery Men episode. Men episode.
02:36:26
Speaker
It was so fucking great. I have been your host, Stephen Foxworthy. From my absent co-host, Brett Wright, and my present co-host, Tucker. Until next time, frack you later, frankenpusses.