Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion

Once upon a time at a college party, four highly intoxicated frat boys began writing a movie script. They sat around laughing about farts and how cool it would be to have a superhero whoopee cushion. One of the others managed to log on to the internet and send the whole script they wrote, yes all eight pages, directly to Ray Griggs. Who stole some additional lines from "Return of the Jedi", "Empire Strikes Back", "Star Trek", and "Back to the Future". But Ray needed funding. So he convinced Reuben Lim, Michael Kim Binder, and Fiona Walsh to help fund the movie about a superhero who receives his powers from God and prayer. Ray was also convinced this would assure his movie would be picked up as an option by CBN. This is where Ray really began to shine, he had to find actors just slightly better than the local weatherman, willing to flush any hope for a future in acting, just for a paycheck. Meanwhile back at the frat house the four boys barely remembered that night they almost ruined their lives by having their names attached to this pathetic turd.

I just watched this off HBO GO last night, and just looking at the overall production values (and the fact I never heard of it in the 6 years since it was released), I thought it would be absolutely horrible. Now it was bad, don't get me wrong, but not AS horrible as I thought it would be. It's got a great cast- Michael Rooker, Justin Whalin, Clint Howard, Tom Sizemore, Adam West (not as "Batman", but as "Manbat" LOL), Danielle Harris, etc.. and I did chuckle every now and then (that Arnold-imitating robot- stupid, yes, but I couldn't help laughing at it- more so than with it.. o.O ).

Well, the funniest stuff in the movie for me (other than the silly robot) was some of the stuff more at the beginning with like Clint Howard and Tom Sizemore, but...if you want to see a super-hero comedy dealing with the sorta super-hero mythology, and playing around with that, see something like "Mystery Men" (1999) or, better yet, 2008's wonderful Peter Berg-directed "Hancock", starring Will Smith. This movie TBH seems to be more of a "kiddie movie"...

A good guy with no powers joins a superhero team with no clue against a bad guy with no shame.

What this film has going for it is the incredible cast -- Danielle Harris, Tom Sizemore, Clint Howard, Michael Rooker, Jon Polito, Doug Jones, Adam West and more. If nothing else, it probably has an actor in it that you enjoy seeing.

Unfortunately, as pretty much everyone has pointed out, that is about all it has. I love Michael Rooker, and would watch him in anything, no matter how bad. And the problem here is not the acting, but the terrible jokes and overly done references to "Star Wars" and "Back to the Future" and others...

A movie virtually guaranteed to wind up in the DVD bargain bin in record-setting time, "Super Capers" is an indescribably awful attempt at superhero parody. It features a group of inept comic book figures, clad in ill-fitting get-ups, who bumble and stumble their way to victory against a passel of toothless bad guys.

The movie's idea of humor consists mainly of goofy sound effects and corny musical cues playing on the soundtrack, though I suspect that their sole function is to alert us as to when we should be laughing (there's really no other way for us to know, since, unlike a TV sitcom, it doesn't come equipped with its own laugh track).

Out of respect for any possible careers they may still have ahead of them, the actors shall remain nameless, though Adam West (TV's Batman) and June Lockhart stop by to show us just how far has-been actors can be forced to lower themselves when there simply aren't any decent roles left for them anymore.

At the end, the director of this fiasco, Ray Griggs, thanks the "directors who inspired" him during his childhood, namely George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and Peter Jackson. Sounds like the makings of a good class-action lawsuit, if you ask me.

Well, I must admit that I was expecting this 2009 movie to be a bit more over in the actual comedy department, given its synopsis and the movie's cover. Sure, it was slightly in the comedy department, but not so much that the movie actually turned out to be what it could have been.

What's wrong with "Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion", aside from the title, was the storyline. Parts of the storyline were just too mundane and bland, feeling prolonged and didn't really serve much of any real purpose to the progression of the movie. And that made the movie feel unnecessary long and slow-paced.

And what was working in favor of "Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion" was the amazing display of references to an abundance of movies and TV series, such as "Back to the Future", "Star Wars", "Raider of the Lost Ark", "The A-Team", "Darkwing Duck", "Batman", "The Matrix", etc. I will actually say that sitting down to watch "Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion" just for these reference is actually worth it.

But it should also be said that the movie definitely have an impressive assembly of cast, which includes the likes of Michael Rooker, Justin Whalin, Danielle Harris, Doug Jones, Isaac C. Singleton Jr., Jon Polito, Christine Lakin, Tom Lister Jr., Clint Howard and none other than Adam West himself. If you have grown up watching movies and TV series, then you are in for quite a treat.

It was a shame that "Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion" actually didn't turn out to be what it potentially could have been, because what could have been a great comedy spoof and homage, ended up being a mere mediocre movie.

Sure, "Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion" is watchable, but it is hardly a memorable movie, nor is it a movie that have much of any solid enough contents to it to sustain more than a single viewing.

My rating of the 2009 movie "Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.