sundrymules

This is a powerful yet charming movie; fun for its special effects and profound in how it keeps you thinking long after it's over. Like others, I've seen this movie more than once. One comment I've never heard is that Forrest's simplicity is almost zen-like. I should read the novel to get the author's intention (I remember some people preferring the book and complaining that no one at the Academy Awards gave him any credit.) But rather than an implication that you should do what you're supposed to do and believe in God and you'll win in the end, I see it as zen-like, i.e., living in the moment and not having expectations or particular cravings (other than his loving Jenny.) So he ends up just stumbling into all the major historical events of the time. Granted, he achieves this only because he doesn't have the brains to think otherwise and actually have expectations, but so many of our problems are because we do have higher intellect and desires, which ironically makes us unhappy because we know what we are missing. We love our cats and dogs for the same simplicity and always being in the moment. There's a line in the movie wondering if everything is predestined or happens randomly or it's a combination of both. It is something to mull over for a long time.

This is one of those underappreciated films that could end up being rediscovered as a cult film. I didn't expect it to disappear quite that quickly from the movie theaters last year. To brush it off as just another lowbrow comedy with juvenile humor is missing the point. Those types of movies are just that, lowbrow and juvenile. "Mystery Men" is a spoof of the comic book style. To criticize it is to miss the subtleties of the spoof. William Macy is perfect as The Shoveller, ludicrously noble as he explains to his wife that his services are needed to save the city from evil. Hank Azaria's British-accented Blue Raja is neither British nor blue, and he also has his noble cause, fighting evil with silverware. The "secret power" of Ben Stiller's character is just an ability to get very angry about things, something we can all relate to. And the scene where Geoffrey Rush addresses his gang is hilarious. All these stereotyped "bad guy" characters are represented, disco dancers, frat boys, Mafioso, etc.

You can tell when a spoof has been made by people who used to really enjoy comic books. The Batman movie, at least the first one by Tim Burton, captured all the magic and exaggerated characters, whereas the TV series seemed to just make fun of it. A subtle difference for sure, but that's the subtlety of the spoof. Give "Mystery Men" a chance!