Kinka Usher’s superhero comedy Mystery Men arrived at a strange and slightly unfortunate time for the genre, so in hindsight it was virtually destined to go down in the history books as a cult classic.
Landing in the summer of 1999, the irreverent romp had the benefit of arriving after Blade had washed away some of the stink generated by the disastrous Batman & Robin, but Bryan Singer’s X-Men had yet to arrive and send the tales of costumed crimefighters soaring to new critical and commercial heights.
As a result, Mystery Men failed to even recoup half of the $68 million budget from theaters, but instantly found a long-lasting second life on home video. What’s old is always new again in modern Hollywood, though, and star Ben Stiller admitted in an interview with ComicBook that he’s not against the idea of playing Mr. Furious again.
“That’s the first I’m hearing of it, but sure. I’m all for it. I had fun doing it. Yeah, it would be a blast. It was a really, really fun cast. And there’s still some rage and fury inside me somewhere, I think.”
Nostalgia is still all the rage these days, but a comedy sequel arriving years, if not decades, after the fact is a notoriously difficult thing to get right, something Stiller can attest to himself after the crushing disappointment of Zoolander 2. Fans would obviously love to see it happen, but dusting off a title that bombed over 20 years ago and slapping it with a fresh coat of paint doesn’t seem like it would be a high priority for any studio or streaming service.
Published: Jan 27, 2022 04:01 am