Superheroes Light
Main Cast: Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Geoffrey Rush
Director: Kinka Usher
Champion City is pretty much free of crime. How, you ask? Through the superhero skills of one Captain Amazing, of course. But disaster strikes when he is kidnapped by an old nemesis, Casanova Frankenstein (Rush). The amazing (ha ha) thing is the villain was actually released by Amazing (in his civilian role) because the superhero was bored and needed someone equal to fight against. The Captain has a chance to regret his action before…
Well, I won’t give that away. But I will say that a rag-tag group of hero wannabes arrives on the scene to take over for the Captain. Just to name a few: Mr. Furious (Stiller), who gains super-strength when he is furiously mad (in theory); The Bowler (Garofalo) uses a very unique bowling ball imbued with energy; The Shoveler (Macy), a working-class guy who is the heart of the outfit; and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria) who flamboyantly uses both his accent and thrown forks to bust baddies.
These, uh, heroes take on Frankenstein and try to foil his dastardly plans. The trouble is, these goofballs aren’t very good and bumble through most of this rich, biting comedy with egg on their faces. But I doubt I’m surprising you when I tell you that maybe, just maybe, they can pull it off and capture the evil villain in the end.
This is darn good fun and a bit goofy, with “superhero auditions” and other less-than heroic abilities on display. But it’s definitely worth it for comic connoisseurs. 2 stars.
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