Released: September 2000
Director: Craig Mazin
Rated R
Run Time: 82 Minutes
Distributor: Mindfire Entertainment
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Cast:
Thomas Haden Church: The Strobe
Jordan Ladd: Nightbird
Rob Lowe: The Weevil
Jamie Kennedy: Amok
Mike Schwartz: U.S. Bill
Paget Brewster: Ms. Indestructible
Kelly Coffield Park: Power Chick
Sean Gunn: Alien Orphan
James Gunn: Minute Man
Judy Greer: Deadly Girl
Jim Zulevic: Mr. Smart
When it comes to reviewing movies, comedies tend to be the hardest ones to review. Trying to get a film’s sense of humor across to the audience isn’t something I’m particularly good at. I generally don’t like comedies anyway, since 8 times of 10 they try too hard to make me laugh. I end up rolling my eyes at the proceedings. It’s not necessarily the actors’ fault or the director’s. It come down to the writing. What makes certain people laugh isn’t always going to work for somebody else. Humor is one of the most subjective things in the known universe. That being said, I do enjoy a good satire and/or spoof. I love it when a movie pokes fun at the conventions of a specific genre or type of movie. I’ve always been a fan of Mel Brooks and his style of comedy because his movies are cleverly written. David Zucker is another with his Airplane! movies. So, imagine my surprise when a little superhero movie called The Specials came across my desk. A spoof on the superhero genre? Color me intrigued.
The film follows a group of superheroes called The Specials. They are the 6th or 7th greatest superhero team in the entire world. This is unusual. There really is no over-arching story to speak of here. There are no super-villains to fight. No, The Specials is a look into the life of a superhero team when they’re NOT fighting the bad guys. First off, the headquarters for this particular team is located in a modest house in suburbia, which is funny in and of itself. Second of all, you’ve got all these different personality types operating under the same roof together. Now, we’ve all seen The Avengers, right? What happens when you peel back the layers of that group? You’re going to find a fairly dysfunctional group. The leader of this group, The Strobe, is conceited with an over-inflated ego that can shoot lasers from his arms. His wife, Ms. Indestructible has…well…indestructible skin. Amok is a blue-skinned foul-mouthed former super-villain who has the ability to manipulate anti-matter. U.S. Bill has super-strength, but his mental capacity is…lacking. Minute Man(minute, as in small)can shrink to the size of an ant. Alien Orphan can shape-shift, while Deadly Girl can communicate with the dead. It’s certainly an interesting group of characters, that’s for sure.
I have to give James Gunn some serious credit for writing this movie, as it is the first movie that he’s actually written. There’s a degree of subversion that’s taking place here. You would expect there to be action in a superhero movie like this. There really isn’t. This movie has the audacity to actually focus on the characters’ lives instead of them fighting evil. That also leads to the fact that you’re spending a majority of the film’s run-time wondering if those yokels actually have the superpowers that they say they do. That’s not just funny, that’s actually pretty clever. Some characters like the Weevil, you have no idea what their powers actually are. Not only that, a lot of these “superheroes” behave pretty much like the rest of us. Some of them end up sleeping around while others are obnoxious loud-mouthed whiners.
The acting here is actually pretty damn good. Thomas Haden Church plays The Strobe, but he gives the character the right kind of conceit, making him somewhat unlikable. Paget Brewster plays Ms. Indestructible, who has to put up with her husband’s ego on a daily basis. The exasperation that you see on the character’s face at times is pure gold. Rob Lowe plays the Weevil, a somewhat dim-witted superhero who wants to move on from The Specials. The newcomer of the group, Nightbird, is played by Jordan Ladd, who gives the character a wide-eyed and excitable quality that makes her endearing. I have to say that the guy that really steals the show here is Jamie Kennedy as Amok. I’m not the biggest fan of Jamie’s at all. I don’t necessarily dig his kind of humor, but here, I laugh every-time he’s on screen. Why? He’s basically out all the bullshit that’s going on, which is exactly what the audience would do. In fact, when The Strobe is trying to tell his origin story, Amok just flat-out says that nobody cares. That’s apropos, because in this day and age, we’ve had so many origin stories, nobody cares about them anymore. So, this little gem in The Specials was a bit ahead of its time. Amok is simply saying what the audience is thinking. HE’S our conduit into this world, not Nightbird or anybody else. Sean Gunn plays the Alien Orphan, and given Sean’s unique body movement really makes this character stand out. James Gunn plays Minute Man(as in small, not the militia soldier). He’s pretty weird. Believe it or not, James’ hair actually grows that way, which is perfect. Judy Greer is the other one that steals the show as Deadly Girl.
The Specials is Craig Mazin’s directorial debut and it kinda shows. The way certain shots linger on for longer than they should and the way that certain angles don’t necessarily work, is indicative of a first-timer. Yet, despite some of these issues, there is a surprising coherence to what’s going on. From what I understand, there were a lot of major issues behind the scenes with egos clashing. The end result is a movie that wasn’t what some of the film-makers had intended, yet it ended up being better than it had any right to be. As far special effects go, you don’t really see a lot until the end of the film. The pacing of the movie is pretty quick too, running at only 82 minutes. In spite of the film’s obvious problems, I found myself surprisingly engaged by the whole experience. There’s a good amount of heart and genuinely emotional moments to be found here, and it works. Thomas Haden Church would go on to star in a REAL superhero movies as Sandman in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, while James Gunn would write and direct the Guardians of the Galaxy films. It’s surprising to see how The Specials would be the launching point of some people’s careers. The Specials is more than just a send-up of the superhero genre. It also pays homage to the genre, despite the fact that it came out at the same time as the original X-Men movie. For a movie that’s 20 years old, it’s surprisingly relevant, especially with today’s superhero films. This is a film that’s absolutely worth checking, especially if you’re a fan of the superhero genre. Jamie Kennedy alone is worth checking this movie out. He’s hilarious. Yeah, there’s not much action here, but it’s quirky behind-the-scenes look at superhero groups. Again, I’m not a big fan of comedies, but this one was definitely in my wheel-house.
My Final Recommendation: Nobody cares about origin stories. 8/10