Why It's an Inessential Essential: Based on characters by comics creator Bob Burden, Mystery Men is an anomalously charming and amiably goofy superhero film. The film is very much a product of the creative chaos that ensued after Hollywood executives realized comic book properties like Batman could make a mint at the box office. But with many more duds than hits on their hands, execs were apparently clueless about what they should adapt and how to do it. It's not only strange that a movie with characters as alienating-ly campy as the ones in Mystery Men ever got made — it's even freakier to note that the film is actually pretty funny. So while mass audiences didn't know what to make of the film when it was initially released, the film can now be enjoyed as a more than welcome antidote to the recent trend of self-serious but mostly drab superhero films.

Mystery Men was co-produced by Dark Horse Comics publisher and creator Michael Richardson, the man responsible for turning such comic book properties as Tank Girl (1995) and The Mask (1994) into half-baked films. It was directed by Kinka Usher, making a big leap from being the assistant camera operator on such films as the 1987 Kato Kaelin vehicle Beach Fever (Usher would not go on to direct any other movies after Mystery Men, not even short films). Usher clearly directed the film in the style of the Joel Schumacher Batman movies; he makes frequent use of campy Dutch angles, crash zooms and first person POV shots, like the one where we see Ben Stiller being attacked by Geoffrey Rush's character — from the perspective of Rush's extended pinky. To call this film's success as a comedy anomalous would be putting it very diplomatically.

In the film, a group of wannabe superheroes that mostly don't seem to have any real powers band together to fight the nefarious disco-obsessed Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush, who had just won an Oscar for Shine two years before Mystery Men was made). Now that Frankenstein has kidnapped the all-powerful Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), the only people that can stop him are the then-unnamed group of heroes: Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller), a tantrum-throwing wimp who isn't very strong; The Shoveler (William H. Macy), a middle-class father and a guy that fights crime with a shovel; and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria), an adenoidal mama's boy who pretends to be a British mystic and uses flatware as projectile weapons (mainly forks and spoons). To defeat Frankenstein, the team has to hire some new members, including the gaseous Spleen (Paul Reubens) and the haunted-bowling-ball-chucking Bowler (Janeane Garofalo). It's a fittingly unusual line-up for a rather odd film.

By today's standards, Mystery Men is seriously dated. For starters, Smashmouth's "Allstar" is used twice as a song cue. But it's also often disarmingly eccentric, as in the scene where Tom Waits, who plays a mad scientist, shows off his arsenal of weird weapons (including the Blame Thrower), or the one where Wes Studi's enigmatic, platitude-slinging hero The Sphinx trains the titular heroes ("To learn my teachings, I must first teach you how to learn"). All of the characters are also endearingly neurotic, like Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell, of Keenan and Kel fame), a teenage loser who can only turn invisible when nobody else is looking at him, or Garofalo's Bowler, a woman whose dead father nags her even from beyond the grave. Filmed on a reported $68 million budget, Mystery Men only grossed $33.4 million worldwide but went on to earn something of a cult status.

How the Blu-Ray Makes the Case for the Movie: You can appreciate just how bizarre Mystery Men is just from watching the Spotlight on Location featurette, which makes it seem like the film's production was pretty manic. For instance, Stiller reveals that the film's cast were working with an improv-reliant script. "We're always coming up with ideas, which is the fun thing about..." Stiller says, comically pausing to look around him and finishing his thought, "not having a script." Garofalo and Stiller both joke about the fact that they had little confidence in Usher. "I'm only doing this for the money," she teases. "Kinka doesn't know what the fuck he's doin'. He hasn't directed a movie before." Even nice guy Greg Kinnear chimes in: "I describe [Mystery Men] as...a cartoon gone horribly, horribly wrong." But Usher got results; even the film's deleted scenes, like the one where Waits macks on a blue-haired retiree by telling her that he's actually a doctor, are pretty funny.

Other Trivia: In a rather thoughtful special feature, Burden shares a detailed history of his original comic book characters through interviews conducted before the film's release. It's especially funny to note that the character of the Shoveler was originally armed with King Arthur's singing shovel, which was sentient and talked in "Middle English." Also, apparently, Danny DeVito was supposed to not only direct the film at one point but play the Shoveler, too. Burden is also quoted in a Comics Buyer's Guide interview as saying that he didn't write the characters with modern actors in mind. "Originally, as I envisioned them, the Mystery Men were characters like Ernest Borgnine and Vic Tayback — all Mike Ditka-type guys. The only current star I could've seen as a Mystery Man would've been Steve Buscemi from Fargo."

Previously: Reconsidering Christopher Nolan's Insomnia

Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has been featured in outlets like The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Vulture and Esquire. Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects at Extended Cut.

Happy Friday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Steven Soderbergh walks from U.N.C.L.E.… Angelina Jolie linked to the latest movie Ridley Scott will never make… I, Frankenstein casts its leading lady… The $775 million opening week… and more.

· The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. announced Thursday that it will reopen its investigation into the 1981 drowning death of Natalie Wood. “Recently Sheriff’s homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” the office claimed in a statement. “Due to the additional information, Sheriff’s homicide bureau has decided to take another look at the case.” Wood’s husband Robert Wagner, meanwhile, welcomes another look but hopes “that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic death.” Or the 50th anniversary of West Side Story. Ahem. [LAT, THR]

· All that speculative yakking and saber-rattling about Steven Soderbergh’s big-screen The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has yielded this typically rewarding Hollywood payoff: Soderbergh is off the project, reportedly unhappy with the mid-level budget proposed by Warner Bros. Alas. I hear Brett Ratner’s free? [The Playlist]

· Angelina Jolie is attached to play the title role in Gertrude Bell, a planned biopic about the Englishwoman who was instrumental in the reshaping of the Middle East in the early 20th century. Ridley Scott would produce and may direct. Ha. Haaahahahaha. Sigh. [THR]

· Aussie writer/director Stuart Beattie has selected compatriot Yvonne Strahovski as the female lead in I, Frankenstein; she’ll star opposite Aaron Eckhart in the adaptation of Kevin Grevioux’s graphic novel. [Deadline]

· Are you laying down? Because otherwise your jaw might fall right the hell off: “Activision’s latest Call of Duty title has shattered all previous entertainment records, grossing more than $775 million in its first five days of sales.” [AllThingsD]

· What’s shakin’ in North Korea? Oh, not much, just getting closer to testing out its brand-new light water reactor, which will finally enable the nation to embark on its coveted uranium-enrichment efforts. Congrats? [38North]

Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: Shawn Levy wants Frankenstein… Rob Corddry could be a Warm body… R.I.P.D. gets a supermodel to play Jeff Bridges… and more ahead.

· The long, strange trip that has become The Wolverine keeps getting longer. Deadline reports that Fox is unlikely to start filming the X-Men prequel sequel with Hugh Jackman and new director James Mangold this fall, because of continued concern for the Japan-based shoot as well as Jackman’s commitment to Les Miserables. No official date has been set just yet, but Wolverine 2 might not start production until the spring 2012. Stay tuned… [Deadline]

· Speaking of seemingly-never-happening projects: Shawn Levy might put Fantastic Voyage on the back burner to direct Frankenstein for Fox. Per Deadline, “the studio is eager to get out in front of the seven other Frankenstein films that are percolating all over town.” Seven! Seven’s the key number here. [Deadline]

· Funny funnyman Rob Corddry is in final negotiations to join Nicholas Hoult and Theresa Palmer in the zombie love story Warm Bodies. 50/50’s Jonathan Levine will direct. [Variety]

· Another day, another indie movie for Alexander Skarsgard to circle. The hunky True Blood star is attached to Disconnect, about how the Internet can… ruins lives. Skarsgard will play a former Marine who — while facing financial strife — strikes up an affair thanks to his loveless marriage. Original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo star Michael Nyqvist is in the cast as well. [Variety]

· Chaz Palminteri is set to play Paul Castellano in Gotti: The Shadow of My Father. The Bronx Tale star previously played the doomed mobster in the TNT movie Boss of Bosses, but he’s excited to start up on the Barry Levinson-directed production. “I have seen this film come together from the very start and am pleased to be able to work alongside such great talent to bring this story to the bigscreen.” Al Pacino, John Travolta and Ben Foster co-star. [Variety]

· Schwentke, Schwentke, Schwentke! Robert Schwentke has cast supermodel Marisa Miller as Jeff Bridges’s human avatar — “the form humans see when Bridges’s character is in his earthly form” — in R.I.P.D. Of course he has! The supernatural action movie follows two deceased cops (Bridges and Ryan Reynolds) working at the “Rest in Peace Department, a police force comprised of ghosts who battle spirits unready to depart this world.” [THR/Heat Vision]

Because Adam Sandler needed another swimming pool, he’s agreed to voice Count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania. Sandler will be joined by Kevin James (Frankenstein), Steve Buscemi and Molly Shannon (a couple of werewolves), David Spade (Quasimodo) and Cee-Lo Green (Murray the Mummy) in the animated 3-D comedy from Sony. [THR/Heat Vision]

Hollywood may already have two Frankenstein projects in development (one with Summit and the other through Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Productions) but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a third. Fox has just hired Chronicle scribe Max Landis (John’s son) to write a screenplay based on Mary Shelley’s classic novel. The studio is reportedly considering Paul Greengrass and David Yates (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) to direct. [Variety]