J. Spurlin
The Specials, the sixth or seventh greatest superhero group in the world, count the geeks and the oddballs among their fans. They don't have the prestige or the money that a group like the Crusaders has. But they've found their niche as the Ringo Starr of superhero teams. There's the Weevil (Rob Lowe), the most popular member and the one pursued by other teams; the blue-skinned, foul-mouthed Amok; Minute (My-noot) Man, who is sensitive about his oft-mispronounced name; the ever-sneering Deadly Girl; the naive and boyish U.S. Bill; the Strobe, the leader of the team; the Strobe's wife, Ms. Indestructible, who is having an affair with the Weevil; the irritatingly perky Power Chick; the green-skinned weirdo, Alien Orphan; the fat and pompous Mr. Smart; and Eight, who has eight different bodies. The new member is a longtime fan who calls herself Nightbird. Unfortunately, she joins just when Cosgrove Toys creates a new line of action figures based on the Specials. The company's disastrous press conference could mean the end to this cut-rate super-group."The Specials" is a comedy about superheroes that, thanks to a tiny budget, has no special effects and no scenes where the heroes demonstrate their powers (until the very end). For the filmmakers to have gotten away with this deficiency, they would have needed smart writing and fascinating characters. They had neither. The plot involves a possible dissolution of the super-team, but because everyone is contemptuous of one another, and because no one is especially likable anyway, we're not exactly heartbroken at the idea. The writer, James Gunn (who also plays Minute Man), made no attempt to create believable human beings, even though 82 minutes is too long to spend with shallow parodies of comic book drawings. The gags are paramount, and the gags aren't even funny.The movie earns a certain perverse admiration from us for studiously avoiding the inevitable; and then it ruins even that with a brief, godawful special effects scene at the end that isn't even enjoyably cheesy; it's just bad. Kudos to the makeup department for their striking work on the blue-skinned, purple-lipped, red-eyed Amok (Jamie Kennedy). Otherwise, the film is worthless.
Webslinger48
Wow, what an embarrassment this is. I don't care if the movie was shot over 18 days for barely $1 million, watching this movie is about as pleasant as licking scrotum sweat off a cadaver. This script should never have been greenlit in the first place, writer James Gunn should have approached Dark Horse or some other indie comic publisher and done a black-and-white graphic novel. It could have been halfway decent in that format and it is a lot easier to sell the superhero stuff in comics than it is in a film without money for special effects.My feeling is you can't make a superhero movie for a mil, I don't care how you're doing it. Never for an instant does anybody believe any of the guys in this movie have any powers. I think it would've made a huge difference if they had shown one or two shots of members of the Specials using their powers early on to establish their cred as heroes, but they don't and it's impossible for the cast to simulate superpowers, no matter how good they are as actors.The annoying thing about this is that you give $1 million bucks and 18 days to a number of directors, they could turn out something pretty special. Kevin Smith made Clerks for $20K for crissakes, and even considering inflation that would've been maybe $60K in 2000, when this was made.Instead, director Craig Mazin and writer Gunn have given us another bottom-of-the-barrel superhero movie, as if we needed another one of those.It just goes to show how bass ackwards Hollywood can be--if these guys worked in any other business and this was the work they produced, they would be abruptly fired and unable to ever work again in that industry. But the movie business doesn't seem to care whether their products are any good, hence Mazin is directing the upcoming "Superhero!" and Gunn is writing other gems like Scooby Doo 2. And there are still people out there that wonder why movies suck.
enemyzero
First of all any one who wants to see this because they liked Mystery Men, it is not even close to the same kind of film.Second of all anyone, who didn't like this movie because it wasn't like Mystery Men, you're an idiot and no one wants to hear what you say.The key differences are. Mystery Men was based on actual characters from a comic called "The Flaming Carrot" which is in its own right an amazing piece of work. On the other hand "The Specials" was completely fabricated.Also if you want to see this because you liked "Spiderman" or "X- Men", yet have never read any comics, you probably won't get it.The entire premise of the movie is to show what the members of a team of superheroes do on their day off. It shows all the petty bickering, and the flaws and downfalls of the characters. It tries to say "Superheroes are people too", and it does this beautifully.I loved both Mystery Men and The Specials, but would never try to compare the two. That would be like trying to compare "Sin City" with a movie based on "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" just because they are both graphic novels.If you watch this movie, it definitely helps to be a comic book fan-boy or fan-girl, the jokes are very tongue in cheek, and very well written. Yes there are the standard poop, fart and penis jokes, but keep in mind, it is a comedy and these things make people laugh as well.This is one of very few movies I give a 10 out of 10 too, and while in other cases with other movies I would listen to any intelligent argument put up by anyone with a different few, in this case, if you didn't like this movie you were just to dumb to get it and don't deserve debating with me
moni
I only watched this garbage because it was shown on some cheap cable channel Sunday afternoon. It was advertised as "comedy". Boy, how wrong I was when decided to give it a go. It was simply not funny at all, has no plot and is full of mindless dialog full of filthy words in order for Americans to like it. I am stunned how most of the reviewers have regarded this so called picture as a piece of art, when it was simply a piece of something else that you can refer as excrement. When you watch all this mediocrity you often wonder how in God's sake can this be made. It is so weak it made porn movies run for mainstream Oscar. Apart from cinematographic flaws, the acting is just lame. Most of the crew needs to go to acting schools again. Acting is so bad it becomes funny at moments.No, seriously, Hollywood, stop doing turds like this one. It is really ruined your (already filthy) image anyway.Definitely a winner for Bottom 100 of all times. Shame on Rob Lowe for participating here.Avoid at all costs unless your favorite movie is "American Pie".You have been warned.100/10
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