Various down-on-their-luck minor league costumed hero types have to step up and save the city from Communism when its star superhero is unexpectedly captured by his arch-enemy. Since this is a comedy, questions of believability go rather by the board. The main question is, is it funny? The answer is yes, it’s funny. I laughed quite a lot. And it was a pretty nice story, overall. Janeane Garofalo’s role was perfect for bringing out her funniest side. William H. Macy’s blue-collar integrity as The Shoveler is heart-tuggingly believable. (He also got the coolest action scene moments.) A little less screen time for Ben Stiller as Mr. Furious would have helped — his character wasn’t so damn cool that he was worth undercutting the ensemble balance for.

The comic comes from Bob Burden, the inventor of Flaming Carrot. In fact, these characters were originally Flaming Carrot’s sidekicks... but I guess Hollywood was too chicken to make a movie about a guy with a six foot long root vegetable for a head.