In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

[Q]: it should have been a classic .
a great cast of respected supporting actors .
an interesting premise of loser comic book characters .
however , " mystery men " proved to be one of the great disappointments of 1999 .
the jokes were bland and hackneyed from talents who have previously made audiences laugh with their unique rituals .
the number of cliches and shallow characters made the film difficult to sit through seriously hurting its attempt of having a fast paced premise .
the script tried to deliver a series of small jokes throughout the film but without a big laugh - out - loud joke and mediocre small jokes , it failed miserably at being entertaining at all .
the jokes were not funny for a number of reasons .
they had been used a number of times before in previous films , the best ones , which were mediocre to begin with , were ruined in the trailer , and the expectation of laughing at clever , unique gags from clever unique comedians when there were none to laugh at greatly damaged the film .
" mystery men " might have worked if it was an ensemble cast of newcomers trying to break into the business .
but with veterans doing this kind of junk , it really questioned whether their other work was as funny as originally thought .
thankfully most actors in this movie will appear in five other movies before the new year arrives to help viewers forget this little movie .
the film follows a band of wannabe superheroes living in a wannabe gotham city who are ridiculed by their fellow citizens and villains because of their clumsiness and failure to save they day and capture the bad guy .
the fact is these pathetic losers are not needed because their city already has a successful superhero , captain amazing , who has recently captured every evil - doer in the city .
captain amazing ( played terribly by an uninspired greg kinnear ) , because of his success in the past , is worried that he will lose popularity .
after freeing one of the most notorious bad guys in the city ( geoffrey rush , overacting just a bit too much ) to keep himself busy , things get out of hand when captain amazing is captured .
it is up to the wannabe superheroes to save the day .
by the time this section of the plot is finished , the interest for what happens ( if you have n't already figured it out ) is very low .
there are very few scenes which catch the viewers complete attention .
the first scene in the film , which shows the wannabes trying to save the day , feels like it was seriously edited down .
right when it was beginning to become slightly funny seeing these actors get humiliated at an old folk 's home by some masked goons , captain amazing comes in and saves the day ? or ruins the movie .
instead of editing this scene , more editing should have been done in areas such as the unnecessary romance between mr .
furious ( ben stiller ) and monica , a waitress ( claire forlani ) or the vast majority of the film , which is the heroes talking at a coffee table about how their day was .
a simple rule : more silly action is needed in order to make a silly action movie work .
another major problem with " mystery men " is that every actor in it seemed very uncomfortable and consequently gave terrible performances .
the film depended on its cast to work fluently together , like a bunch of old friends working together in an amiable reunion .
however , most characters seemed like they did not even want to be in this film or at least the script made it seem this way .
to pull one of the actors in this film randomly out of a hat , paul reubens , who disappeared from acting to everyone 's joy , returns here leaving very little to be impressed about .
as a wannabe who uses flatulence for a weapon , all of his jokes must therefore be fart jokes .
fart jokes that have all been heard before and will inevitably be heard again in future films thanks to the success of " american pie " and " there 's something about mary . "
" mystery men " drags on towards the end to a point where anything else in the world is more entertaining .
anyone with a brain knows each one of the heroes is going to be successful at their talent in the end and each one is going to contribute in a helpful way .
so why continue to watch ?
this film is far from a worthy guilty pleasure .
" mystery men " indeed does this and every time a character succeeds another one congratulates him and says " i knew you could do it ! "
" mystery men " fails in every category it attempts to pass .
what makes this film so bad is that it had the potential to be wonderful and unforgettable .
terrible acting , terrible script , and a terrible waste of time
changes opinions about all of these actors .
"
i 'm unpredictable ! " an overexcited ben stiller shouts out .
no ben , you 're the complete opposite .
[A]: N


[Q]: "
i would appreciate it if you did n't do that again .
" starring jet li , bridget fonda , tch ?
ky karyo
, burt kwouk .
directed by chris nahon .
rated r .
it 's no secret that martial arts film often use their plot simply to get from one action sequence to another .
when the fight scenes are enough to justify paying admission , there is no problem with this , as in most jackie chan projects and a lot of the hong kong actioners .
when they are n't , well , we 're in bad shape .
kiss of the dragon , jet li 's second consecutive american misfire , plays like one big miscalculation , and fails even as the most rudimentary entertainment .
now before i start getting e - mails angrily touting the genius of jet li , let me explain myself .
li is as spectacular as ever here , and i do n't think anyone would ever dare call his martial - arts - star skills into question .
the problem is n't with him , it 's with the movie 's tone .
the much touted fight - scenes here are filmed with such unflinching , unrelenting brutality that they are unpleasant to watch .
they 're joyless , perfuctory ; li 's rogue chinese detective is more of a killing machine than a hero , a terminator with a black belt instead of a metal skeleton .
but even the terminator in judgement day had a sympathetic side .
the plot is n't relevant , but if you 're curious ,
it 's some nonsense about a chinese law enforcement officer ( li ) sent to paris to investigate a possible drug ring and encounter a corrupt chief of police ( tcheky karyo ) , who kills people and does sinister things with no motivation whatsoever .
oh yeah ,
and li 's character is also an acupuncture expert who is able to ease pain and/or kill at the touch of a needle .
" kiss of the dragon " is the name of an acupuncture maneuver , in which you stick a needle in a precise location on the back of the victim 's neck , somehow redirecting all of the body 's bloodflow to the brain and killing the poor sap more or less immediately .
there 's a vague attempt to humanize li by having him fall in love with a downtrodden prostitute , whose daughter is being held hostage , for some reason , by the villain .
this is one of the worst love stories i have ever seen on screen , even worse than the one in pearl harbor .
there 's no conviction whatsoever as the movie barely pays lip service to it ; it 's only here because someone apparently thought there should be some kind of boy - meets - girl subplot .
kiss of the dragon was written by luc besson , whose screenplay the messenger : the story of joan of arc , for all of that film 's flaws , was at least thoughtful .
i do n't know why the guy got himself involved in this train wreck
,
but perhaps he wanted to so something more mainstream after the neverending weirdness of the fifth element and the aforementioned stylized biopic .
i suppose you could call this mainstream , but i 'll choose the bizarre any time of the day .
if action scenes in a movie are going to be brutal instead of dazzling , you need a story to justify watching them .
the filmmakers behind kiss of the dragon should have rethought their strategy .
no one will walk out of this misbegotten project smiling , but i hear rush hour 2 is coming in just a few weeks .
[A]: N


[Q]: tone alone can not sustain a film , but it can go a long way .
if i can find myself lost in the time and place of a story , it scores immediate style points .
when that tone is backed up by an outstanding story and great acting , the effect can be described best by an adjective i do not use lightly : " literary .
"
what 's eating gilbert grape ? is such a film .
it 's a rich , memorable and stunningly acted story of desire colliding with responsibility , staged in a manner which many viewers might find too prosaic , but which insinuated itself into my imagination with its confidence .
gilbert grape ( johnny depp ) is a young man living in rural endora , iowa , facing incredible responsibilities .
as the man of the house since his father 's suicide , gilbert must support the family by working at the local grocery store .
he also must watch over his mentally handicapped brother arnie ( leonardo dicaprio ) and help care for his extremely overweight mother ( darlene cates ) .
gilbert seems destined to spend the rest of his life in the small town until the arrival in endora of becky ( juliette lewis ) , a free spirit passing through with her grandmother when their truck breaks down .
as he spends time with becky , gilbert begins to think about all the things he is missing .
slowly his resentment builds , until he realizes that he can no longer live his entire life for other people .
director lasse hallstrom ( my life as a dog ) and
legendary cinematographer sven nykvist create a magnificent visual backdrop for peter hedges ' screenplay , based on his own novel .
endora is a town on the edge of the world represented by the giant foodmart , a tiny insular community where everyone knows everyone else .
the midwestern sunsets and sprawling fields are beautifully photographed , and the atmosphere of the town is intensely real .
minor characters , like crispin glover as the town 's mortician , are vividly realized , and there are echoes of the last picture show in mary steenburgen 's desperately unhappy housewife .
one of the most perfectly realized scenes focuses on the grand opening of a burger franchise , attended by the entire town and accompanied by the off - key high school band .
not a single note in the depiction of endora rang false .
the same can be said of the character of gilbert .
it 's testimony to the precision involved in his creation that he came together completely with one perfectly placed line , when becky responds to gilbert 's description of his father with , " i knew someone like that once .
"
gilbert is a man harboring an ever - growing bitterness about where he finds himself in life , a bitterness which reveals itself in moments of surprising cruelty .
in one scene , he allows local children to look at his mother through their window , displaying her like a side show attraction .
his entire life seems to be mocked by arnie 's repeated chants of , " we 're not going anywhere , " but instead of expressing his dissatisfaction he lets his anger simmer , and it becomes clear that he is following in his father 's footsteps in this regard .
johnny depp expertly demonstrates the tension central to gilbert by playing everything below the surface , but he never gives in to one - dimensional blankness or simply regurgitates his naif roles in benny & joon and edward scissorhands .
depp 's performance is overshadowed , however , by leonardo dicaprio 's astonishing oscar - nominated supporting work as arnie .
he puts to shame such big name actors as john malkovich and dustin hoffman , whose mentally challenged characters never seemed completely real .
dicaprio is perfect to the last twitch and squeal , and anyone who has ever spent time with mentally challenged kids will be hard - pressed to spot a flaw .
darlene cates , a first - time actor , brings real pain to her scenes as gilbert 's tortured mother , and laura harrington and mary kate schellhardt are solid as gilbert 's sisters .
only juliette lewis does n't quite click , playing a critical role with her now familiar dopey drone and too little genuine spark .
gilbert grape does seem to drift into its conclusion , but it never lost me .
thanks to a lovingly created setting and a marvelous cast , this 1993 release proves well worth the wait .
[A]:
P