The Specials

R

Released Sep 18, 2000

1h 28m

Comedy

List

47%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

55%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In a crowded and competitive market, wannabe superheroes (Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy, Thomas Haden Church) pride themselves on being the seventh-best unit in the world.

Read More

Read Less

Critics Consensus

Clever, funny, and exciting.

Read Critics Reviews

Brad P

Imbued with the anything goes gorilla filmmaking spirit of Troma and a deep love for comic books, writer James Gunn garnered a fair amount of attention for this script in the late nineties and deservedly so.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

anthony b

A minor film with a modest budget, but still ahead of its time and very funny thanks to a clever screenplay by James Gunn. The Specials was a fanboy labor of love that mostly works.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Drier and more absurd than Mystery Men, this is a true classic of superhero parody. Everyone in the cast delivers a top notch performance and the superhero world they live in, implied by their offhand comments, is sublimely faithful to the genre. A very human film about flawed but likable characters.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Funny in places - dull in others.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Low-budget film about a low-budget superhero team. Some good ideas and a great cast, but sadly just sort of peters out. It didn't need any sort of special effects, but it did need to have some sort of resolution.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I loved the movie. It wasn't suppose to be epic or a blockbuster, but what it did succeed at was being incredibly funny in a complete deadpan comedy way. I laughed through the entire movie at some of the outlandish situations or straight-faced comic deliveries. In my opinion it's like if Mystery Men was made by a the team that made the BBC show Black Books...

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Craig Mazin

Director

Rob Lowe

The Weevil

Jamie Kennedy

Amok

Thomas Haden Church

The Strobe

Paget Brewster

Ms Indestructible

Kelly Coffield Park

Power Chick

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

51%

43%

Scary Movie

TRAILER

for Scary Movie

42%

28%

What Planet Are You From?

25%

79%

How High

13%

44%

Whiteboys

50%

82%

Detroit Rock City

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Teaser Bulletin: Steve Carell in "Evan Almighty"

"Fear Effect" Goes from Game to Movie

Feast Your Eyes On New "Slither" Pics

View more photos

Stephen Holden

New York Times

Rated: 2.5/5

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Caffeinated Clint

Moviehole

Very funny, Well worth a look

Rated: 3/5

Sep 5, 2008

Full Review

Film Threat

Rated: 3.5/5

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

Michael Szymanski

Wordmag.com

Rated: 1/5

Sep 23, 2005

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 29, 2005

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

St@tic Multimedia

It's such a low key parody that the undercurrent of deadpan nuttiness and sheer invention just sneaks up on you.

Jul 5, 2005

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

In a crowded and competitive market, wannabe superheroes (Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy, Thomas Haden Church) pride themselves on being the seventh-best unit in the world.

Director: Craig Mazin
Producer: Ellie Cornell, Mark Gottwald, Peter Safran
Screenwriter: James Gunn
Distributor: Regent Entertainment [us]
Production Co: Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Mindfire Entertainment
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 18, 2000, Original
Release Date (DVD): Feb 22, 2005
Box Office (Gross USA): $13.0K
Runtime: 1h 28m
Sound Mix: Dolby