Movie Review: Mystery Team (2010)

Starring: Donald Glover, DC Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Aubrey Plaza
Directed By: Dan Eckman
Written By: Donald Glover, DC Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Dan Eckman, and Meggie McFadden
Grade: B+

Mystery Team is the first feature from Derrick Comedy, an internet sketch comedy group of friends from NYU; Dan Eckman, Dominic Dierkes, Donald Glover, DC Pierson, and Meggie McFadden. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009 and since then has had limited releases in select cities around the country until it’s DVD release in May. It is a fresh and funny film not to be missed.

Jason (Glover), Duncan (Pierson), and Charlie (Dierkes) have been best friends their whole lives. Over the years they have become outcasts though. When they were 7 they started "The Mystery Team" , promising to solve any mystery for a dime. They are 18 now and about to graduate high school, still committed to The Mystery Team, and still only charge a dime as it’s not the money that matters to them. When a little girl seeks them out to find out who murdered her parents they are shocked, but end up agreeing to take the case. Jason especially thinks they need to solve the case to prove that they are real detectives to gain the respect they had when they were kids rather than being the laughing stock of the town. When Jason meets the girl’s older sister, Kelly (Plaza), he quickly forms a crush on her. Since she in particular thinks they are way out of their league and going to the police is the only helpful thing they could do, Jason becomes determined to prove that he’s worthy of her respect.

After they get a few tips, the guys head to the bowling alley where they find the man they were looking for, wearing the precious ring that belonged to the dead parents. From there they end up at a gentleman’s club based on clues they buy off of a homeless man, leading them to a wild chase sequence. Duncan ends up having to reach for the ring in a particularly grotesque scene. They manage to sneak out just in time. When they get closer where and why this crime took place they quickly find themselves in more danger, dealing with an angered and suspicious drug dealer. By the time they figure out who is really behind the murder, they might be too close to come out of it alive.

The performances were incredible and really made the film all the more enjoyable to watch. The actors have great chemistry together and while generally they offer different comedic angles, they complement each other so well, making it far more funny than just the joke itself. The energy is contagious, making it so hard not to love the film.

Donald Glover, probably best known now for his role as Troy on NBC’s Community. is the stand out. He has this great likability to him. His character is clearly dilusioned, living in the same way he did when he was 7. His character is naïve to everything that is changing around him, mostly because he doesn’t want to grow up and lose the things he holds closest to him. Hanging on to the kid in him makes the performance a very goofy yet lighthearted one at the same time. There’s a great simplicity that Glover brings out in the character.

Yet the film wouldn’t have been the same without DC Pierson and Dominic Dierkes as Duncan ("Boy Wonder") and Charlie ("The Strongest Man Alive"). Pierson as Duncan is the brains of the operation and often the voice of reason, forcing his friend to face reality. Dierkes as Charlie plays the dumb but strong one, playing the clueless moments just perfectly, giving the group it’s muscle, and still not overplaying either side of his character.

Mystery Team has this great over the top quality to it. It kind of has to be in order to work so well and it embodies this completely. The characters themselves exaggerate all of their actions, especially as detectives. In a sense they’ve always been just playing the part, but now they are doing this in very real and risky situations. Some of the character’s ideas about certain groups of people that they decide to impersonate in order to get farther in the case gives us some of the film’s funniest moments. Dressing up similar to a Charlie Chaplin bum character when approaching a homeless man, gentlemanly scholars from another era in order to get in to a gentleman’s club, preppy high school jocks cheerfully asking for cocaine, and Jose, a very stereotypical Mexican, are some of their funniest impersonations.

Another thing that makes the comedy work so well is rather than having vulgar and gross out comedy the film really hits on the state of where these character’s minds would be at if they are still living in their childlike glory days. They never swear or have much objectionable language at all and seem to be completely clueless about sex and really girls in general. How oblivious they are to things that normally consume the thoughts of teenage guys is really funny. The language that they do use is so innocent and cheerful, again as with their impersonations almost seeming to be living in the past during far more pure and wholesome times. Then when Duncan does break this fictional world they are living in, the swearing errupts and they are given a little jult of reality.

This leads in to one the film's theme of not having to choose between having all or nothing. Our characters are clearly stuck in the past. We see what they will become if they don't make any changes in their lives, yet we want them to hold on to the passion that they have. Mystery Team is really about that balance of youthfful spark and personality and taking responsibility for one's life. It does this while being a blast to watch from beginning to end with smart, unique, and genuine comedy.