Film number 40 – The Mystery Team
Fans of Derrick Comedies internet shorts have been waiting in eager anticipation for the Theatrical release of their debut film “The Mystery Team” (and by fans I mean me). The first short I saw by them was entitled “Daughters” and I’ve been hooked ever since. Unfortunately the film had a very limited release, I think it was basically one print taken around to the biggest cities, but after a year of waiting the film has finally been released on DVD.
The three main members of this comedy troupe make up the Mystery Team a group of amateur detectives that have been solving mysteries for a dime since they were seven years old. The characters are strange adult hybrids that have innocent and childish minds, going off to solve a murder the master of disguise dons a horrible fake mustache in the attempt to pass as a tycoon, sticking out his chest and talking in a comical grandiose theater voice. Most of the humor in the film is derived from these bizarre characters interacting with people who are firmly planted in the real world.
Usually when sketch comedy such as SNL tries to make the move to film it turns into a bunch of gags with a plot that has serious dips in pace and interest but Mystery Team actually works as a film, the comedy builds jokes throughout and they just get more hilarious. The characters go through wonderful transitions growing up and maturing yet still being completely oblivious to situations around them. It’s a bit like a hardcore episode of the Rugrats, just instead of Nurses and daycare centers it’s full of prostitutes and murderers in a strip club. Working out of a small stall in their front yard the Mystery Team are ready to solve almost any small blunder that has befallen the quiet suburb that they live in, they begin the film finding out who stuck their fingers inside Mrs Kibbels berry pie and move to finding out who murdered a little girl’s parents. The mystery team rides color coded bicycles with matching sneakers, they’ve never grown up each member has a special skill that they are unskillful at; the master of disguise dons wacky costumes and ridiculous personas that are completely transparent, the strongest kid in town is weak and pretends to be on the football team and the Boy Genius memorizes useless facts that he uses in the wrong situations.
The great thing about the film is that the clues that the team follow are completely nonsensical, through a series of bizarre events they actually end up going on the right path. The moments of espionage are hysterical and imaginative but also quite suspenseful; there are great scenes where the characters are in serious peril and we feel that were there with them, all the characters posses such innocence that at times you actually are worried for their safety. The acting is strong and consistent throughout; the overblown farcical characters could fall apart quite quickly but they all remain charming and entertaining. The three main actors Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson and Dominic Dierkes are all prime to be in big comedies they prove that they can go far beyond the world of sketch comedy. They all also wrote the script and it’s actually really well done the story moves well the characters are all fun and original and the film is never boring.
The supporting cast also back them up well; Park and Recreation’s Aubry Plaza is great as a romantic interest and the older sister of the orphaned girl, she’s got that kind of angry brutally down to earth funny shtick down well. Ellie Kempar from The Office is a girl version of the Mystery Team fully grown riding round the town on a Bicycle with pigtails. Action scenes are really well filmed, very thrilling and far beyond what we would expect from a comedy film with such a small budget. The dialogue is so good in the film it never feels annoying or obvious and is generally pretty surprising and different from what we usually see.
Obviously there are few weakness such as the tone being destroyed by some real gross out moments but even these are kind of funny and are usually complemented with some good dialogue anyway. Some people could easily find the film annoying and childish but the comedy works, it plays incredibly well and is very refreshing to see. It is incredibly impressive that they managed to pull this film off for such a low budget, it’s not trying to say anything profound or change lives it just wants to be entertaining and in that respect it’s a great success. We should be nurturing these comedies, rent it buy it you will laugh and it has the most foul mouthed child that you will ever see on screen.
8 out of 10
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