''Mystery Team'' is a 2009 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
by the comedy group
Derrick Comedy. The story was written by
Donald Glover,
DC Pierson
DC Pierson is an American comedian, author, and actor. He is best known for his involvement in the sketch and improvisational comedy group Derrick Comedy.
Early life and education
Pierson was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended New York Uni ...
,
Dominic Dierkes,
Dan Eckman
Dan Eckman (born January 27, 1984) is an American director, writer, and producer. Eckman first came to attention for his work in the sketch group Derrick Comedy.
Early life
Eckman was born on January 27, 1984 in Manchester, New Hampshire. He has ...
and Meggie McFadden. It stars Glover, Pierson and Dierkes, was directed by Eckman and produced by McFadden. It also marked the feature film debuts for
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom ''Pa ...
,
Ellie Kemper,
Neil Casey
Neil Casey (born July 28, 1981) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He served as a writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2013 and '' Inside Amy Schumer'' in 2014, receiving Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Writi ...
,
Ben Schwartz, and
Bobby Moynihan
Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare Be ...
. It premiered at the
2009 Sundance Film Festival
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival.
Award winners
*Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' We Live in Public''
*Grand Jury Prize ...
, and was released in the United States on August 28, 2009.
Plot
The Mystery Team consisting of "Master of Disguise" Jason Rogers (
Donald Glover), "Boy Genius" Duncan Wheeler (
DC Pierson
DC Pierson is an American comedian, author, and actor. He is best known for his involvement in the sketch and improvisational comedy group Derrick Comedy.
Early life and education
Pierson was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended New York Uni ...
), and the "Strongest Kid in town" Charlie Day (
Dominic Dierkes) began with three children who styled themselves as detectives, solving mostly kid-related mysteries such as missing cats or a lost baseball, but also gaining some local fame. The trio have remained as naïve as ever, although they are about to graduate from high school. They have continued the same mindset and antics even though they are teenagers, focusing on children's infractions, although adults (such as their parents) wonder when the teens will grow out of this attitude.
To prove to themselves and the town at large that they can be "real detectives", the Mystery Team take it upon themselves to solve a double homicide when they are hired by a young girl named Brianna (Daphne Ciccarelle) to discover why her parents were killed. Although Duncan and Charlie are reluctant to help her, Jason convinces them to help her, stating that it is their chance to prove they can be real detectives and earn everyone's respect. Then they meet Brianna's older sister Kelly (
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom ''Pa ...
), whom Jason becomes attracted to, who tells them to let the cops handle it. They ignore her, and go to the local grocery store, where they are told by their friend Jordy (
Bobby Moynihan
Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare Be ...
) that a hobo named Sam may know something. They are given stuff from Kelly's house from Sam and find a card from a local bowling alley with a symbol engraved in it. They go to the bowling alley where they meet a clerk, who has a grudge against them and refuses to scan the card. However, they spot a guy named Dougie, who the card belongs to, and see that he's wearing Kelly's ring. They follow Dougie to a local gentlemen's club where the bouncer attempts to throw them out for spying on Dougie and a stripper with him. However, they escape from the bouncer and Duncan and Charlie overhear Dougie saying that someone named Leroy gave him Kelly's ring and the ring is now in the stripper's vagina. Jason, Duncan and Charlie then retrieve the ring from the toilet the stripper urinated it into and escape from the gentlemen's club before the bouncer catches them.
After returning the ring to Kelly, they go back to Jordy, who tells them about Dougie and who Leroy is. Leroy Maddox (Peter Saati) is a dangerous drug dealer who used to work at the local lumber yard. After learning his address at the lumber yard, they go to his house claiming to want to buy drugs from him. Jason sneaks away and hears Leroy arguing with someone on the phone about finding some papers. After going to Kelly's house to find the papers, he finds Kelly and they both find a paper that states something called Iphedolene is extremely toxic. However, Leroy, who becomes suspicious of Duncan and Charlie, shows up at Kelly's house and takes them hostage but they manage to escape. After Kelly thanks Jason, who promises to tell everything to the police, he, Duncan and Charlie return to the lumber yard, where they find Leroy and his girlfriend's dead bodies. A horrified Duncan then decides to give up, despite Jason's objections. He and Charlie then reveal to Jason that they are going to college and leaving him, as he didn't apply. After a fed up Duncan and Jason get into a fight, he and Charlie abandon Jason. After going to talk to Kelly and Brianna, their dad's friend Robert Finney (Glenn Kalison), who they have been staying with since their parents' death, helps fix his damaged bike. However, Jason realizes that Robert was the one he heard arguing with Leroy on the phone and quickly leaves.
After going to a police officer, who tells Jason he needs proof to believe him, he goes to the Holden and Charles Corporation, where Robert works and Kelly's father worked, but not before attempting to warn Kelly about Robert on a walkie-talkie he gave her, not knowing that Robert has it. At Holden and Charles, Jason bonds with two employees Jim and Frank, who get him drunk and give advice on asking Kelly out. After sneaking into Robert's office, Jason learns that Robert is trying to treat wood with the toxic substance Iphedolene. Kelly's father, who was a lawyer, learned this and was going to ruin the company and Robert, which is the reason Robert hired Leroy to scare him, not kill him. When Leroy kept asking for money, he killed him too. Duncan and Charlie, who heard Jason talking about Robert on a walkie-talkie, also show up to help him. The three are then confronted by Robert, but they manage to escape. After Jason makes up with Duncan and Charlie, Robert, who has taken Kelly hostage, uses the walkie-talkie to contact them into bringing the papers to the lumber yard. After they give him the papers, Robert holds them at gunpoint to kill them. When Jason tries to reason with Robert, he shoots him, but Charlie attacks him allowing the others escape. When Jason, who admits his feelings for Kelly and kisses her, finds a firecracker Jordy gave to him earlier, he gives it to Duncan, who lights it and shoots it at Robert with his slingshot, severely damaging his face. When the police show up, Robert is presumely arrested for his crimes and Jason has his wound tended to (off screen).
Months later, Jason is recovering from his gunshot wound, and has a job in medical technologies. His parents have adopted Brianna while Kelly is at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, but is still together with Jason. After Jason says goodbye to a departing Duncan and Charlie, a man comes out of the woods needing help. The film ends with the guys getting ready for another mystery in excitement while the man shouts in anguish.
Cast
*
Donald Glover as Jason Rogers
*
DC Pierson
DC Pierson is an American comedian, author, and actor. He is best known for his involvement in the sketch and improvisational comedy group Derrick Comedy.
Early life and education
Pierson was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended New York Uni ...
as Duncan Wheeler
*
Dominic Dierkes as Charlie Day
*
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom ''Pa ...
as Kelly Peters
* Glenn Kalison as Robert Finney
* Peter Saati as Leroy Maddox
*
Ellie Kemper as Jamie
*
Matt Walsh as Jim
*
Bobby Moynihan
Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare Be ...
as Jordy
* Daphne Ciccarelle as Brianna Peters
*
John Lutz
John Michael Lutz (born April 23, 1973) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is best known for playing J. D. Lutz on the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock'', and for his work as a writer on the NBC series ''Saturday Night Live'' for seven ...
as Frank
*
Jon Daly
Jon Daly, sometimes credited as Jonathan C. Daly, Jon C. Daly or Jonathan Barney Daly, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer best known for his sketch comedy work on the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show''. In 2013 he starred as H ...
as Greg Coleman
*
Neil Casey
Neil Casey (born July 28, 1981) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He served as a writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2013 and '' Inside Amy Schumer'' in 2014, receiving Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Writi ...
as Broken Man
Production
In January 2008, Derrick Comedy took a hiatus from filming short online sketch videos to produce ''Mystery Team'', which is the group's first feature-length production. The film was
independently produced and shot over seven weeks in early 2008. It was shot on the
Red camera, primarily in
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644.
Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Ha ...
, Eckman and McFadden's hometown.
The film's low budget came from their
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
video sketches and producing online commercials for
Clearasil
Clearasil is a brand of skin care and acne medication, whose products contain chiefly benzoyl peroxide, sulfur and resorcinol, triclosan, or salicylic acid as active ingredients. Clearasil has a wide range of products both for rapid and sometimes ...
.
Release
''Mystery Team'' premiered at the 2009
Sundance Film Festival as part of the Park City at Midnight series and was then released by
Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate
Lions Gate ...
in select cinemas on September 11 and 18, 2009. After a high frequency of demands on
eventful.com
Eventful is an online calendar and events discovery service owned by Audacy, Inc. The service allows users to search for and track upcoming entertainment events in their area (such as concerts, festivals, and film presentations) involving specifi ...
, additional theater engagements included one starting in New York City on December 4. A private screening was also arranged for employees at
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
. The film grossed $89,442 in the United States.
The film had its UK premiere in February 2012 at the Teenage Wasteland festival organized by Ultra Culture.
To promote the film, the group released a new online digital short starring the central characters, titled ''Mystery Team Adventures: The Case of the Haunted Hotel''.
Home media
The film was released on DVD on May 25, 2010.
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 20 reviews, and an average rating of 5.4/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on six critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Peter Debruge of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called the film "A genuinely funny but amateurishly constructed laffer from Derrick Comedy, a troupe of YouTube-savvy NYU grads with promising writing careers ahead of them."
Kimberley Jones of the ''Austin Chronicle'' wrote: "The twentysomething talents behind Mystery Team are still in the comedy minors, but this nerdy, nutty, perfectly pitched first swing suggests there are major things to come."
References
External links
* {{official website
2009 films
American teen comedy films
American comedy mystery films
Teen mystery films
2000s comedy mystery films
2000s teen comedy films
Films set in New Hampshire
Films shot in New Hampshire
American independent films
Roadside Attractions films
2009 comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films