Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

popcorninhell There's a mystery afoot and only one team of crack private detectives can solve it. Comprised of Jason: the master of disguise, Duncan: the boy genius and Charlie: the strongest boy in the world, the Mystery Team are ready to solve any crime big or small. All while contending with the reality of no longer being ten.During childhood, Jason, Duncan and Charlie spent their summer days solving crimes around the neighborhood mostly ranging from the nabbing of baseball cards to stealing a taste of windowsill pie. Now on the verge of graduating high school, the plucky trio's antics have become stale and out of place with a world that's leaving them behind. Things change however when they are hired by a bereaved little girl to solve the murder of her parents.All three leads (Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson and Dominic Dierkes) deserve praise for their energetic portrayals and innate sense of comic timing. D.C. Pierson makes the character Duncan an amiable mix of Mandark from "Dexter's Lab" and "Napoleon Dynamite" while Dominic Dierkes's Charlie channels a young Steve Carell from "Ron Burgundy." Donald Glover however manages to steal the show and most of its running time filling the screen with aw-schucks bravado. Though he may sometimes be a nuisance, Glover's staunch determination pulls the ensemble together and sets the movie slightly above its one joke premise.The jokes come at the screen in rapid fire precession, delivered with a breezy staccato that can go toe-to-toe with some of the best SNL skits. Its funny that the idea of a satirical take on Encyclopedia Brown hasn't occurred to anyone before. Anyone who has read kiddie mystery novels knows this kind of naivety is ripe for parody.Director Dan Eckman, manages to balance the humor very well though theirs much to be said about his pedestrian camera-work. Its when the movie gets a little more serious as the mystery comes to its predictable climax, the directors freshman colors start to show. One particular scene near the end the movie seems to veer off base in more than one way and goes on a tangent on maturity and friendship. What follows is a textbook example of character development that could have been beneficial if not treated as trite filler. Eckerman however is a first time director so one can hope his next project will give him the opportunity to unleash the imagination that seems a little constrained here.Ultimately "Mystery Team" may not be downright hilarious to some, but it does have a goofy tone and caustic subversiveness that I personally enjoy. The jokes come fast and loose, the acting is well done and the movie works on most levels while running a spriteful 94 minutes. Check it out if you can.http://theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com/

Movie_Muse_Reviews We haven't seen a good kid detective since "Harriet the Spy." No, the "Spy Kids" franchise doesn't count — I'm talking old school. Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson and Dominic Dierkes put their own grown-up spin on the genre best exemplified by "Encyclopedia Brown" with their comedy "Mystery Team," a coming-of-age story infused with mystery and plenty of slapstick.Jason (Glover), Duncan (Pierson) and Charlie (Dierkes) are three high school seniors who never grew out of being kid detectives, thus spending time tracking down first graders for schoolyard bullying or neighborhood high jinks instead of chasing after girls. They don't swear, they're oblivious to sexual references and their street smarts are non-existent. When a young girl comes to their booth and pays them a dime to find out who killed her parents, they suddenly realize they have an opportunity to prove that they're still relevant to the community that used to adore them.After ruling out all possible sixth grade suspects, the Mystery Team eventually finds itself a promising lead thanks to the town hobo. Soon, of course, they find themselves in way over their heads. Pushed to the limit, the case not only tests their courage, but also their friendship.From a humor perspective, there's a lot going on. Between each character's idiosyncrasies, the team's collective childish ignorance and some R-rated slapstick, "Mystery Team" has its own comedic style distilled from these various styles. Some of its wickedly funny while other jokes (such as Charlie's bone-headed nature) become redundant. From a talent perspective, Glover leads the way. Jason is supposed to be a master of disguise. All of his disguises are completely ridiculous and horribly misconstrued. For example, when the team's suspects head to a "gentleman's club," they attempt to get in wearing top hats, sporting monocles and speaking with accents. Glover not only has fun going over the top with his disguises, but he works in some awkward humor and some sarcasm as well. He should evolve into a mainstream comedic force in the not-too-distant future.At times, "Mystery Team" is hard to take seriously. The child-like ignorance brings about some funny moments, but to presume that these guys are completely oblivious to this point in their lives seems odd. There comes a point where the humor of the main characters should not trump how believable and relatable they are as people. Except for a couple scenes involving Jason's folks, their parents aren't involved. Considering real parents would not have condoned such childish behavior at their age, it would've been nice for them to be a bit more involved. However, the script does handle the more dramatic coming-of-age elements rather well and you'll like the characters regardless."Mystery Team" has a good time playing with its clever concept and as such it's a joy to watch. Despite being rather light-hearted and silly, it's easy enough to enjoy, not unlike a good razor-thin kid detective book.~Steven CVisit my site at http://moviemusereviews.com

solidgameboy12-1 Derrick Comedy have been known over the last couple of years for their offbeat, quirky and sometimes very unorthodox ways of getting a laugh out of its key demographic, which is safe to assume is mostly made up of teenagers, mostly boys, but it would be wrong of me to think girls weren't fans too.After a comedy group becomes big, it becomes the norm to create some kind of outlet to show your fans how much you love them, and what better way than to create a movie. Lorne Michaels and the Saturday Night Live "Not yet ready for Prime Time Players" did it, Monty Python did it, and while we have yet to see the Whitest Kids U' Know touch base with us on that (and no, Miss March does not count), we have "Mystery Team", a very clever, sometimes bordering on outright disgusting movie.Picture if you will, The Hardy Boys trying to hide their own 5 O'clock shadows from each other or Encyclopedia Brown trying to figure out what exactly happened to the punch bowl at the high school dance, and you could kind of place what this movie is trying to be.Three kids, who dubbed themselves the Mystery Team as kids, solve the town's big mysteries, like where is the missing cat, or who shoved their finger into a fresh baked pie, but get handed their biggest mystery when a young girl asks the team to find out who murdered her parents.Of course, the guys get involved and approach this situation as serious as a heart attack. On the surface, this movie might sound cliché and familiar, ala the Andy Samberg 2006 picture, Hot Rod. However, it would be a disservice to persuade you that they are the same movie. While they are similar in many ways, Mystery Team has something that feels a little more genuine. Hot Rod had a character who thought he could do it all, and the movie had many over the top scenes. Mystery Team is grounded in enough reality to make you realize that none of this could be pulled off by a couple of less than street wise kid detectives, and the movie makes you fully aware of it.However, in this grounding, it makes the characters have some kind of background. Not a fully recognized background, but something for you to work with. Being a handful of high school kids who really never grew up kind of rings funny, but everybody around them knows they are just trying to hold on to whatever youth they have left, a defense mechanism to help themselves prove they are still important.The movie is met with some flaws, the characters are never truly fleshed out and become more or less, cardboard cutouts of what kids think is heroic, but when you were a kid and you invented you're own persona, did you really think beyond "Super Smart" or "Super Tough"? Even in this case, it still works.Typical in most comedies too is a joke that doesn't work here and there, but it is for the most part, consistently funny.I would say if the plot is enough for you or you need a dumb funny laugh, look no further than the Mystery Team.8/10.

mrx05 Not sure why some people hate the movie so much. Of course this isn't a family film and the movie is not to be taken so seriously. I suppose that a movie can't please everyone. I for one am a fan of Derrick Comedy and this was good time spent. I hadn't laughed from a movie as much as I have after watching this one. Although I did feel that one of the main three characters was left out, it actually portrayed what the character's personality was. The first couple of minutes didn't make the movie seem that great, but as the story progresses, it gets better. As for the plot itself, it's not what makes the movie good. This movie is a comedy, and for what comedies do, it was spot on. In the end it's going to be up to you to decide whether you like it or not, but I for one recommend it. Maybe it's because of all the hours I've been awake so far, but I was laughing the whole way through.