Donald Glover & The Mystery Team

Anybody who's read and loved (like me!) Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys or Encyclopedia Brown as kids will appreciate this movie: Mystery Team. I have always wanted to solve mysteries. Being tied to chairs (keep your minds out of the gutter, pervs!), finding imaginary clues and believing there was a mystery or a haunted house everywhere was part of my childhood. I was a pretty creepy kid, huh? Naw. I resolved some of those issues with my own amateur detective, Rene C. Clayton. A movie, Mystery Team, finally addresses what happens if those people grow up in a real world.
They were kid detectives. Now they're eighteen and still solving child crimes. When challenged to solve a murder, the Team sees an opportunity to prove they're real detectives. A dark world of drugs, crime and swear words await them. "Mystery Team" is the first film by popular internet comedians Derrick Comedy.


Of course, I'm completely fascinated that a black person seems to be playing the lead. Jason Rogers (Donald Glover) - The Master of Disguise is "an expert in trickery, deception, and pulling off fake noses while yelling, 'It was me the whole time!'" Then there's Duncan Wheeler (DC Pierson) - The Boy Genius - whose "powerful brain is a library for both kinds of facts: interesting and wacky." Finally, there's Charlie Day (Dominic Dierks) - The Strongest Kid in Town - "known for his physical strength, bravery and ability to withstand Indian burns." Aubrey Plaza, who plays April on "Park and Recreation," is even in it. These boys with their Encyclopedia Brown detective tactics are thrown into the real world with guns, drugs, violence, sexual situations and some really foul language. It not only looks hysterical, but really, really, really good. There are two versions to the trailer on their website. One is "R-rated." Really. It is. Plus, there's also a Case of the Haunted Hotel, which is also hysterical. Even more interesting is this films limited release. Everywhere I look, there's an opportunity to demand that it come to your area. And, it seems like a push that's helped because a couple more cities have been added to its release. I have demanded it --- you should as well. I wish it would come to DC because I'm dying to see it.

Derrick Comedy is made up mainly of Donald Glover, Dominic Dierks and DC Pierson, all from Mystery Team. There are a bunch of videos on their site, the internet and Youtube. One of the funniest or more infamous is "BroRape" about college boys luring other college boys to their dorm rooms with the promise of X-box fun (which sounds wrong anyway), getting them drunk on beer, then raping them to the supposedly soothing or reassuring tones of "Chill out, dude" or "Come on, bro." (Is this what they're teaching in school these days?!?) I still don't quite know how I feel about this topic, (how bad or slightly turned on -- BRO-rape is wrong in any form.) I'm not quite sure what this means. (Are these supposed to be gay men?) Yet, I won't be exploring it either. "Drunk Baby" has Donald Glover running around in a diaper drinking liquor out of a baby bottle and trying to make out with his male babysitter. And, "Girls Cannot Be Trusted" is just howlingly funny.

Donald Glover
Let's talk about Donald Glover for a moment. I kept catching glimpses of him at the end of "Community," the new NBC show with Chevy Chase, while DVR'ing Amy Poehler's "Parks and Recreation." Donald's hilarious, obviously talented -- I think he's got some decent chops on him (singing "Christmas Troy"), and not to mention ... quite cute. When I started checking out his work with Derrick Comedy, that's when I discovered the internet comedies they've done. And, this boy has range, talent and skill. His comedic timing is off the hook. Plus, he's a also a stand up comedian, actor in "Community" AND a writer for "30 Rock!!!" Go, young brotha!!!!