FILM REVIEW: 'THE MYSTERY TEAM' DVD

A DVD Release of the Comedy that Promises to Make it's Stars Big

Don't let the title fool you. There's nothing mysterious about Mystery Team. Mystery Team is a movie. Mystery Team debuted at Sundance two years ago. Mystery Team is a comedy. Mystery Team comes out on DVD this week. But this does dig a little deeper.

My handy-dandy press release shee -- which says, again, that Mystery Team comes out this week on DVD -- also describes the flick like so: "Mystery Team follows the adventures of three high-school virgins who are stuck solving childish whodunit mysteries in their neighborhood. But when these bumbling boy detectives are tasked to investigate a real murder, they see the ultimate opportunity to prove themselves once and for all." So basically everyone's high school experience. What makes the movie more intriguing and less weird-sounding is its pedigree.

Donald Glover, current co-star on NBC's Community, pulls the star weight here, along with a few other members of a comedy group called Derrick. Derrick was formed by these chums at NYU a few years back and turned into one of those modern Hollywood stories where YouTube hits turned into movie deals turned into sitcom starring roles turned into press coverage by the likes of me. Donald Glover and company, you're welcome for me helping you achieve your dreams. Now if you could only help me with this murder I'm trying to solve... Mystery Team does remain a mystery to me in the sense that I haven't actually seen it yet. It seems to be eluding me at every turn. But based on the strength of Derrick's comedy (check that out here) and clips from the movie, seen below (thanks, press release!), dare I say Mystery Team seems like a mystery worth investigating.

By the way, phrasing like that is why I'm on the opposite end of this particular Hollywood success story. Oh well. The Mystery Team DVD comes stacked with extra features standard and otherwise. You get the commentary by cast and Derrick members, deleted scenes, blooper reels, a making-of doc, but also pre-production test scenes and new Derrick sketches. With other Mystery Team cast members now making their homes in stuff like 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, The Hangover and SNL, watching the team on DVD now might just end up being like seeing U2 in Larry Mullen's garage, or The Beatles sans Ringo in Liverpool, or...you know, just some great young comedians doing their thing before leading roles in high concept broad comedies where they play land developers that can communicate with animals or something like that. Actually, Mystery Team seems to promise a pretty good send-up of those very cliches.

Mystery Team is out now on DVD from Offhollywood Digital