99: I Don't Wanna Grow Up

The following feature has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. It is intended for mature audiences and parental discretion is advised. It's showtime, folks. Enjoy the show. This is Dan Eckman, you're listening to Movie Meltdown, and keep kicking ass, guys!

It's time for Sofa Theater. Jason, Jason, come quick! There's a mystery afoot! Somebody stuck their fingers in Mrs. Kimmel's pie!

What kind of pie, Jamie? Poisonberry! Duncan, come in, Duncan. Duncan here. We got a code 484 at Mrs.

Kimmel's house. Affirmative. Charlie, come in, Charlie. Code 484 at Mrs. Kimmel's house.

I'm on it. Still warm. That means it was hot when someone stuck their finger in there. There's only one kid crooked enough to do this, but young enough not to know it would burn you. Joshua McDonald.

Eric McDonald. And we know his spot. Yeah, yes I'm on top. I'm going this hard and no I won't stop. Yeah, yes I'm on top.

I'm going this hard and no I won't stop. She say, what's up? Let me hear you holler, bitch. Actor, writer, rapper. Nigga, I do all of it.

Lactose tolerant, addicted to cheddar. And I spend it on a jacket, man. I don't know no better. Yeah, it's childish. Can't be no, yeah, I'm fly as a feather.

Yeah, my nigga a piece of bourbon, but my flow keep it ghetto. Keep my swag up all the more. You can watch it develop. Ain't it funny? In a year, I went from different to Welcome.

To Movie Meltdown Sofa Theater. Once again, I'm. Well, I'm Brian. I like to skateboard. And I'm Greg.

If you know Derek comedy, you'll get that joke. Anyway, this week's Sofa Theater feature is Mystery Team. Nice. The year is 2009. Director Dan Ekman.

The plot, according to IMDb, and once again, they go straight for the most identifiable source. A group of former Encyclopedia Brown-style child detectives struggle to solve an adult mystery. So, spoiler alert if you haven't seen Mystery Team. Mystery Team. Because we're going to go into some of the best jokes.

So, I'd advise you right now, go see it. Especially if you're a comedy fan. Because, yeah, it's pretty damned awesome. Yeah. I realized after the fact I probably should have been writing down some of the one-liners.

There's too many to keep up with. There's too many. If you want that, just get the screenplay. Yeah. Because, oh, every line.

Yeah. All right. Where would you like to begin? Oh, yeah. I came into this completely blind.

I'd heard about it. A friend recommended it at a former place of employment recently and didn't know I was even going to be watching it until a few days ago. So, yeah, I came into it completely blind, didn't know much about any of it. So, therefore... This completely took me off guard.

I knew it was a comedy. I had read the IMDB description. Who knows? It could have been a horror movie starring Danny Glover. Who knows?

Based on some of their... But anyway, yeah, no. Definitely a comedy. Oh, I would say. I was asking you earlier if you were familiar with Derek comedy, which is where they came from.

This is basically the the complete realization of the rest of their existence up to this point. They started as Sketch Comedy Troop, and I think they were all going to, like, New York University. And the reason most people wouldn't know who they are, they started doing, like, the video version. You know, I guess Sketch Comedy is, you know, moving into the new millennium here, so basically all of it became YouTube videos. Mm-hmm.

So at that point, I mean, they had a whole string of Derek Comedy Presents YouTube videos that got millions of hits. There's one or two that are just pretty damned amazing and did get a ton of hits over the years. They sort of built up their reputation like that, and that's all they'd done outside of... I mean, they all sort of did independent stuff on their own, especially our main guy here. You know, I know that I've recognized them all, and I've probably even seen some of their stuff online.

You see so much, but I never paid attention to where it was coming from or who it was. Yeah, I mean, a lot of it, yeah, it's... definitely stuff. Most people had seen some version of, um, I mean, they just put it out as their own thing, but then they, I think they ended up on, I think what the funny or die had a lot of their, that carried just about all of them, I think. So it's definitely one that people ran across. And, uh, I think it did build up a lot of the reputation, especially Donald Glover.

Donald Glover is, is sort of the main star here. And, and it's, you know, it's a trio, but he, he sort of steals the spotlight if nothing else. And, uh, He's pretty damned amazing. To me, he makes this movie. The other two are awesome and definitely find their place within the movie, but he's amazing to watch.

It is amazing that he started just making YouTube videos and within the span of a couple years was writing for 30 Rock and now stars on Community with Chevy Chase and all all these other people on a network TV show. So in such a small amount of time, he's built up this pretty damn impressive career. And you obviously couldn't do that without being immensely talented, which he really is, especially when it comes to comedy. But just in general, he's pretty impressive. That's what I was going to say.

When you were listing the description of how he got where he is, that's the one thing that was coming to mind. And you just said that talented people who find a way cream rises to the top i guess is the cliche but yeah they find a way uh to shine and people notice it that's all there is to. It it's yeah i mean it it does show you really it has changed the whole system at this point that you can go from youtube videos and you know next thing you know you've got your own network show so yeah it's it's pretty amazing how the the business has changed in just the last couple of decades it's phenomenally different. Right um you know you say that i i don't know his his background i don't know if he's like formal training or anything like that right and i don't even know how versed you are on it but i guess i guess you think that there may be people out there that just purely are talented and get it and may i think before you had to have had that you got to put in your time with a you know an improv group and you've got to spend years on stage not making any money and you know now it you if you're good, you're good.

Yeah. That may completely have changed by now. I think all of them were, were sort of good in their own right. I guess as far as training, they, they did kind of catch on at a upright citizens brigade, the theater that's there in New York. And I think that's where they did a lot of their training.

But again, it's funny to watch. I mean, half of the stuff that comes into play in this movie, you see like in its infancy in, you know, stuff they've been doing on, on the other skits over the years, especially with him. I mean, the joke of half of his is him doing these crazy characters and voices. So the fact that they make him this, you. Know, master of disguise where every 10 minutes he's pretending to be another character sort of works in as its own joke.

If you're familiar with, familiar with it, with Derek comedy. Yeah. And it stands alone with, even without that, it stands alone. I'd wonder when you mentioned a upper citizens brigade, I know Matt Walsh, that's kind of got a cameo in it as Derek, Jim from the. The cowboy.

Right, the cowboy. And then was Geordie the. Was he Upright Citizen Brigade as well? I'm pretty sure that's where he originated from. He's part of the third group.

They were saying he's the only other one that that role was written for, other than the three main leads. Everybody else they brought in because they were their friends or they were just good actors, but they wrote the Geordie role for that guy. Plus, he definitely, you can tell, was almost probably a fully realized character before he ever got there. He's that... good and that well-developed and you could watch convincing yeah you could watch an hour of that character and never get bored i think. I'm pretty sure he's rung me up at the quickie marshmallow that guy is.

A real guy yeah oh shut. It It's the mystery team! What is up, you guys? Hey, Jordy. What's buzzing, cousin?

Staying cool, fool. Oh, hey, I got a new gum flavor for you. It's a watermelon whirlpool. Yeah, put it in your mouth. Eat it.

That's so boss. It's on me. Neato. Wow, I haven't seen you guys in a while. You guys used to come in here all.

The time back in the day. You guys would solve a crime, and then you would come in here, and I would give you free ice cream. And we're still doing it. You guys are still solving crimes, and sure enough, I'm still right here. We are doing it.

That's what I think is so different about what they do, is it's so reality-based in a way, which is funny in this movie, because... they sort of exist in their own little world. They, they really, they do sort of create their own existence. So I don't know. It puts this comedy in a very different group than most, but at the same time, they, they've got sort of this hard edge to it. Like it, you know, most things, especially comedies today are very dumb and play, you know, play very low brow where this one has the moments of that.

No doubt about it. You think, but at the same time, it like gets to the point of, of just like sadness at points where, where you have, you know, Jim telling him, don't be like me. Right. I'm, I'm pretty sad. Or you see Geordi, like just like living vicariously through these little kids and like wishing he could be them, you know, wishing he could be as cool as them, even though he's, you know, he's been older than them the whole time and he's had all these chances to do something with his life, but he sits there sort of, you know, ruining the day that, you know, he, he stayed at the quickie mart there and has spent his entire life kind of wasted trying to sell him the opposite story.

But you feel this like really sad, right? He's just such a sad character and they definitely work in that, that level of, realism, like almost painful realism in the middle of like these ridiculous situations that I think that is, is something that sort of sets them above a lot of other, especially sketch comedy or, or movies that try to do like ridiculous comedy at this point. Yeah. There, there, there were some, uh, poignant moments when you, when you talk about that, especially when you speak of Geordie and I know we're talking about a minor character or so much at the beginning, but I guess when you have that deep of a character in just a few scenes, I guess it, it sticks out. But, um, he's someone that is wishing to be someone who these people, they want to, they know themselves, they want to be somebody else.

Yeah. You know, the, um, Charlie, he wants to be, is that his name that wants to be on the football team? Yeah. Hey, see you at practice. He says to the rest of the, the, uh, the, the football team.

And, He's almost acting the same way Geordie does when he's trying to put his hand into the go mystery team later on from behind the counter. No matter how low you think you are or lame, you might even realize that in that self-realization moment, and you're wanting to be someone else, there's a lot of times somebody just hoping they could be you or what they think you are. Yeah. So it, there's more than just a gross out moments and silly and silly bits in this movie. There's actually some substance to it.

So, and again, something that I give them credit for, well, first and foremost, just writing the writing in this is amazing. Like it, every line is just, not only is it hilarious, but it's amazing. The attention to detail, like the, the level, because they're, you know, uh, Again, hopefully you've already seen this. If not, we're kind of ruining a lot of what's going on here. So definitely go watch it.

But so much of it is based around the fact that they still kind of think they're kids. Look, I know when you were younger, the whole town, myself included, was very amused by you and the mystery kids. Mystery team, okay? Mystery team. People used to call us heroes.

And it really razzes my berries when people don't take us seriously. I mean, look how big my magnifying glass is. Your head's big. Put that down. That's enough.

You're an adult now. Act like one. There really is this level of where they really believe that there's still these seven-year-olds that are out there. And they've grown up over the years, but it's like they haven't really grown up. So there's them sort of dealing with that.

And that's the part of the writing that I think is kind of, once again, impressive. Because not only is it bits and one-liners, but... they do bother to put in like this character development. Like, you know, it could have very easily been nothing but, you know, stupid little skits stolen from their YouTube videos and, you know, pieced them all together, but it's not. It's like, they really do bother to, to show, you know, over the space. We start off with them still kind of living that child lifestyle, but there's several scenes in there where they're sort of like breaking down and like, you know, I don't want to do this anymore.

Or, you know, I don't want to not be around you guys. And there's two or three scenes where, it's kind of played for laughs, but at the same time, there is a message of, of them fighting growing up and fighting, having to take on adult responsibilities. And part of that is being separated from each other. They're, they're this little. Team of kids that, you know, you do hit that point when you're out of high school and all of a sudden you're whoever, all your group of friends is now gone.

And, and it rarely sticks together after that fact, everybody sort of parts ways. And that's a lot of times the last you see of these people. So it is sort of something that's, hard to deal with. It's this coming of age story for these guys that really should have grown up a long time ago. Right.

Well, they, they still value, um, they truly value innocence as a defense mechanism. Yeah. That's, that's really what, I mean, they, you know, they still like chocolate milk and drink chocolate because it, it will, it tastes better than white milk or regular. So, and, and that's not just because of a taste. It's, it's that, um, if we don't acknowledge that we have to grow up or that we're growing up, we'll never have to do it.

Yeah. Um, I mean, yeah, Jason Donald Glover really lives in that. Like the other two are starting to, you know, realize sort of make plans past, you know, graduation. And it's like, he really like delusionally is kind of like tricking himself into like, if I just don't, you know, don't make those plans. If I don't, you know, make any adjustments in my life, then I can live like this forever.

Right. Yeah. And actually the reveal is later, you know, the two others, his buddies reveal, Hey, we're just playing along, you know, to keep the group together. We thought you knew that this really wasn't real. And, um, obviously Jason didn't get it.

So, but they still kind of live in that world too. I mean, they're just slowly making adjustments as they go, but it's, yeah, it's amazing how all three of them really do sort of convincingly pull off this like seven year old mentality for guys that are probably in their mid twenties easily. Right. Right. And that's hard to do too.

It's like performance wise, there's a lot of people that don't, there's so many little subtle things in lines here and there that just You wouldn't be able to pull off unless you were kind of skilled and able to tap back into that. Right. Oh, man. Yeah, I don't know that it's giving them– I mean, you could start rattling off some of them, but I don't know that that's giving them any– you know, we can sit around for an hour and go, dude, what about this line? What about this?

And, yeah, I mean, they're all funny, and I'd love– I want– I want that moment of showing it to someone else and them realizing and laughing at that. Because that's the payoff. I mean, it's a good story. You do see, you say, you have an arc of character development within the movie. And that's showing that they know how a movie should go.

But at the same time, they're wildly talented with good comedy. Yeah. And it's all within the group. It's like they wrote everything. They're all, I think, contributors on the writing side.

Everybody like, yeah. Score. Yeah. Donald did the score. Um, the other guys like the art director.

So, I mean, everybody has like, I mean, it really was like they kept doing these YouTube videos only it became, you know, like a budgeted project at this point. And it, Again, I give them credit for really like they, they put this Derek comedy group together and basically everything they made over the years, everything they made off, you know, advertisements for people going to their website or anything, man, performances, anything they did, they didn't divvy it out to the group. They didn't like go, okay. You know, cause number one, they were like, you know, people are going to squabble for stupid money and that ruins the group. But on top of that, it's like, we need to do something better with this.

We need to put it towards something. So everything they made over the years, they saved up to put into the financing of this movie. And it was years and years in the making. And that's, again, impressive on that level, too. Again, most people aren't that talented and have a sense for business.

But on top of that, I have just this lack of greed. They really weren't worried about... I mean, it wasn't that much money anyway. You know, you don't make much either doing stand-up or skit comedy or, you know, even hits off a website. It's like, you know, we're not making much.

But what we're making, we want to put towards something. So that's kind of a selfless version of, you know, this group of people that you don't see a lot either. Well, and, you know, when you put it that way too, you know, I did notice, you know, with credits are rolling, I said, wow, he's actually the executive producer on this. Like you said, they put up their own... money really to get this done and so therefore if you like that kind of stuff they're making the money on the DVD sales back end anyway. If you like it, go buy it.

That's the way, obviously, they're putting their talent and their money back into their craft. Those are the kind of people that if you like it, you definitely need to go buy. And that probably just sealed it for me. I mean, Not that I'm going to sit around and watch this a hundred times. I don't know.

Okay, maybe portions. There might be certain parts of scenes that I don't want to see again. But that's just, I get a little queasy sometimes. Well, that's the thing that is so weird about this, because it's one of those, I mean, one of my favorite YouTube videos they ever did, and obviously because I referenced it in the intro there, is about a character pooping his pants. Now that's, again, that's very lowbrow and actually is not at all the type of comedy I usually respond to.

And that's why I know these guys are kind of skilled at what they do because normally, I mean, there's a million YouTube videos out there of some idiot in his basement, like pretending that he's funny, thinking that he's funny and talking about poop and fart jokes. And I'm not entertained with any of those. So the fact that they can take stuff that's as guttural as a lot of this is, and actually be clever with it and sort of appeal to you on that, on that seven year old kid level where you're like, you know, you're laughing at somebody for pooping their pants. Right. But at the same time, there's just.

Such well-written lines, such good delivery. It's just amazing. And that, that's again, why I think they're so talented is the fact that they can take something that's that dumb and kind of make it smart. And at least in the delivery and the, in the way that they present it, make it better than that. You know, that's, It's a weird combination, I have to say, and they don't disappoint on those kind of gross-out jokes in the movie either.

Right. You know, I actually thought of this during the movie. I thought, wow, this done wrong could be dumb and dumber. Yeah. Very easily could be.

And I know a lot of people like that movie, and I know that there are good parts, there are scenes that that's they stick with you and they're pretty good scenes but there's a lot of it that's just complete throwaway yeah a lot of scenes that people love still that i don't get that love those scenes i i think well that's just it wasn't the funny the first time it's still not um this they make that reveal of of innocence repeated over and over and over that same joke of is i'd I don't know what you're talking about. Can you explain? What is it? I'll pay you, but I'll pay you five bucks if you can tell me what it is. There's a.

We'll just say it. She's a stripper. And she tells him for 20 bucks he can do something. And yeah, he retorts with, I'll give you five to tell me what that means. That....

Yes, it's funny, but they make that same premise of a joke repeatedly, really in every scene. But. It works every single time. They find a way. Again, because it's not really the same joke.

It's that premise. Right. But they find a way to be clever and sort of make it a different twist. And there's just times when you don't see it coming still. You're following along with whatever they say.

And they'll hit you upside the head with something so ridiculous. Right. And so, yeah, just completely oblivious to what's going on in the real world. Like, guys, I think we just had sex. No, the one that kills me.

One of the characters starts doing the finger and the whole maneuver. Right. You know, he's mimicking sex with his hands. I think we all know how that works. Right.

And our boy Charlie goes, he's trying to play along like kids do. You try to act a little older than y'all. You try to act like you know what's going on. So he starts elbowing. He's like, yeah, yeah, poker in the eye.

And the first time I heard that, I almost... i almost hurt. Myself i was laughing so hard because again i thought he was going with that that maneuver that most kids do and he was gonna actually you know just play along with yeah and i know what should yeah oh that that line is so just so caught me off guard and it's still so funny oh. My god oh man. So yeah there's there's Again, I think there's something to this that just works, and that's what I noticed. It's funny you brought up the dumb and dumber thing, because that's what I was thinking.

I was like, this really fits within a style of comedy, and the Farley brothers definitely have a style of comedy. They're one of those that sort of found their niche, and I think they are actually talented. Oh, sure. They've got a lot of, and they're sort of skilled at structuring stuff and finding ways to put bits together into a bigger picture and make it work Again, it's not my favorite, and there's definitely moments that are great in their stuff, but there is a lot of stuff that is just that guttural humor, and that's it. There is no other level to it.

It really is just you're laughing at that, the most base level of comedy. And that's fine, and that's what I've noticed with this and with all comedies. It's like there really is just a style, and you either get. It or you don't. Right. it's sort of what we were talking about on the show itself lately is, you know, there's, you know, people find certain things funny and it's one of those, you either get it or you don't.

And you can't, you can't make somebody like something. It's like, you're, you're either a fan of comedy or you're not, which is hopefully a pretty broad term and people will find something that they like. But even then it's like, you know, especially like lately we've found people like the Farley brothers that create their own little universe and like, all their characters and their sense of ridiculousness all sort of work within the same set of rules. Or you look at even something like Judd Apatow's done where, I mean, all of his are sort of in the same universe and you have these same guys. And again, it sort of ties into this too of, of guys that kind of don't want to grow up and are dealing with that.

So he's definitely found a very serious, you know, note to play on all of his movies. So it's, But it is one of those you just sort of click with a certain type of comedy or you don't. And I think this is one of those, I mean, if you get what they do, if you like it, you'll kind of be where I was and just be. Like, man, this is awesome. And I really am impressed with everything that goes on in this movie and pretty much everything they've done.

Right. And, you know, it never felt– it's paced well because it never– Was it maybe an hour 40, something like that? It's like an hour, yeah, a little over an hour and a half. Yeah, it never felt slow. It never drugged.

The scenes never went on longer than they needed to. It doesn't feel like... It doesn't feel like. Like a Saturday Night Live movie? Right, right.

I mean, exactly. That's probably the case in point. Saturday Night Live movies... Um, they, they're like, I can, you can just see them sitting around the writer's table going, how are we going to push this to 90 minutes? Yeah.

Over and over and over. That's what they've done for years is let's take a skit, basically the, you know, five minute YouTube videos that these guys were making and then stretch it out through an hour and a half. And you feel it on those. I mean, you, you're, they're grueling sometimes. Right.

It's yeah that's they just have to work so hard to make it a feature film where this doesn't feel like that and i think it wasn't directly not that i don't think i've seen these specific characters i think it was an idea they had with that concept of making it a movie and just taking you know their style of comedy and adapting it onto these characters so i think that helped them right off the bat. Sure yeah and i guess that it helps it helps i guess if you're making those short films and uh writing writing those that when you need filler to throw in an extra character, you can do that fairly easily. Like Matt Walsh's character, that really is an unnecessary character in the film. It does help the plot a little bit, push it along, but it's very funny.

And it pushes that time filler if you need to ratchet it up a notch. I always. When I watch movies, I'm like, okay, why is this character here? Especially if they're taking up more than five minutes. Are they really pushing anything?

Or are they just funny? And sometimes people throw that in, but he definitely was a plot character. It definitely helped in a few spots you needed to move things along. But at the same time, you don't see, oh, well, they just threw that in as a favor or something like that. Yeah, none of it felt like just like inserts, you know, because there are ones in those other type of comedies that are just like, Here's a character we all know, or here's an actor that we're friends with, and we wanted to work him in doing this crazy character.

And it's like, I never got that with this. And I mean, they probably know people. They could have done that. You know, they've gotten pretty popular over the years. So it's like they probably could have roped in some of their friends and probably recognizable people.

But it's like, to me, it's like they didn't want to force it in there, I'm assuming, because nothing that they put in there, everything feels like it is tied to the plot. Right. And all the performances feel kind of natural with where they are and what they're doing. It doesn't feel like they're just hammering in funny characters, again, just for a little bit here and there. I thought about this thinking about it as well.

Again, forgive me. I just, you know, first time through in just a few minutes after watching it. Was it set? I tried to look at the license place. Was it was that New Hampshire?

Or do you know? I'm not even sure. I think I recognize the license plate as being New Hampshire's license plate, which kind of, at least for me being Midwest, that Midwest South line area. Yeah. I always feel like we're midway right it's that new hampshire feels like it's almost a um a protected area like you're good there's there is a certain amount of innocence that's going to be in a smallish town in new hampshire and That's almost like those characters couldn't exist in most cities.

You know, the principal's not going to let them play their games, and the guy at the bowling alley's not going to let them play their games with them, that they really are these mystery squad kids. And New Hampshire seems like the kind of place where it's far enough removed and maybe a little bit, you know, left of center, a little bit oddball enough that, okay, well, they're okay. We're going to let them do their thing, and they'll grow up eventually. You know. I'm not saying that it couldn't happen here, but it seemed a little bit more believable.

I was like, oh, okay, New Hampshire. Yeah. They could get away with that there. And they're often like a little closed off suburb looking area. Yeah, exactly.

So, I mean, definitely in that little world. I mean, they don't look like they, you know, they're on their bikes all day long. So, it's like they don't really leave that little circle that they're constantly in. So, I mean, between the playground and the school and, you know, the quickie mart, it's like they don't ever– enter into you know a world that people would call them on that ever especially since people they've been doing it since they were little kids so everybody in that area just know oh that's those guys so everybody just sort of you know humors them more or less and i don't know it definitely is something that it sort of plays to that it it kind of goes along with the innocence because it is there's there's a lot of things that i think are kind of cool because they're also sort of this like They tap into this nostalgic thing with everybody being kids.

Right. Because they're almost living in a world that they shouldn't even understand. They're living in like a little rascals world. Right, right. Where there really is like, you know, all the kids are riding bikes.

And I'm like, well, that's almost a time gone. I mean, kids now, you know, are sitting inside playing video games all the time. So even that world is sort of disappearing on some level. Right. Even then, they've got the stand out front, you know, where they're, you know, mystery soft.

Like a lemonade stand. And they're carrying around walkie-talkies when every other kid in the world has a cell phone, you know. So, I mean, they are sort of living in. This nostalgic world that's like almost the 50s, you know. It's like they're drinking chocolate milk and they're riding their bikes and, you know, everything's, you know, kind of set in this.

Especially their language. I mean, everything they say is... is just so kiddified, but not, like, annoying. Like, it really is sort of out of a Little Rascals skit, where they're, like, delivering lines that only work in that world, but they're all three of them. But, you know, all the conversations make sense and work within their world. And then it's even more funny when it's sort of juxtaposed with the real world, because then they get to a world where people are like, ah.

Fuck, it's the mystery team! And, you know, they're like, ah, what are you fuckers? What do you call them? The. The mystery tards.

And people you know are pulling out guns and they just have to deal with drugs and strippers and it's like it's so funny watching them jam these completely wide-eyed characters into what is also you know the real world you know it is set in today so you know they have to sort of not only butt heads with all these real world characters but at the same time still sort of maintain their innocence. Like, they don't ever really crack. Until the end, you get a little bit. Right. But for the most part, they still, like, completely exist in their level of innocence.

And, like, even when they're dealing with people that are using bad words and, you know, they're dealing with things that are kind of harsh, you know, especially when they're solving a murder, for God's sake. Right. That's even funnier that they get hired to solve a double murder. So... Yeah, it's just funny watching that level of innocence having to deal with the real world.

Well, I got this, and I actually hesitated for a minute there, but now that you've led up to it, I actually hesitated to bring it up, but I think it's good to bring it up now. During it, I kind of got the feel of Blue Velvet. Yeah. You know, where there's a certain layer of This is our town and this is how we live and this is who we are. And then one thing flips you on your ass, basically.

And then you keep delving down deeper and deeper. And he has a hundred chances to say, you know what? I'm going to go to the police. I'm going to get out of it. I can get out of this right now.

But no, I'm going to go to the drug dealer's house. I'm going to go try to buy cocaine from the drug... No. No. And both of those characters almost...

They just repeatedly throw themselves back into it over and over and over for chasing something. I mean, both of them are chasing a girl. Both of them are solving murders. Well, crime. Yeah.

And.... And the places that they go and the things that they reveal about their town, about what's going on around town that they never had any clue was happening. Yeah. And in a course of two days or whatever it is, they both have completely changed themselves. And so, I don't know if it was intentional, but you could almost see almost a direct parallel between the two films.

It definitely draws from that same, definitely with the small town and the innocence, but it is funny how, yeah, the this one thing happens that sort of catches them off guard and sends them on this chain reaction of, yeah, being... just thrown into this underworld of, of stuff that, you know, at least in this town, probably always was going on. There's both of them. I mean, that level is always there. It's really the characters that are sort of innocent and don't bother to venture into that world. But I mean, the, the seedy side of that, you know, town that they live in has always been there.

It's just, yeah, they, they choose to live in their own perfect little world until they're sort of thrust into this. Right. Yeah. That's, that's kind of cool. I hadn't thought about that one.

Well, yeah. And yeah. And it's, Like you say, it's thrust upon them, but they continue, almost like a drug, to keep going back to it. Every one of these characters has a reason why they're the Mystery Chain and why they have to solve this. Just like in Blue Veldt, he has his reason why he wants to uncover everything, and he won't let it go.

They both are trying to get back to that moment of... I want to go back to the way it was. And I, and they know that they can't, but they're, you know, and they keep going deeper and deeper that maybe if I can clear this up, maybe if I can clear the tomorrow, everything will be okay. And it will all be over with. All right.

We promised to hand this case over to professionals, but if something happens in the meantime, auxiliary walkie talkie. Now be careful with this. It's two good report cards in the summer's allowance. Okay. Okay.

It's fur the best, Jason. Personally, I'm glad we're going to the police. We're not going to the police. What? But you just told Kelly we would.

I told Kelly that we would hand this over to professionals. What does it say on our sign? Missing kitten professionals. Oh my God, I just got that. We're keeping evidence from the police, okay?

We could go to jail for that. Of course, that's not going to happen. That's not how the real world works. As they slowly get thrust more into the real world. There is no mystery machine.

They're not meddling kids. Well, they are meddling kids. They are meddling kids, but not in the same way. They're not going to reset and do it all over again like Scooby-Doo. Yeah, the episode doesn't start anew every day.

They actually have to deal with getting shot and their lives changing and people's parents getting killed. I mean, there are. Actual consequences in this one that you aren't going to get in an episode of Scooby-Doo. No, no. No, I was afraid from the first scene, I was afraid we were going to get some kind of cheesy Scooby-Doo reference, and I applaud them for not going there, because it would have ruined it.

Well, even, I mean, in general, they could have gone that route. It could have really been an over-the-top, just mimicking, you know, like episodes of Scooby-Doo. I mean, it could have been like the live-action version of Scooby-Doo, because that sort of played with, you know, all the conventions of the old cartoon series, and But to me, this never really goes there. It actually finds its own level of consciousness. It actually really does exist in its own little, like the other type of comedies, it sort of finds its own place and doesn't really, and that's what I usually call out most comedies for, especially modern comedies, I bitch about it a lot, that most of them just have no originality to it, especially the more dumb ones, when you get stuff like Epic Movie and Disaster Movie.

Oh, God. There's nothing original to it at all. All they're doing is mimicking other movies. Right. And this could have very easily been one of those that.

Like, let's make fun of Scooby-Doo and, you know, our gang and just do, like, nothing but little, you know, sight gags that are just completely ripping off that stuff. Right. A collection of scenes that sort of tie together and sort of make a movie, but. really are just hey let's do a funny bit about this. Yeah yeah so to me this actually more draws on the the inspiration of them it draws from sort of the bigger picture and you know the the nostalgia of it or what those type of things were going for you know initially but none of the specifics it actually takes you know they they write their own material they actually come up with Their own, you know, it's not like the mystery itself is all that creative or, you know, confusing.

There's no big, you know, spoiler reveal of, you know, dun-dun-dun, who was it? Who did it? Yeah, M. Night Shyamalan might have fucked it up. if he grabbed it. Yeah, really.

But. That's neither here nor there. Yeah, I don't know where we're going with this. Well, it never goes down that route. It always sort of finds its own way to be original and still play with the conventions of all the stuff that we've sort of grown up on.

I think that's probably the most impressive thing about it is just the level of consciousness that they kind of had when piecing this together and able to create their own characters, their own universes, And still play on all those, you know, tropes that we're used to and, you know, what they're kind of making fun of, but do it in an original way. Right. You know, I kind of, I assumed that the, I'm sorry, the main character. Jason. Yeah, Jason.

I expected him to be the one that was going to decide and come himself to be the person that says, guys, we need to stop being who we were and actually evolve into real adults. I thought from the beginning that, oh, he's going to be the one that has this epiphany, I suppose. And the two characters that you think are never going to be you know, the boy genius and. The strongest boy. In the world that neither of them have a clue that you realize, oh, they've actually figured some shit out already and they've actually taken steps and they're not, again, they say they're playing a role, whereas he actually really believes that he's still the seven-year-old super sleuth.

So that actually threw a curveball with me, too. Like you said, I think where I was going with is the of is they didn't follow. Really, any other... Right, where do you think it would go? Except for maybe Blue Velvet.

Not very directly, though. Not directly, no. Just sort of thematically. Right, right. Not a bad movie to follow.

No, no, definitely not. And they didn't get quite as crazy as Lynch does, especially further into his career. Right. They play it pretty straight. But I think that's another thing that helps. them in general and this movie specifically is they also, as they were coming up, I mean, again, you see a lot of stuff, you know, online and it's usually very camcordery, you know, it's, it's always just, again, some idiot holding the camcorder and that's, you know, that is your visual style where, um, Dan Ekman is, is the director and he has worked with them through, I think just about all their skits over the years.

And I think he's just visually very talented. I think there's a lot of shots, in general, just the whole color palette of choosing the fact that not only, I mean, it's funny enough that they all kind of have their own uniform that they wear day in and day out, but also that each one has their own color and they, they, you know, their shoes always are that color. Their bike is that. Color, like straws, their straws, or when they're pouring their chocolate milk, they each have the specific color. So the fact that he worked that in and sort of used it visually on a lot of really cool shots along the way.

Um, there's trying to think several others. There's just the one where they're, they're getting ready to take the murder case. And there's like they're going back and forth and they're sort of fighting. Oh, we can't do this. And, you know, Jason's trying to explain to him that, you know, this is what they've been waiting for and this will make them legitimate.

And the whole time the camera sort of circling around them and moving. And, and again, it's just really impressive the way that he shot it, especially for, you know, guys with very limited budget, very probably limited equipment. I mean, you know, I trying to think of that. I think they were shooting like digital. I think it was like one of the, the red cameras and, But even then, I mean, that's compared to studio money.

That's, you know, a drop in the bucket. And I think this looks equally as good as most studio movies I've ever seen. And, you know, again, visually, just some of the shots he does that shot of him on. The baseball field. Where they have their big argument, and it pulls back, that's amazing, like, I was just like, wow, this shot would not be in a lesser movie, I mean, if this were just a stupid comedy, you wouldn't get, somebody wouldn't take the time to, to envision that shot, to set up that shot, to, you know, to make sure that, that everything was right, and, and to get it in the movie, I think that, that, again, is, is something that is to their benefit, is, is having a talented director, and I think This is really kind of his first real movie.

He's done short films and he's done their skits over the years. But I think as a director, I really kind of want to see where Dan Ekman goes after this because I think he's got skill. I liked when you're talking about specific shots, one that, and you say, well, didn't take from Lynch. Actually, I think this one seemed a lot like something that Lynch would do in the beginning when they're setting up and you've not yet really been introduced to the team yet. You see their stand out in front of the house.

It's going over and you can tell that this looks like it's written by a seven-year-old. They're advertisements for who they are and what they do. And they're going to bring you into the house and show you even more. And the bell to call attention up to his room is tied to a string from the stand. And instead of just going up to the house or panning up to the house, they actually shoot up the string to the bell.

And they didn't need to do that. But stylistically, I was sold. I was like, there's going to be more than just... A goofy comedy or whatever I was in for at that moment is like, well, they're going to take some time with some of these shots. Yeah.

I mean, and it sort of ties into the story that it really kind of what you were saying with the blue velvet. It really is like following the string up into the plot. It's like it really. Again, if you want to get that artistic about it, I give this guy credit. I think it definitely has. just visuals that, that are way above and beyond what a normal comedy would get.

Even, even most comedies. I mean, you look at some of the bigger names making stuff, they're still visually is not where they, they, you know, bank on it. It's usually pretty static and, and, you know, pretty standard framing of stuff. And I think he actually, It's not constant. It's not to the point where you're distracted by it, but I think there are several moments in this where he sort of steps back and wants to put a little more artistry into it and wants to actually get a creative shot and just sometimes a beautiful shot that really seems almost out of place in this silly movie, but again, that shows that there's a talented director there, and I kind of want to see what else he ends up doing.

Obviously, it's pulled off much better in a movie that um, that all of that ties together where you almost have a theme that you're carrying through that, a series of shots or something like that. Those obviously, and not just done for the sake of, wouldn't it be cool if I did this shot, you know, that, that, that gets gimmicky and anything like that. And these, these weren't, weren't doing that, but they, like you said, when they're bringing you into, into the room with, with the string, for instance, it, it's more than just hey, wouldn't it be neat? I think it actually does, okay, now we're ready to see this as well. Or like on the baseball field, that shot as well, it gives you more of a sense of, this is bigger than just this little tiny moment of we're on a little baseball field.

Actually, when they were running up to shoot that scene, I even thought, why are they going to this location? And you couldn't get that shot without them being there. And I think it's that, I don't know, to me it's that scale of how you see that shot that's kind of like, their world is a little bit bigger than what they've seen already. And I think it's also like that it comes right at the point where Donald Glover's character is sort of like, you know, really kind of breaking down and starting to realize that his world's falling apart. And it pulls back and it really does, like it just makes him seem really small.

And I think he's starting to realize that, yeah, that this bigger world that he's suddenly like thrown into. And it does, again, it's way more artistic than you would expect in something like that. a silly comedy like this. And that's not totally just stuff we're reaching for, because I did hear that they do a lot of behind the scenes and commentary and stuff, and Donald Glover actually says when they were talking about that scene, it's like they also specifically, I mean, it could have been anywhere. It does definitely play into their little suburb that they're on a little league field, more or less. But he said it's also kind of poignant that they're in the middle of a little league field having this argument and having this whole breakdown of the relationship because, you know, that's, that's where kids are sort of forced to grow up.

It's like you're, you're thrown into the middle of, you know, this, this, you know, all the action and, you know, all the heartbreak and the, uh, the horrible situations that kids are sort of put into on, on a little league field. So it's, it is one of those that, you know, they did kind of purposefully do a lot of this stuff. And it is something that they took into account when, when writing these scenes and when setting up these shots, that it is, you know, a little more thought put into this stuff than, than you would expect on, on something like this. Right. Then an average comedy.

Yeah. Right. There was something that I thought was extremely unrealistic in the movie and it, and it threw me for a loop and actually took me out of the movie for a moment. The fact that he asks, um, the, I guess it's the lawyer, the, the, the, the, the man that the, uh, Kelly is staying with. Yeah.

Um, He asks him to use his phone charger to charge up the drug dealer's cell phone. And I thought, there's no way in hell they're gonna have the same phone charger because i i live in the same household and we have you know. No phones unless you have the exact same model right the same charger. Right you could but you could go into the cell phone store tomorrow and buy the same model phone it's going to be a different it's going to be a different charger. So there's no way in hell that that phone.

Well, he was just using that as a ploy anyway. So with him, I didn't, you know, you would, you would expect him to say that the, the unbelievable part is that the guy didn't call him on it. No, what are you talking about? You can't use my charger. Your phone's not going to fit that.

That was the unbelievable. Okay. You're probably right. But that moment kind of took me out of it there. So, uh, just moving the plot along.

They needed something. Got any plans tonight, honey? Going out, maybe a party with girls there? Yuck, Mom. Oh, hey, Dad.

Where you going all dressed up like that? Union meeting about to strike. Can't believe they sold the lumberyard to this Holden and Charles. Knowing full well that's the only thing keeping this town alive. I'm going to get put out of work by these assholes.

Daryl. Hey, Dad. Mom wants me to go to a party with girls there. Can you say gross? I can say disappointed.

This is one of those that, yeah, I talked about the comedy style and I think that is something that's very specific too. I think it's something that you do have to kind of tap into because it's one of the few genres that I think is that specific. I think, you know, if you're into action movies, you can watch an action movie and it's pretty much across the board. It's like, if it's a good action movie, you're going to like it. Or most people that are into action movies are going to like that.

Or even if it's a bad action movie, if there's a good scene in there, you'll get it and you'll be like, oh, that was pretty awesome. Or same thing with like, you know, horror is a pretty broad genre and you can be like, oh, you know, I like, you know, most horror movies and you can watch it. But comedy is so. Specific that, There are such different types of comedy and such different styles that it really is something that. You have to click with it.

And I think this is one of those if you don't get what they do. And it's something you'll know in the first five, ten minutes, I'd say. By the time you get into the plot, if you're annoyed with what it is they're selling, if you have a problem with them selling, pretending like they're seven years old and living, you know, denying the fact that, you know, they're, they're grownups. It is something I can see some people not having patience for and not being able to, to suspend that, you know, the disbelief and just go, okay, I'm going along with their style of comedy. That's something that I think is very hit and miss more so than other genres of movie.

And it is, yeah, it's something that I, it is one of those, I guess you'll have to, you know, take it upon yourself to watch it and see if, If it is something that you're okay with. But if so, I think it is one of those you're going to, if you're okay with it, you're going to be, you know, just completely taken with it and be impressed with what it is that they do. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think even if someone's listened at this point that that I don't think there's really any way to spoil it other than if we were just to start listing the jokes. Well, I can do that too. Here's my favorite.

But, you know, because the plot really, I mean, it's okay. I mean, it works. I'm not going to knock it for anything. It pushes, just like any other comedy, it pushes everything along just fine. Like I said, there is a development of character, which is what you need in a story.

I mean, it's that kind of stuff that's more impressive. I think the plot itself is very basic, but I think they knew that going in. It's a simple group of characters. It's probably ridiculous to overcomplicate this story about basically seven-year-old. I mean, you could very easily be telling the same story with them being seven.

It's not like any of this is, other than the character growth. I think that, you know, the writing on the jokes and the character growth is the part that is more impressive and above that. But yeah, the plot itself is not meant to be very. Right. I guess what I was getting at is a lot of times you can see in a comedy why a scene is written.

That they write a scene just for one joke. Yeah. Or just for a series of jokes, a setup. And. I think all of these scenes, I think there's like, okay, we have this scene.

Here's our basic skeleton of a plot. Now let's write it. And they put in what they thought was funny. They put in the funny lines that these characters would make in real life situations. I mean, they really, they developed characters.

They had an idea of who these characters were and then let them react to the situation. And their reactions were funny because they were such odd characters to begin with. So therefore, it's that reaction and what they would say, it's funny because of that. And not because, hey guys, we've got this funny joke. How are we going to cram this into this movie?

I never felt forced. These ten bits and string them together into a plot. No, definitely. And I think it is that. I think because they... they really developed these characters.

And it is amazing that these weren't, you know, like something, or maybe they'd been doing them in versions over the years, but the fact that they feel like they put a lot of time into figuring out who they were, and more importantly, how they interact with each other. Just like the little running gag of when they all decide to blurt out what they think the answer to this little situation is. There's a running gag there, and they hit it over and over again, and it's still funny, but also it's funny because it's fitting. It really does play to these characters and the way that these characters are working within this situation. I think that, again, that is probably the more impressive part of the writing, is the structure of the whole thing and how they. they fit the characters.

Into it and not build it on these, these gimmicky characters or these gimmicky bits. I think it is more the, the structure of the, the whole comedy. And I think that's what they started out with was a grand idea, not just individual bits that they're working. And again, that, that really separates it from a lot of comedies out there, especially in the last 10, 15 years. I think we've seen a, a downslide on comedies and that's why we don't do a whole lot of comedies on the show.

Usually it's, it's hard to find good ones. And why, when I watched this, you know, for the first time, and I knew of these guys for a long time, but I just ended up watching it, you know, a month or so ago and was like, we need to watch this. Like it's better than all those other comedies. It really, you know, we, we need to draw attention to it and make sure, you know, people know that it's out there and, and see some of the other stuff that's going on in this, because it's, it's just way more impressive than most comedies. Sure.

And I, I, you know, you, you'd, mentioned Apatow earlier I'm not going to say that he's definitely perfect by any means but he does and I've mentioned it a couple times those characters are fairly well realized by the time he writes this and and Yeah, he may be using the same actors over and over and cranking them out. But at the same time, and I think, actually, I believe he's getting better over the years. Yeah. But there's more of a real story. You take out the jokes, and it's a halfway decent drama most of the time.

And you can really see a person evolving over the course of the story and you know, scenes are actually used correctly. Not that I wanted to take the show in a different direction, but I don't want to knock. I don't want to want this to come away that like we're knocking him again. I think he has evolved and I think he's does is doing some better writing and better work. Yeah.

Um, not that any of the older, cause I loved freaks and geeks and that was, I think one of the first things he ever did. Um, I think I was just used anymore as an example of, of somebody who sort of created like their own little comedy universe. And, and, He's directing some of them. He's producing some of them. But all of them sort of seem like they're the same sense of humor and the same characters.

Even if it's actors playing different characters, they all could sort of exist in the same universe. And I think this is sort of like the first stage in that because I think they could go on and do other comedies and completely different characters, but they've sort of nailed their sense of humor. You'd know it was one of their films. Yeah, you could. Go into it.

Just having seen this movie and nothing else they've ever done, and realize, oh yeah, it's these guys. And once again, if you've got their comedy in this movie, you'd probably be fine to watch anything they do from here on out. Yeah, yeah. I think the only thing that probably hurt this movie, and they've gotten pretty good response, they've gotten a lot of response from people online who've known who they are from their videos over the years, and they've gotten a pretty good response just from like, independent film kind of, you know, there there's, you know, again, the internet for all its downfalls, there's, there's also some, some camaraderie out there and some people that do, you know, use it to spread the word about stuff and kind of get behind people that deserve it.

So they've definitely got that. But if there's anything I was going to say that almost was sort of, um, I don't know, sort of has hurt them in the long run. I think the title. Yeah. Very much.

It misleads you or, or is also kind of like, something that you're going to get confused. I got confused. Yeah, it is one of those that it could very easily be confused with Mystery Men. Ben Stiller. And then you also get into, or even the sound of it, it doesn't sound like they're doing the Scooby-Doo gang.

Which even then, if you found something that sounded more like that, it would be misleading, but it would at least lead you sort of down the right road. Where this, to me, almost feels like, and there's already, we discussed this on the. The kick-ass episode. That one in itself sort of lost out, I think, in popularity because people really did group it in with all those which Mystery man is one of those that all of those that sort of you know playing on the hey let's do a funny comedy about people trying to be superheroes right and i think you know that that hurt all of those because kick-ass had a little more to say than that and we're sort of going in a different direction but it got grouped in with all of the other, I mean, there was, you know, 10 different ones that have come out in the last, you know, 10 years.

So it's, it's, you know, very easily that movie got lost in with those. I think this just by the confusion of. The title, I think has gotten, has gotten again, probably just to general people, to people that at one time would have been wandering around a blockbuster and wouldn't have known to pick it up. Now, I guess they're red boxing or Netflix, you know, And it's even easier to get overlooked there because you don't even have a box to pick. Up and look at at this point.

Especially with all the crappy remakes that companies try to churn out when another movie's in the theater. Because they know that somebody's going to be going to Redbox on Friday night or something like that. And the one they want's not there, but they're going to see 18 of the different other... You know, 2012s that they made over, you know, knockoff versions of it. I don't know why you'd want to knock off because the other one was so bad.

Why would you knock off? But there are a lot of. Of those cheap made versions that sound like it, you know, paranormal entity, paranormal, like, you know, what you're really. I saw one at Redbox, actually, that's a knockoff of Twilight. Right.

And it looks like a knockoff. And I was like, that's what they're banking on. Oh, sure. You know, the good one's gone. If you want to call that the good one.

Right, right. The one I want is gone, if that's what you're looking for. And I'm, oh, well, let's try this. It's only a buck. Well, I'll admit, I can remember movies.

I can remember movies by what the cover art looks like. Yeah, me too. And my wife always says, I can read ten times faster than you. How can you go so quickly at the movie store? I know it by the box.

I don't have to read the title. It's like kids with their cards. Again, nostalgia-wise, need it, got it, need it, got it. It's like you can flip through that entire aisle and be like, there's five of those I haven't seen. That's how bad.

That's the level of geekdom. Exactly. And there's a lot of movies that I don't know the title of, but I know the movie based on how the cover art looks. That's just... But for me, the parallel would be I go to the store and I'm going to go buy laundry detergent.

I can't tell you what laundry detergent we use. And there's a kind that my wife, she swears by. And I'm the one that does the laundry. But I could not tell you what company. What smell, what scent, what color.

I just don't have the capacity to remember that or it's not important to me. Because you're storing all the movies. Because I'm storing all the movies. Exactly. But, you know, my father, I'll tell him the name of a great movie.

You need to go check this out. And, obviously, it's not there. And he gets, you know, Paranormal Entity instead of Paranormal. You know, not that he would get that. But that's along the lines.

And that's what they're hoping for. They just want those mistaken rents. You know, or the people are like, okay, I saw this. I liked it. This is going to be like it.

And the cover art to this and the name has that feel of, oh, this is a ripoff of another one. Yeah, I mean, definitely the title. The cover art, again, it's just sort of, it's not descriptive enough to pull you in as to what it actually is. And it would be hard to do anyway. This is almost a tough sell because it exists in its own little world.

It really, you do have to buy into them living in this reality that they're seven years old. Right. It is a hard thing to sell. It's even harder to slap on the front of a DVD box. So I give them credit that that's a hard thing to do.

It is. But I think, yeah, if there's anything like trying to tell people about this movie, they immediately either don't know what you're talking about or mistakenly think that it's something else. I think that, which actually it wasn't even up until like a couple of weeks before shooting, it wasn't even Mystery Team. They were, when they wrote it and all through the pre-production, it was Mystery Gang and And I think there they said they actually did, potentially somebody wrote them and was like, at some point in one of these Scooby-Doo things, they refer to themselves as the mystery gang. If you don't want to get in some sort of legal trouble or some sort of cease and desist letter or somewhere down the line that's going to come back and haunt you, you probably should change the title.

I think they should have just found an entirely different title, something that's not, even if it's something ridiculous, something that would stick out more and would actually draw you more to the originality of this movie. They really should have found something more original title-wise But again, I mean, it fits once you're into the movie. It makes sense once you're into the movie. But just as a consumer or dealing with people who don't know that much about movies or don't pay that much attention to new stuff coming out or online comedy or all these other little niches that know who they are and would understand, I think that would be a harder thing. But again, they found pretty good success through the little network of geeks that kind of appreciate this kind of stuff and want to. spread the word about it.

So I think, you know, they're still doing okay, but I think that's something that I noticed early on. I was like, that could come back to bite you in the ass, that you could be mistaken for a slew of other movies that are way worse and less impressive than what they're trying to do here. There's parts of Mystery Men that I still, and there are so many people that knock that movie out. And there's some parts that I still find very, very funny. There are moments.

Again, it's like a lot of the other comedies we've mentioned. It's far from perfect, but it's got moments that are actually funny. And it is one that was probably more pieced together. It is one of those that Ben Stiller was thinking, hey, wouldn't it be funny if there was a guy who was a superhero that did this? Now, how do I build a movie around that?

That's, I think, the difference between what they were doing versus what a lot of comedies. Try to do, especially. since everything is so skit oriented, you know, which is so funny that that's what they were built on is comedy skits and five minute YouTube videos. And that's not what they did here. They did something original and, you know, with a 90 minute timeframe in mind. From the get go.

And it, I think it makes a difference. I think it is something that sets them apart from most other companies. I think I, and you met, you mentioned, um, I think this is a little bit off. So you mentioned kick ass as well. I, I think it suffered from title as well.

Definitely. And just marketing in general. They really marketed that thing. And I think the problem was, especially in the marketing, just in the construction of the film, it almost didn't know what it was. Because it was kind of a comedy.

It was kind of a coming of age. It was kind of a... a slasher. It was kind of, and you could almost see shifts in the movie. Like all of a sudden, wait, how did we go from a comic book movie to something that, you know, you're seeing a John Woo film where everybody's just to shoot them up. And so stylistically it was change, change, change, change.

And, I can get past that. But there's a lot of people that can't. They don't know how to. Dude, you should see this. What kind of movie is it?

No. And you're going to. They may be going in expecting one thing and get something totally different. And so that was. They set them.

They set themselves up for this. I loved it. I mean, I walked out of there thinking that was a really good movie. I was thoroughly entertained. Yeah.

But there were a lot of people that I talked to that they had no idea how to pen it down. I think that's what it is. I think within the context of the movie, it all kind of works. I think they knew what they were doing and kind of knew a way to make it flow from one to the other. They played a lot of different cards in that movie.

So it is something. Even to the point where they're almost canceling themselves out somewhere down the line. And that's up for argument with a lot of people. That's not what this episode's about. No.

But I think it is one of those things that, yeah, within the context of the movie, it does sort of work while you're watching it. But it's dealing with the marketing. It's something that's really hard to market. Something that doesn't fit into one little niche. Something that... that does jump back and forth or something that, that does things kind of unconventionally like this movie today does.

I mean, it's, it's very unconventional in the way that it approaches the characters and even the situation itself. It's, it's different. So much like, you know, kick ass in a lot of movies we've seen that were mismarketed. I think granted this one they were doing on their own. They don't have a marketing machine.

They don't have millions of dollars thrown at it. So I won't, you know, I won't fault them for any of that that I will with some of the bigger projects out there. But I just want to point out, yeah, that's something that I think could have hurt them and was just something I saw going in earlier because I think I'd heard the title several times and heard about the movie and wanted to go find the movie I was hearing the description of or hearing the director talk about and then got there and went, wait, was that the title of the movie? So it is something that I think could, you know, was kind of to their detriment. Yeah, it's a throwaway enough of a title.

Yeah. There's no tangible word that if you hit it into a Google search, you're going to bring up the right movie every single time. Yeah. So, yeah. It's definitely worth seeking out.

Yeah, no, I definitely, there's going to be several people, there's going to be a lot of people that I won't recommend it to just because I don't think they're going to get it. Yeah. But the people that are going to get it are going to have the same impression I am. That, that, there's something else it's not just your average comedy there's there is it they did a fantastic well i'm not going to say fantastic they did a really good job. That's it yeah i mean it's it's grazing fantastic i mean there's a lot of impressive stuff going on here and and once again you have to get it or or not but i think for those that do it it really is you know more impressive than most comedies which is why and this is something i don't normally do with movies but i'm actually going to tell you where to get it it is one of those that it's an independent movie and these guys were doing it out of their pocket and really kind of do need support so i you know under those circumstances i'll you know i don't care i'll plug it so it's uh yeah it's Derek comedy.com.

And that will take you to all of their stuff, but you can hit on like the, you know, the merchandise button there and it'll take you to the site where you can get it. I think you can even get signed copies from, I don't know if it's all of them or just, you know, certain members, but either way it's, yeah, it's, it's, you know, if something you've rented and want to get, uh, I'd say go through them and make sure that, you know, all the money goes to them because again, they, they, they put it, you know, they did all this, themselves from day one. And I think that's impressive, especially for as good as it looks. I mean, you would not know that to look at it. It's, it's impressively just, you know, visual wise, it doesn't play like a cheap independent movie.

It's actually well put together. Well, I think that that's one. I think they know, I think they know how to use a camera, whoever, you know, they, They know how to use a camera. They knew what they were going for. They didn't write above their budget.

Which is a key thing to learn when doing an independent film and small budget movies. But you still got plenty. They still were able to use what they had. And so therefore, you want to see those kind of people like, okay, we saw what you did with that. What can you do with a little more?

I like that. Don't write above. They may have some kind of epic tale to tell that they're going to need a big budget for. Maybe they don't. Maybe they do.

Yeah, maybe they don't. But they used what they could. And it doesn't suffer from... Um, like you said, a look of low budget at all. I don't know what the budget was, but I'm sure it wasn't.

It was pretty minimal. I mean, considering what, what they had to do, it's impressive that it, again, it never really looks shoddy. It's always, yeah, I think is as impressive as most studio movies. So that's impressive in its own right, right there. Right.

But, I don't know, I'd say to wrap it up, I think this is something that, the more I thought about it as we finished the movie and sat down, sort of ties to possibly us. Because these are, you know, kids that are having trouble dealing with growing up and taking on adult responsibilities and having a real life. Yeah. Before we sat down to watch the movie, would you like to discuss what we did? The hour-long discussion we had about nostalgia.

And toys and movies. A good 45 minutes was based on. Uh, rehashing of every star Wars movie, discussing moments, elements, things that the two of us had never really talked about, I. Guess, together about pot points and errors along the way. Right.

Um, And, you know, I showed my son had a four. He had to stay home this week. He was stuck there with you. He was stuck there with me. And what did we do?

We watched Star Wars. All of them. And I tried not to feed him anything. And I edited out a few things like burning mannequins that no one wants to see. And we went on for quite a long time discussing, you know, his impressions, our impressions of problems we had, um, what would, you know, obviously like any geek does, what would have made it better.

But more importantly, we, we discussed toys and how you play with them and how you play with them at a child as a child and how you cherish certain things. And, um, yeah, it definitely, I think it does tie in with this film of there's part of me that will not ever let that kind of stuff go. Yeah. I can't do it. Um, I would cut people out of my life before I would cut certain broken toys out of my life that they're going to exist.

I'm always going to need a basement or a large closet to store them. And it's not like some toy geeks that have everything, but, um. You know, it's, it's the nostalgic ones. I mean, it really is the ones that you had feelings for as a kid that you were like tied to as a kid that, It kind of played an important part in your life. Right.

Any kid that grew up eating the same breakfast cereal and watching the same cartoons as me, especially a boy that likes Star Wars, knows what just the sight of an AT-AT or the AT-AT toy does to you. It was the holy grail of toys to me. We were discussing it. It's such a poor design from a militaristic standpoint. Yeah.

But God damn, it's awesome. That's not the point. Exactly. And it's just not wanting to push beyond that. I guess to tie it into the film is you don't care.

Forget about reality. I'm going to stick with this thing that's working because it makes me happy. And that's kind of yeah it was funny because i didn't think about it while we were sitting there we just sat there forever going okay we're gonna have to start the movie eventually we need to stop talking about star wars and transformers and all these geeky things we were talking about right and then i started the movie and i'm midway into it and i'm watching this and i'm just like it really i mean it does tie into we're making fun of these kids you know they won't grow up they act like they're seven years old after we had an hour-long discussion about ad ads and In Optimus Prime. And I was just like, well, okay, how much can we make fun of him?

How much can we laugh at these characters? Because there's part of me that's always going to be that seven-year-old little kid. And he's delusionally fooling himself. And, you know, you're also dealing with the sad characters that don't want to grow up. Part of them, that is me, too.

It's like, there's part of me that is Geordi. That is sometimes like, fuck, how the hell did I get here? I was just that 15-year-old kid. And, you know, I took this. Job and now... shit, I'm an old man and I'm still doing the same thing I was doing.

And I think we all keep this job until I kill myself. I'm living the dream. And I think we all deal with that. I think there is, again, there's an element of truth to what's going on here. And, and, They're playing it to the extreme.

They're playing it for a joke, but at the same time, at the heart of this, there really is that element of childhood that none of us want to get rid of and none of us want to let go of and grow up and have adult lives. We're kind of forced to by time more than anything. I don't know. I just thought it was funny that it came about after we sat there. Of course.

There are parts of my. That if you actually ripped them totally from my body, I would probably have to hospitalize myself. I don't know how I would cope day in and day out with a lot of things. I have to... I'm not talking about items or getting out toys.

I don't do that. But it's... I know they're there, almost like a security blanket. Yeah. Even just the memories.

I know those memories are there, and damn it, you're not going to take those from me because I really will. You may as well give me a lobotomy. And I think that's kind of what tied into this. I thought that was kind of cool, that that's sort of what Jason's going through in all of them, but more him because he doesn't want to go, period. Right.

And, yeah, it was just sort of funny that it really does sort of tie into real life in a scary way sometimes. As I reveal more of myself. Oh, that's what we do. Oh, yeah. Peel back the wounds.

They're there. Look at our damaged childhoods. So, yeah, I figure that's a good way to round it out is... Just how it ties to us personally. Showing me how lame I really am?

Is that what you're trying to tell me? I was the Geordie in that scenario. Oh, Lord. So, yep, with that, we will wrap up Mystery Team and take a break and be back with the rest of the show. I'm the last of a dying breed, meaning that I'm not afraid to try a new thing Can't see me, best to get yourself some Vizine Toe tagger, motherfucker, no jokes, why these other niggas walker walker Other rappers try and go and get over You want that hood shit, best to go and call Hover I was a good kid, backpack on my shoulder 98 test score in my Thundercat folder My cousin was older, my mama used to wake up Drive me to his school, cause his school was much safer But I slipped up and accidentally told the teacher Now I'm going to a school where I get beat up Because I ain't get down with them other kids.

Probably because I talk to white and I got a dad who's there. Mama could have taken so to place and got us out of there. Guest room, now the six of us splitting one with a restroom. Now I'm going to the school called Rockbridge. School up the neighborhood, we trying to buy a house in.

There's not a lot of black kids, so I stick out like a sore thumb with some bad acne. But really, what I want to know is why I never fit in right. Like a fat dude getting on a packed flight. Even when I make friends in the hallways. I'm wishing I was someone else always, but I'm happy that that.

Shit happened to me. Cause it taught me most important is to do me. Cause everybody hates you till they love you. Facebook niggas, same niggas that would shove you. Cause nobody was jockeying my style.

Cause I had a high voice, they called me. Faggot, ate my. Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat.

The children had a party. Alan and Anya and Terry came. They were invited. The children were having such fun. That is until Abigail and Orville and Smedley dropped in.

They weren't invited. They were dead. It's too bad nobody ever told the children. Children shouldn't play with dead things. So when we originally had our discussion about Mystery Team, I had no idea this next segment was coming up.

Actually, within a few minutes of us finishing, I logged on and had a message from Dan Ekman, director of Mystery Team. So yeah, he was actually up for doing an interview, which was awesome on his part, and we're glad to get a chance to talk with him. So it's time for Focus on Dan Ekman. Well, I'm kind of fascinated with where, you know, we use the term movie geek, you know, lovingly on our show. So I'm always kind of fascinated where people sort of get into that, what their infancy of movie geekdom is.

So what were you into film-wise as a kid? Well, when I was, like, really young, it was, like, Conan the Barbarian was, like, my jam. Then I think, like, Apollo 13 kind of became an obsession. almost too much to the point where I went to base camp thinking I wanted to be an astronaut, but really it was just that I loved Apollo 13. And then it was when I saw Boogie Nights and I was like, oh, that's what I want to do. That's what I want to do.

That's a pretty wide. Array of film. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm pretty all over the map. I appreciate that. I am as well.

I like when people have a lot to draw from. Yeah. So at what point did you, you know, I guess around that time, how old were you when you started seriously working towards making film? Taking it seriously, probably somewhere around like seventh or eighth grade. And as a freshman in high school, I made a short film that like starred my brother.

That was really bad, but kind of got me going on it. I've been kind of consistently making shorts and stuff all the way up until now, basically. Were you still Super 8, or had you moved into video at that point? Oh, no, it was video. It was video.

It was DVD. On that point, that first one I edited with, like, I guess, like, deck-to-deck or whatever the right term is, but, like, across VTRs and then And then I went and took a film class while I was in high school over the summer. And there they taught us on black and white 60mm reversal film. And that's how I first, like, learned to really edit was on what's called a Steenbeck. I don't know how familiar you are with all this stuff, but you literally kind of, like, the same piece of film that, like, went through the camera also gets, like, well it gets developed but there is no negative so you actually like you physically kind of cut and splice that and then that's the same piece of film that goes through the projector and you really kind of get a whole sense of like the actual process and so I feel strongly that people should learn that way even though you know I don't know that's kind of an old school attitude maybe for someone of my generation but even though I do everything digitally now of course and have ever since that program but I don't know like it makes you kind of actually know what you want to do, which I think is important, as opposed to just kind of like finding it later.

You ended up at NYU. Is that where you met the guys from Derek Comedy, or had you known them before then? No, that's where I met the guys from Derek Comedy. Maggie, the girl from Derek Comedy, had gone to my high school, and we met senior year. She stage managed a play that I directed, and then we were both going to New York to kind of go to college and She wanted to be a producer, I wanted to be a director.

So that was a good combination. Were they originally planning on shooting things? I mean, had it started out as just a comedy troupe that then worked its way into shooting film, or had it always been planned as like a video project? It was kind of a combination thing. It was like, it was a much larger group called the Wicked Wicked Hammer Cats.

Yeah, it was this much larger, far too big group. where we were doing these kind of like monthly shows where the style was kind of very openly ripping off Mr. Show with Bob and David. And where like all the sketches would kind of transition into each other. So it would be like a stage sketch and then the characters would run off of the stage and then the projection would come up and it would run onto the screen. You know what I mean?

So we were doing these kind of like mini short sketches. They'd be like between five and ten every month at NYU in like oh three oh four and that's kind of how we all got together and then we broke off uh as the five of us and just started doing video stuff it. Is interesting how you know you were kind of still appreciating the the old school form of learning film when you so much of what you came from not only was digital what was you know was YouTube, you know, it kind of launched your career, basically, YouTube. It definitely did, it definitely did, but I mean, we always kind of brought, I guess, a kind of old school, or I don't know what old school, definitely not by our content, but I mean, we kind of tried to bring in more, I guess, cinematic quality to the stuff that, at least the kind of stuff that was going on on YouTube at the time.

There was kind of a mentality of like, eh, it's the internet, who cares? And I was like, oh, it's Come on, let's just do it like we would if we hadn't. So that was kind of how I came about it. Yeah, yours was always a step up from the normal stuff you would find on YouTube. Oh, thanks, man.

Even in the early days, yeah, it was definitely a noticeable difference. Okay. Before we get into the full Mystery Team movie, I did want to ask you, you also worked with Blue Man Group. I just... Well, my first question is, can you direct Blue Man Group?

Really? Or is it. Or are you just capturing Blue Man Group? It depends on what it is that you're doing. But, yeah.

I mean, there's, like... There's, like, all these rules that... They're almost like laws of physics, basically, when it comes to Blue Man Group, where, like, you can never see only two Blue Men in a show. You have to either see one or three... They can't high-five each other.

There's all these established laws of Blue Man. So you have to kind of work within it. But I did a big range of things. So sometimes it was just capturing and then kind of editing the music and stuff. But one time we were setting up our tour.

Me and Dominic from Derek, we used to kind of come on as a second on my team there. Well, we went to, it was like some big stadium or something. We were like rehearsing for a week. And it was like a hockey rink, but there was no ice in there. And we got rollerblades.

And we had cameras. And we just rollerbladed around while they rehearsed and got a bunch of cool shots. And it was like really fun. That's kind of more in the capturing sense. But then, yeah, there was like these kind of video pieces that would play during the show that, yeah, you could direct.

I mean, it was tough for sure. Can you interact with them like normal human beings? Oh, yeah. No, that took me a while to get over, but, you know, seeing a blue man, like, eating a sandwich, checking his email. Yeah, oh, yeah, no, no.

But there is all these rules about, like, in public, like, if any of them smoke, like, they can never be seen in the blue smoke hangar. They can never, they can't ever talk. uh in it but yeah oh i i got i'm and sometimes i would shoot like just like their heads and the whole body would just be like some some dude in sandals it got it was it sometimes that was pretty funny it's really like some of the behind the scenes crap that i have is on my computer it's really pretty funny that's pretty awesome shit that i would never be allowed to show anyone but. They're like the characters at disneyland exactly exactly there's definitely like a kind of lore there that they keep up. Can't cross that line. Exactly.

Well, then I did want to get into, you know, I guess your first full length feature was, was mystery team. Yep. So was that, and this was one we, it's weird that, you know, normally I, I had no idea we were going to do this when we had, we had our movie discussion about it, you know, earlier in the week and had no idea at the time. So this is actually kind of interesting cause I can, some of the things that we raised at the time, I can actually ask you about, um, One of the things I just wasn't sure about was, were they pre-existing characters? Had they been in skits?

I don't think I'd seen skits. No. No, no, no. They were completely original. Actually, Donald had written on spec an Encyclopedia Brown.

I think it was just an outline. I don't know if he actually wrote the full script. It was Encyclopedia Brown, kind of. A little too grown up. But he's still doing that.

And that didn't go. And we were. We had written another feature of Derek that we were going to make. Or, well, rather, we went out to L.A., tried to get it funded in the kind of more traditional way, and didn't get any biters. And we were like, fuck it, we're just going to do it ourselves.

And then we kind of fell out of love with the idea, and so we were swipping on ideas. And when we bought this one up, we all just immediately jumped on it. We were like, oh, yeah, it's going to be three of them. It's going to be like a master of disguise. And then a bunch of stuff kind of came out of that early conversation.

And that's kind of where it went from there. But, no, they weren't big things. Thank you for asking. I didn't want to pick different characters. Kind of, yeah, amazing just in general how well fleshed out they are and how much they had it worked out as far as how they, not only how they conduct themselves but how they interact with each other.

It's pretty impressive that they hadn't been working on them, you know, years and years ahead of time that it fell into place as quickly. Well, I mean, we did write it toward, you know, the strengths of the performers and the way that they kind of are good at interacting, which we knew, you know, Well, in the writing room, it's like the three guys playing the three guys are the ones doing the writing, so it was pretty, you know, we could kind of do a lot of improv in the writing room and then just kind of like, oh, that was great, let's write that, you know what I mean? It's also, was there, it's so weird because it almost feels like it's, especially those characters feel like they're almost set in a different time.

Was there a specific time frame or, like, reference that you were going for as far as, you know, what they're what their mindset was based from? I mean, sure. I, like, the idea, I think, was that they were, they think that they're kind of like kids from the 50s. They're not, like, that ridiculously stupid. They don't actually think that.

They just kind of, like, read those things and, um, just kind of, like, believe in that kind of, I don't know, almost, like, leave it to beaver-esque world that clearly doesn't exist and never existed even back then. But, um, Yeah, I mean, we were kind of going for, like, an anachronistic kind of 50s kid, like, hardy boys kind of vibe. I said it felt like a, sort of like a Little Rascals vibe, which. Yeah, Little Rascals, totally. Our gang thing, which is weird, because it's like, it's not even like they're stuck in their childhood, because their childhood would have been, like, the early 80s, right?

Right, that's what I mean. It's like... These kids were clearly watching things like Little Rascals and stuff, being like, that's what kids are! So, yeah, no, it's not like they're just, you know, into He-Man and stuff like that. Time period-wise.

They're into things from the wrong time period. As far as the story structure, again, I think it's impressive, you know, that there really is a structure to the story itself. And this is one. Actually, my co-host, when we had the discussion, brought this up that it hadn't occurred to me, but was there any specific movie or movies you sort of structured it after? Not directly.

Why did he think there was? He came up with one that actually is kind of interesting, and I just wondered if there was something in mind ahead of time, or if it's just. I'd love to know what it was. It's... Yeah, it's interesting, because the more he talked about it, I was like, wow, it does sort of fall into play.

And it seems like a very odd choice, but he tied it to Blue Velvet. That's interesting. As a character that's kind of wide-eyed and innocent, that gets sucked into this underworld that's kind of always been in their town, but he's neglected to acknowledge it, and he's doing it more or less for the girl. He's trying to impress her and win favor with her and gets. Many a time he could have saved himself and gone to the police, but he never does.

He always goes deeper into the scenario. You know, maybe sub-sub-consciously. I mean, I honestly think at least a good number of the group hasn't seen Blue Velvet, but I mean... Not intentionally, but yeah, I can totally see the parallels there, actually. And it's funny you say that, because I've been currently talking about Boo Velvet a lot, but yeah, that's funny.

Yeah, I can see that for sure. You wouldn't think that from those two movies, but the more you went on, I was like, well, yeah, there's a lot of similarities. That, you know. No, that's actually a really good point. That's kind of cool.

No, it wasn't intentional in that regard. No, I mean, and yeah, it's very different as far as actual, you know, there's nothing taken from it ever. It never even feels like, yeah, I can see how half the crew probably hadn't even seen it, you know, and still have it come off very original. But it was just interesting. Sort of what I love about, you know, film lore, as it were, too, is how much you can pull like parallels from. stories that are so different, but you find, like, this truth between the characters.

Well, once we found the, or once we kind of, like, landed on that premise, it really felt like it was a very organic way to kind of go with it, and we kept kind of figuring out, being like, has somebody made this movie already? Like, somebody has to have made this movie already, right? Because, I don't know, it felt like it was such a, like, clear way to make, you know, way to go with that premise. I don't know. Well, I think that's, again, on just the story structuring, what we found was kind of impressive is the fact that, especially coming from the background that you guys did, that it wasn't a strung together bunch of skits.

It wasn't like we started off with five skits, now how do we work it into a movie? A lot of things, and we reference the SNL movies, that feel like they were almost doing that. They're working in characters that everybody loves just to get a 90-minute run time. Where you guys don't, it feels very, you know, like a whole picture. Like you really did start with a whole story arc and, you know, fleshed it out from there.

Yeah, I mean, we had to kind of fight that instinct, too, you know. But, yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. That's something that we fought hard to try and achieve. As far as your visual style, who came up with the sort of color palette that comes into play, especially the character-based, you know, each character sort of having their own color?

Um the actual like the fact that each one was kind of red green and blue yeah i don't remember who specifically um came up with that i feel like we all we all just kind of like inherently were like well of course they have to each have their own color like um so i feel like that that was kind of a group vision or i honestly don't remember who exactly um that came from but then Yeah, I mean, I pushed it to kind of keep it consistent across the aesthetic. You make great use of it. I mean, just the shot with the bikes as they roll up. Yeah, some of that stuff is really well done just visually. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, we had to paint those bikes special. And they kept getting chipped. We had to repaint them. But yeah, I don't know.

We just felt like they needed to have such a clear uniform and... kind of primary colors and have them really pop. And we searched for, like, Jason's shirt over and over and over again, not finding the right one, you know. So, yeah, yeah. Like, the idea is, I think, that they kind of have, like, almost like the Batsuit. Like, they have, like, a closet full of those clothes, basically.

But I feel like that stuff came from almost, like, the first conversation. But anyway, that's fine. But, yeah, that's, yeah, it kind of, again, it tied into their characters of being very, set in their ways and in their own little world that they do have sort of a uniform that they put on every day. Yep. And then as far as just the other visuals, was there anything you set out to do?

I mean, I guess you were probably a little more limited in, like, YouTube videos, so once you got this chance to do sort of whatever you want, did you have anything visually that you tried to do with this film? Yeah, I mean, camera-wise, I wanted to shoot it really kind of like from their perspective, like the way that, I wanted to shoot them the way that they see themselves, if that makes sense. Yeah. So I kind of wanted to give them a little bit more of like an epic feel and kind of like evoke, I don't know, kind of like some of those kind of 80s kind of adventure, like kid adventure movies, like, I don't know, like Back to the Future and like some of the stuff that kind of Spielberg was doing in his early days, stuff like that.

Yeah. Because, yeah, I mean, there's, again, I brought it up on the show, but it's definitely very different. And, again, from, you know, standard comedies that are shot today, usually anything that falls in that category is pretty static and boring. And you get to something like you're shot on the baseball field that's just, like, amazing to look at. So it's, yeah, it's very different from what you normally see in that type of, especially in a comedy these days.

That means a lot, man, because on set it got really rough, and the crew kept constantly being like, come on, man, it's a comedy, just coverage, coverage, coverage. Whoa, please, please. So it means a lot that, you know, you're actually picking up on that. Yeah, I mean, there's definitely a lot of shots that sort of show a little bit of artistry to it that you don't necessarily get, especially when you're just trying to shoot coverage of stuff. Yeah.

Thank you. The only thing I thought maybe... you guys have, and I was going to see if, you know, you've dealt with it more than anyone, probably, as far as the response from people, I almost had, I know you guys had to change the title pretty, you know, right up to the, right before you started shooting, but even since then, have you had trouble with title recognition? It just seems like it, because even when I heard it, I heard you talk about it, I wanted to see it, and then I would think of the title and wait, wait, is that the right movie? Is it something that you've feel like has been a problem? Is, is just having people have name recognition with that title in your movie?

Um, I mean, there's definitely been people who think it's called Mystery Men. Yeah. And, um and it was it was originally supposed to be called mystery gang yeah but that where there was a clearance issue with that from going scooby-doo um but um I mean, maybe it does have that problem, but I haven't been too aware of it, frankly. Yeah. Well, I mean, you've gotten such good response just from, again, the movie geeks of the world, the people that are on, you know, that are on the internet and they're into online comedy and that are into, you know, even shows like we do.

I mean, I think those people have all found it because they were either already familiar with you or, you know, just because they've heard good buzz on it. But I'm just, you know, normal people who, I think you said, like, would be picking up boxes back in the day at the video store, now they're just flipping through a Redbox or other Netflix queue, and it's harder to kind of get a hold of people's attention when, especially, yeah, when you've got a title that they don't know what to do with. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the double-edged sword of making an independent movie, is, like, you have complete creative freedom to not be told what to do by a marketing department, but then you have no marketing department to make sure that it will be marketed right.

So, you know. I think I still, yeah, we went into a thing on Kick-Ass, how badly marketed that was. I think you guys still fare a lot better, and I think it's because you didn't have, because I think they almost fell into that, where they did the movie completely independently, but then somebody took over and started marketing it wrong. Whereas I think even your grassroots version still came out a lot better. I think you'll still get a lot better response from people than having... somebody who doesn't know what it is you're doing, you know, try to market it.

Yeah, I mean, that was definitely a big challenge for us in general, was, like, it's a movie, because, like, people kind of, when we were trying to get it sold and stuff, they were like, well, there are these scenes in there that could play in a kid's movie, but then there are these scenes that really couldn't play in a kid's movie. And they're like, so who is it for? Is it for kids or is it for adults? And we were always like, It's for adults who once were kids, which we kind of assumed was all of them, but, you know, I don't know, you know. So that kind of disconnect, the kind of, the difficulty of just kind of, like, it's not, you don't hear the title and then, like, see a scene and then immediately just get it was kind of tough.

You've got to kind of warm up to it. It's like, the whole idea that it's, like, these G-rated characters in an R-rated world, And it kind of... And they're not even G-rated. They're almost like live-action cartoon characters in a fucked-up, R-rated kind of... I don't know about real, but realer world than they live in.

Definitely. It takes a little while to kind of wrap your head around, I think, if you're not already kind of on board. Yeah, and that's what I said in our discussion, is that it really does... It's something you kind of have to click with or you don't. Either you don't get what you guys are doing...

Or you get it and you love it. It's not a lot of middle ground with what you were doing. We've found a lot of people who, like, the first time were like, huh? I guess I kind of thought about it. And then, like, once they know what it is, they can kind of go back and enjoy, like, on the second year, and they can enjoy it more.

Because they're like, oh, I know what we're doing now. I can kind of kick back and have fun with this. Whereas if you're just kind of trying to figure out, like, well, what's going on here? Tell me what this is immediately. We don't completely do that with that, which I'm sure wouldn't have really flown... if we had been doing it with a studio.

Yeah, you've really got to kind of have a little faith flying into it because it is almost like until she comes to give them the double murder scene. It's like that far in before you really kind of get their level of consciousness. You almost do have to have a little patience. Yeah, in theaters, because having taken it on the theatrical run and having to kind of take it by hand to all these different cities and sitting in on a ton of screenings, A lot of times, like, unless it's, like, an audience who, like, really knows our stuff, it's, like, it's when they get to the strip club that they're, like, oh, that's what this is. That's what this always was.

Okay. And then they're more on board. Well, the strip club wins them. Over, you know. Yeah, exactly.

The strip club wins anyone over. Yeah, I mean, usually. That's how it goes. Well, I know you said you were working on a new movie. I'd actually just... said I was kind of interested to see where you were going from here.

So can you tell us what it is you're working on? I can and I can't for some silly reason. They don't want to announce. They want to announce it themselves, and we're just kind of locking down our final cast member. So I can't say exactly what the project is, but it's a made-for-TV feature.

I'm really quite excited about it. Um, it's not written by any of the Derek folk, but, um, it is co-produced by, um, Maggie and DC from Derek. Interesting. So is it, is it comedy oriented at least, or? Yeah, it's an action comedy, actually.

Okay. It's a teen action comedy. That if I were to tell you the title, you would immediately be able to figure out the, like, it has the opposite problem of, or as, it doesn't have that problem the mystery thing has where, like, you hear the title and you'll immediately go, oh, I know what that movie is. Yeah, the network will love that. Which I'm kind of feeling comfortable.

Network will love that. Well, I'm quite enjoying that element of it right now, you know? It's, yeah, got to be a big change for the last couple of years. Yeah. Easily being able to market yourself.

Exactly. Also, not having to do it all ourselves, the marketing side. Yeah. Hello, Chang. That's, actually, just to kind of focus on the, because, like, You know, I'm in it to make the movies.

I'm not really wanting to be a distributor. And so having to kind of spend a year and a half at distribution school was taxing. Well, that's another one we were so impressed with, is how much you guys did this completely of your own. I mean, just saving up your own money for years just to put this movie together. That's something impressive that you don't see with a lot of people as well.

So it's cool that you... did that but at the same time i can see why you don't want to do that every movie for the rest of your lives. No no no yeah it was a means to. An end it's a foot in the door yeah that's how. We always saw the internet we always thought like that's what we were always saying it's a means to an end it's funny just like being at sundance that year because everyone was like talking about like oh digital distribution and the internet that's the way the future we're like We're done with the internet. We want to try and get into, like, brick and mortar places.

We want to get ourselves into more traditional places. We've been doing digital for years. Exactly. We're trying to, like, swim upstream, basically. Or swim against, or whatever the right word is for.

That. Well, it definitely worked, at least so far. We'll see where it goes. Are you planning on continuing more direct comedy projects, or is Donald getting too. Oh, yeah.

Is Donald getting out of control at this point? I mean. out of control. Oh, Donald's never been in control. Well, that's true. He's ridiculously talented.

It's amazing that he's, that he's kept it in check this long. No, he's, and I remember, like, when we were in college, it was like a joke. It was like, it's a countdown until Donald's famous. That was, that was, like, kind of the running joke. But he's such an uber talent.

But, yeah, no, definitely. I mean, like, we're kind of, like, working in kind of, like, smaller Derek groups at this point. Like, I just did a kind of like giant, I guess you'd call it a short film, but it's kind of a web series for Jason Bateman and Will Arnett's company that Dominic was involved in, and this film I'm doing right now, Maggie and DC are co-producing, and hopefully going to make a feature for like a Donald starring vehicle that maybe DC will write. Actually, uh... my problem indeed be also are adapting bbc of the novel couple of them sleep and never had to do that is amazing we've been adapting it into a feature but i don't know we we are definitely going to be a little bit for sure we're not going to keep doing the short uh... that we have time uh... we're all the kind of but that is that uh... we have all the way to the floor but i do not like but i can agree with you to put out tons and tons of content every week or whatever like we'd rather kind of like build on stuff and have each kind of thing we put out maybe kind of uh be uh step forward from the previous stuff and so we um we don't mind if we go a long period of time between projects and it's like oh my god they just made a short what the hell You know what I mean?

That's kind of where we're at. Yeah, it's better to put out quality work than just crank out, you know, crap all the time. That's how we feel about it. But, I mean, we've got, like, on the sketch front, we've got literally probably 50 sketch ideas that we're really excited about and want to do. Just don't have the time or cash flow.

Because, like, at this point, all of our sketch ideas are, like, ridiculously huge and expensive. Of course, you know. Yeah. You have to one-up the last one, so, you know. By the 50th one, it's going to be a multi-million dollar sketch.

Yeah. I mean, if any of us ever get that rich, I mean, you're going to see, we're going to be spending our money not on speedboats, but on really, really stupid shit for the world to watch. I'm up for that. That sounds like something I. Can get behind.

It's going to be pretty fun. It's going to be pretty fun. Well, I gave a plug for Mystery Team, but in case there's a better one, if you want to tell people the best place for them to go and find it, I don't mind plugging things that I think are really that good. So, yeah, go ahead and tell them where. To find it.

Well, the best place to find it online would be just to go to mysteryteam-movie.com, where you kind of have a link out to all the different places you can go. to. You can buy it on Amazon. Our official store is at the Busted Tees where you can get the signed copy signed by all of our members. If you want to get the actual DVD, I think you can get it on Netflix. You can rent it at Blockbuster.

You can buy it at Best Buy. You can get it at Walmart, Target, pretty much anywhere. But yeah, that's... Oh, you can also get it on iTunes. You can get it digitally on Amazon and a lot of places.

Very cool. But, yeah, I guess, like I said, I really am interested to see where you go. I think you show more promise than most people coming out of the Internet, so it's really good to see you moving on and getting more projects because I kind of want to see where you go as far as your visual style. Well, I do want to thank you for talking to us, and we're definitely getting it out there and trying to get more people to view it that haven't seen it so far. Thanks, man.

I really appreciate you guys going out on a limb there. It really means a lot. No problem. Yeah, I just saw it like a month or so ago and was like, okay, we're rearranging the schedule. We need to get this in here.

It's like we really need to talk about this and kind of get that out there to people because I think it's, again, there's so few good comedies out there that I really kind of wanted to spread the word about it. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing you guys' discussion about it. Hey. Hey.

Hey. I'd be on that other shit. I'm harder than a consonant. And that's because I'm flyer than the mothership. You ostrich.

I'm awesome rich. Call a bitch. Fresher than my lozenges. The problem is you in the danger zone like Kenny Loggins. It's I'm fly.

I'm tight. They say I'm sick. Day right. You think you good. I swear I put your shit to bed.

Good night. One minute left to top off the evening with a treat. From our snack bar. Still time if you hurry. Last call for.

Are you looking for a way to connect with people who like the things that you like? Whether it's music, movies, TV, or whatever you're into, head on over to the palover.com forums. Yes, but forums and message boards are elitist and archaic. Well, yeah, maybe if you're an asshole. Palover.com is home to all your favorite podcasts.

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It's part of. Your problem, you know. You haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies. And now, on with the show.

I got this. Money baby I wanna spend it on you. I got this Sunday baby I wanna spend it with you We can do what you like Promise that I'll be true I got this money baby I wanna spend it on you. All right, we are back. And we've kind of got feedback.

I'm not going to do a full-fledged feedback on this one. We're definitely playing with the basic structure of the show, as you might have noticed. So we're starting to. Change things up, and we'll still be back with the full crew, or in theory, I don't know. Some of them were supposed to be here today, and they disappeared.

They might be dead. They need a cell phone charger. Yeah, he's off charging his phone somewhere in a ditch. I'm not really sure, really. So hopefully we'll have live characters for you next time out, because some of them just sort of disappeared.

Hopefully those guys that pissed on his car aren't... room or something who knows. Oh maybe he exploded a vermin in their front seat but either way um yeah so that was yeah something we're gonna work in some of these episodes as we go on it and just do episodes based around the movie and not the full-fledged movie party that we have here every once in a while so we'll spread those out but i still there's a lot of movies i want to work in that you know that we're going to tie in and maybe a smaller group as we go along so this was a the first of many of those as we christen this new section here, uh, the ongoing, uh, experimental sofa theater. But this one I did see, and this isn't even a full flinch feedback.

It was something that showed up on our, uh, on our Facebook wall, which I just noticed this past week. But I thought, I thought if anybody would appreciate it, it would be you. So this was on the wall, which once again, if you're not following us, Hey, you know, befriend us on Facebook and, uh, We're on the Twitter as well. So if you're not, we've actually started getting a lot of people just randomly adding us on Facebook, which is kind of cool. Good.

It's not just me attacking people as it was in the beginning. So now I don't even do anything and there'll be four or five sitting there. So that's kind of cool. It's got to make you feel good. It's good to know at least we're, well, I don't know if they've heard of us, but maybe we're just perplexing them with whatever our little icon is on someone else's page.

And they're like, what the hell is that? And then they add it. Yeah. I'll take that, too. Hey, you know, that's how you get new people.

Even if it's just people friend collecting, that's always fun, too. We'll take that, too. Sooner or later, they'll see one of our posts and go, they watched what? Shark Depots? What the hell?

Right. And that's how, you know, you sucker people in. So, this time, we heard from Sam, and he posted on the page, because of you guys, I freaked out at my local used DVD store when I came across a copy of The Apple. Thought you'd like to know. So that was somewhat directly related to you personally.

Yeah. You pointed out that we needed to watch the Apple. So I thought, yeah, that I needed to mention that while you were here because you've changed this guy's life. Good. At the video store.

I'm proud that he's at the video store. Yeah. That even if you're not renting, you've got to go and. Go scam some used DVDs. Something, yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. That's sort of where it's come. I mean, now you don't go to rental stores, but there's a lot of used DVD stores out there that have sprung up in their place. So that's kind of the closest thing you can get.

You still get to wander around and flip it over and look at the back and look at the horribly done video boxes usually. They're still doing that, mind you. Yeah. There's a couple of them I've seen lately and I'm just like, wow, how can you fuck... I mean, they'll be a perfectly good one-sheet poster and then when they, for some reason, they've always done this when they go to VHS and now when they go to DVD, they decide to pieced together this new version of giant slapped-together Photoshop heads of the people that are in it, usually.

I'm just like, oh, how can you take what was like a cool artistic idea and then just slap stars' faces on there with the title? It hurts me. Like I said earlier in the episode, I know the movie by the one sheet or by the box. Don't rehash it and put it in a new box. No.

Give me that original one so I know without reading, because I hate reading. Reading? We don't encourage that on the show. Right. I just look at pictures.

Come on. That's why we watch movies. That's why we watch movies. I'm sure there's better books out there. I'm not going to read them.

Reading. So, anyway. Yeah. Good. Good for you.

So, yeah. I wrote back and said I've made it feel like, you know, I've made a difference in the world. We've changed Sam's life. Right. Hopefully Sam's seen the apple.

Or at least hurt us enjoy it enough to get a good one watch out of it. I would get repeated watches out of it. I'm going to continue to show that movie to people because it's amazing. It needs to be. I'm still impressed that they made it in 1980.

Yeah, and then it got made, period. Just looking at it, I'm just like, wow, somebody gave them money to do this. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah.

And why there aren't late night Rocky Horror-like cult followings for the Apple. They're missing it. They are. Fucking midnight show at the Apple. People dressed.

Never mind. We'll have them. We can sell them. Actually, the other day I saw there was a, I went to somewhere where I won't go into because we'll probably cover it next week. But I saw somebody with someone.

They were doing face painting at this event. And there was somebody that had one, and it looked sort of like a triangle. And for a second, I went, are they wearing a BIM mark? Nice. It was actually a badly drawn triangular-shaped spider web.

I guess they're going for some sort of Halloween theme here. But, yeah, from a distance, I thought they had a BIM mark on it. I was like, oh, shit, it started. Soon we'll all be under the BIM influence. The BIM way of life.

Don't be shy. We'd like to hear from you. So give us a call at 502-365-5565. Or you can email us at geeksatmoviemeltdown.com. And just stop by the website for our frequent updates.

That's moviemeltdown.com. Okay, kids, get out your decoder bins. Do it. Do you want me to do it? I'm just not versed in that.

I expect you can just splice in someone else doing it. That'll just confuse people. All of a sudden, Roger sprung up out of nowhere. And Misty did some sort of crazy beatbox number. We'll get to that in a minute.

Or not. It's time for the Movie Meltdown Secret Circle reveal of the next feature. And maybe we'll just leave it at that. Next week will be our epic.... 100th episode.

100. Monumental that we've made it this far. Triple digits. Yeah, it's pretty damn impressive as far as I'm concerned. You're in a separate tax bracket then.

Oh, wow. Wait, I have to pay taxes? Well, yeah, you're making so much money off of this podcast. I can't even afford to buy a new microphone, for God's sakes, which some of these sound terrible. I realize that, guys.

But, yeah, there's no more money in the lack of funds, so I don't know what to tell you, but. Somehow, with the taped together equipment here, which I'm not kidding, there's masking tape on our equipment right now. If I turn my head too far to the left, I lose one ear. So, yeah, with the drawbacks and hardships that we have, we've made it to 100 episodes. Yay.

Especially with this crew not killing each other. That's all an impressive feat as far as I'm concerned. So, it's also timely as ever that this also hits on our Halloween episode. So, this will be our amazing... scary creepy creepy creepy. Episode expect a couple of people on the show to be hopped up on candy i.

Would i'm sure there will be candy and i'm sure somebody if not everyone will eat way too much way too much yeah if i know our crew and i do we like candy and we like self-indulgence so yeah. Giggle fits followed by sugar crashes. Yeah yeah it's that's gonna be the most scary thing on this uh Creeptastic episodes. Oh, but yeah. In the following week, well, we'll just have to see.

I think I can go with The Shadow Knows, but then it'll make people think we're going to watch The Shadow. Right. I don't know if anybody's on board for The Shadow, although we have referenced it several times lately, but not yet. I'd be up for it at some point. But yeah, as I said last time out, we're sort of mixing it up and we're not going to tie ourselves down to a two in a row because Lord knows what's going to happen between now and then.

And so we'll, we'll tell you next time out and we might throw out some possibilities, uh, for the future, but yeah, we don't even have anything set at this point. So I will probably put the word out once again on Facebook and Twitter as to what we're watching somewhere down the line, just to let you know if you want to watch it ahead of time. So look for it on there. Otherwise, um, you know, Halloween three next week, Halloween three, the wonderful Halloween, episode, including an interview with Tom Atkins. Nice.

Yeah. We'll see what he thought of Halloween 3. I still haven't made up my mind yet. I'm going to have to sit down and really try to figure out what's going on in this one. How come there's no Michael Myers?

How come there's no Jamie Lee Curtis? Oh, I'm not complaining about that part. I had my fill of her. I don't know. Somehow I was not a fan.

She's awesome in the first movie. Again, the first movie's awesome, but yeah. She still considers True Lies to be her best movie. Oh, God. She's terrible.

She said that's when she really could be an actress. Oh. Was in True Lies. God. Again, for as many good things as Cameron put together, I.

Don't get True Lies. Wasn't Tom Arnold the best thing in that movie? Yeah, he really was, and that's kind of scary. What does that say about a movie when Tom Arnold's the best thing in it? So, yeah.

Anyway, sidetracked. So, as far as music, and you may have noticed, we were playing some Childish Gambino, which is actually the pseudonym, the rap name, if you will, for our star this episode, Mr. Donald Glover. He also, aside from the fact that He's a ridiculously talented comedic writer working on 30 Rock, is an actor on Community, making movies, hanging out with Derek Comedy, but he's also a rap star. What the hell can't he do?

It's kind of frustrating, really. Renaissance man. Renaissance man. He's still practically a kid, and look what all he's accomplished. It kind of pisses me off, really.

Yeah. Here i'm talking about ad ads. It's a good thing i i think he's he's pretty damn impressive because yeah i i'm still kind of praising him quite a bit in this episode but i think he deserves it so yep childish gambino is his rap name and uh all the rest of them have just been his his solo work but uh they he did do one that was a mystery team themed song with guest rapping by mc chris You can't go wrong. I mean, between the two of them, that's got to be awesome. So that's how we'll go out.

Otherwise, that about does it. We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed. Thanks for listening. Bye.

Bye. Yes, it is. A crime is a crime. From the tiniest marble that rolls down a storm drain to an autographed baseball that rolls down a storm drain. Now, who's doing this?

I'm in. I'm in. To the storm drain. No, Charlie. No.

Good morning. Good morning. I gotta take a stand. Nigga, that's who I be. Nigga, that's who I am.

I gotta take a stand. Nigga, that's who I be. And I hope that you understand. I'll be riding forever. Yeah!

Child is Campino. Hot as the bottom Reno. Niggas that say, what he know? Give me five like I'm Tito. I never touch tequila.

I burst it out by Gino. I keep a lightsaber like I fuck around with Greedo. It's time to be a grown up. Nigga, get your own up. See a nigga roaming, riding on the promos.

Damn, this beat is so nuts. Thank you, MC DJ. Yeah, my mouth is nasty. Like I gave a DJ. I don't give a fizz up.

These niggas, they're out of this up. This nigga is off the is up like walking out of a prison. Mommy, I see the vision. You're fucking with ambition. Casino money like Navajo.

Their money's since Geronimo. My money cousin Lado, though. Beat me on that up 13. Call me Mr. Masturbate.

Tighter than your jerking grip. You looser than some turkey meat. Haters need to listen up. My attitude's a prostitute who broke cause she don't give a fuck. Good morning.

I got to take a stand. Nigga, this is who I be. Nigga, this is who I am. I got to take a stand. Nigga, this is who I be.

And I hope that you understand. I'll be riding forever. I'll be riding forever. I'll be riding forever. I'll be riding forever.

I'll be riding forever. I'll be riding forever. I'll be riding forever. I'll be riding forever. The game is a fight.

What? Okay. Oh, shit. What? What?

A crime so all criminals better hold up I'll be riding forever like a vampire on a bus like a roller coaster tester I'll. Be riding till I bust I got. My magnifying glass my bike matches my cup watch my sneakers eat pedo you can dine on the dust whatever it is we can handle but we really don't do murder fuck our suspects gather clues then we break for a cheeseburger no shit Sherlock mad like Murdoch if there's a mystery going on be in it like. Robin Williams chilling good morning being normal This comedy movie. It was not fun to make at all.

It was like, so when you're sitting in your living room, yucking it up or in the theater or, you know, you're saying, oh, with your little friends, you. Know, oh, this is so funny. It's not funny. We started making this five years ago. We're still trying to get shit right.

I'm going to get some cheese. It's from Crafty. This show is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by Brian Renfro, featuring contact music performed by Tamara Deering. To help support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com for ways that you can contribute or advertise with us.