Mindhorn
Washed up actor Richard Thorncroft (Julian Barratt) is struggling to find acting work two decades on from his career defining role as Mindhorn, a detective on the Isle of Man who possesses a bionic eye capable of "seeing the truth". When a murder suspect on the island demands to speak to Mindhorn believing him to be a real detective, Thorncroft is recruited by the police to revisit the role as part of their investigation and he accepts, hoping that the publicity will kickstart his career.
There's only one thing that matters with a film like this and that's "Is it funny?". In Mindhorn's case, the answer is a regrettable no. There's nothing inherently wrong with Barratt's portrayal of the pompous Thorncroft, struggling to come to terms with the fact he's yesterday's man living in the shadow of Peter Eastman (Steve Coogan) whose character "Windjammer" from the original series enjoyed a successful and lucrative spin off. It's more that the script gives him little to work with. Or more accurately, he's given himself little to work with having co-written this with Simon Farnaby.
Farnaby meanwhile basically steals the show as Thorncroft's old stuntman Clive Parnevik. who is in a relationship with his old flame Patricia Deville (Essie Davis). His Dutch accent is the most ludicrous since Mike Myers playing Goldmember in the final Austin Powers film, but he's responsible for the film's only laughs as he passively aggressively needles his former colleague. The writing is poor, the comedic setups are clunky, resulting in a less than coherent denoument. The recreation of 80s television is nicely done, but that's probably the kindest thing I can say about Mindhorn. Coogan's presence in this film serves to highlight how much I'd prefer to be watching Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa instead. Or Hot Fuzz, where the big crime in a small town theme is much more effectively used. A disappointment.
There's only one thing that matters with a film like this and that's "Is it funny?". In Mindhorn's case, the answer is a regrettable no. There's nothing inherently wrong with Barratt's portrayal of the pompous Thorncroft, struggling to come to terms with the fact he's yesterday's man living in the shadow of Peter Eastman (Steve Coogan) whose character "Windjammer" from the original series enjoyed a successful and lucrative spin off. It's more that the script gives him little to work with. Or more accurately, he's given himself little to work with having co-written this with Simon Farnaby.
Farnaby meanwhile basically steals the show as Thorncroft's old stuntman Clive Parnevik. who is in a relationship with his old flame Patricia Deville (Essie Davis). His Dutch accent is the most ludicrous since Mike Myers playing Goldmember in the final Austin Powers film, but he's responsible for the film's only laughs as he passively aggressively needles his former colleague. The writing is poor, the comedic setups are clunky, resulting in a less than coherent denoument. The recreation of 80s television is nicely done, but that's probably the kindest thing I can say about Mindhorn. Coogan's presence in this film serves to highlight how much I'd prefer to be watching Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa instead. Or Hot Fuzz, where the big crime in a small town theme is much more effectively used. A disappointment.
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