Though stuck with stretches of guff and looking all too convincingly like video-era rubbish TV, Mindhorn delivers regular proper laughs and eventually wrings just enough drops of pathos to scrape by.
A rib-tickling homage to the gumshoe shows of yesteryear, with an endearingly daffy mindset.
Just brilliant. Barratt delivers a comedy performance for the ages.
It’s engaging and funny enough but can’t ever quite shake off the suspicion that it’s an idea stretched beyond its means - a story better suited to the small screen than to the cinema.
Julian Barratt’s ridiculous – and ridiculously funny – film about the misadventures of a washed-up 80s TV star is a delight.
Mindhorn is at best an acquired taste.
It all adds breezy charm, harking back to the innocently scenic adventures of George Formby in the 1935 TT comedy No Limit, ironically conjuring a visual love letter to the IOM despite the inevitable “limited gene pool” gags that locals have long learned to take on the chin.
Cameo, Edinburgh from Sunday May 28, 2017, until Thursday June 1, 2017. More info: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday June 2, 2017, until Thursday June 8, 2017. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com