Mindhorn (2016)

Directed by: Sean Foley | 89 minutes | comedy, thriller | Actors: Julian Barratt, Simon Farnaby, Essie Davis, Steve Coogan, Richard McCabe, Andrea Riseborough, Russell Tovey, Robin Morrissey, David Schofield, Christopher Jenner Cole, Sean Foley, Jessye Romeo, Harriet Walter, Simon Callow, Nicholas Farrell, Jessica Barden , Kenneth Branagh

‘Mindhorn’ is the name of a fictional crime series from the 1980s in which the fictional actor Richard Thorncroft played the fictional hero Mindhorn. After the success of ‘Mindhorn’, Thorncroft goes for the big roles and the big money, but it ends in failure. 30 years later, the former star’s career is in shambles until he receives a call from the police on the Isle of Man. A woman has been murdered and the suspected killer is a deranged fan of ‘Mindhorn’, the series and the character. And so Thorncroft puts on his detective gear one more time to help the police find the killer.

Let’s leave what it is all about for now. The comedy feature film ‘Mindhorn’ has such an inimitable and silly story that there is little point in telling more. We deal with Thorncroft’s former girlfriend, a stunt double with a speech impediment, a vengeful rival, a fan who thinks he’s a kestrel, a daughter who might not be a daughter after all, a videotape that might not be a videotape after all, and much more craziness.

This film by actor and director Sean Foley seems to be mainly a hobby project. You can tell by the many big names in the cast (Simon Callow, Kenneth Branagh, Steve Coogan) and the equally big names in the executive producer category. But you can see it mainly in the enormous freedom with which this film was made. ‘Mindhorn’ is not a comedy by the book, but follows its own rules and laws.

The result is a film that, despite many silly jokes, still manages to entertain. The latter is due to the consistent style and tone. ‘Mindhorn’ creates a self-contained universe, where nothing is too serious and where bungling cops, thugs and former heroes do their thing. What helps is that the actors take their roles totally seriously, so that ‘Mindhorn’ never gets very corny. But entertaining.

Unfortunately, entertainment is no guarantee of success. There is no cult status for ‘Mindhorn’, because it is too ordinary. Nor is it a mainstream success, because it is too different. So that we’re left with a decent comedy, which is arguably the best comedy shot on the Isle of Man. But we can’t do more than that.