ONE of this year's funniest comedy films, Mindhorn stars Mighty Boosh man Julian Barrett as washed-up actor who gets the opportunity to revive his flagging public profile by helping police to catch a murderer obsessed with his long defunct sci-fi action TV show.
1980s hit Mindhorn starred Richard Thorncroft (Barratt) as Bruce P Mindhorn, a bionic cop on the Isle of Man "who can literally see the truth".
Laughs come thick and fast as the now paunchy, balding Thesp – reduced to advertising male girdles and circulation-boosting socks on TV – returns to the Isle of Man and dives wig and bionic eyepatch-first into some farcical attempts to catch mysterious Mindhorn-obsessed killer The Kestrel (Russell Tovey), inadvertently uncovering a larger conspiracy in the process.
In addition to his hilariously ham-fisted crimebusting, Thorncroft is also forced to negotiate personal wreckage like jilted lover, Patricia Deville (Essie Davis) and spurned agent Geoffrey Moncrieff (Richard McCabe), both of whom he abandoned in a failed/ill-advised bid for Hollywood stardom 25 years ago.
Director Sean Foley's entertainingly absurd film generates plenty of chuckles from the tragicomic Thorncroft's cringeworthy efforts to woo Patricia away from his old stuntman, Clive Parnevik (Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote with Barratt), a rarely fully clothed Dutchman.
This solidly funny low budget comedy treat includes a host of DVD/Blu-ray extras, the best of which are a lively commentary track with Barratt and Farnaby (both of whom regularly lapse into Werner Herzog impersonations) and the video for Richard Thorncroft's 1980s pop metal earworm You Can't Handcuff The Wind.
Released on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday September 4, available via home streaming now.
