Police inspector Gene Handsome lives alone with his dog, a great Dane, to whom he devotes unconditional love. His life, routine and repetitive, is turned upside down with the arrival of his new neighbor and the murder that follows. A humorous and offbeat policeman, that Jeff Garlin (director, screenwriter and interpreter of Gene Handsome) has not managed to energize. A funny film, but which tends to collapse by its many slownesses.
This "Mysterious" Netflix movie eliminates any possibility of mystery from the beginning. The director, Jeff Garlin (who plays Gene Handsome), chose to reveal the identity of the murderer in the first scene. The idea might have been interesting if the ensuing investigation had been explosive. Unfortunately, the film has trouble really taking off and we don't really know where we're going. Far from being a traditional mystery, the director did not wish to accentuate his narrative towards a coherent story. The investigation drags on and the characters met have no use at the heart of the outcome. They are only a pretext for hilarity and eccentricity. However, they help to restore energy to the film by offering it a quirky humorous rhythm.
A cutting-edge cast that doesn't go up the slope
Gene Handsome, that corpulent detective of the criminal, burns the days before retirement sounds. The benevolence that emerges makes the character attractive by giving him an empathetic side. It is easy to get attached to this antihero who accepts with simplicity the shift of his entourage.It's as if everything is normal and we try to make this normality strange by the play of the other characters.
This shift is specific to the role of detective Fleur Scozzari, played by the brilliant Natasha Lyonne (Nicky Nichols from the series Orange is the New Black). The Handsome-Scozzari duo represents the balance of this film, between simplicity and eccentricity. But this dynamism, offered by the characters, does not make up for the slowness of the scenario. We also appreciate the intriguing chemistry between Handsome and his neighbor, a dental assistant named Nora (Christine Woods). However, this plot seems to be present in the interest of filling the gaps.
A routine depiction of Handsome's life
Much of the film consists of Handsome scenes dealing simply with his routine. He walks his dog, this huge Dane who fills the void of his existence, and argues with his neighbor, a former detective named Durante (Eddie Pepitone). The scenes are long and would almost make us forget the investigation. But a kind of loop seems to have been created, to represent the outcome of the investigation. The confrontation scene with former detective Durante is repeated in a similar way at the end of the film. The same vision of a young woman, dancing with one, then three hoops is also present at the beginning and end of the film. We could equate it with the evolution (enhanced by mastering one, then three hoops) of Handsome's life. The circle is complete and the routine starts again.
The film is entertaining and you laugh at it easily. The problem is that we do not know where to store it, only what mode it is moving towards. He does not commit to being totally an anti-mystery as in Colombo where we are more interested in the investigation than in the identity of the murderer. Nor does it commit to being a comedy parody of a detective film as simplicity easily takes over the absurd. This style is part of Jeff Garlin's achievements who incorporates a certain absurd and acerbic mood into his stories. Nevertheless, calmer and more realistic interactions stop this bewildered crazy quality. He would be criticized for not pushing the absurd deeper into its paroxysm.
Handsome Trailer: A Netflix mystery movie (VO)
