"Mindthorn" is one of the newest Netflix productions to be released. However, it is very unusual in that it has a mostly British cast and it was filmed on the Isle of Man, an unusual location for a Netflix film, I know. In fact, most people outside the United Kingdom probably have no idea where the Isle of Man is or if it exists at all! I assure you, it does and the self-governing island is home to tailless cats and motorcycle racing!

When the story begins, you learn that back in the late 1980s there was a British television series called "Mondhorn". It was about some bizarre private detective with a cybernetic eye who went on adventures and solved crimes. The problem is that today, a crazed maniac believes that the show was completely real and is demanding the police let him speak to Mindhorn. As for the actor who played the title character, Richard Thorncroft (Julian Barrett) is a complete mess and can only find work doing commercials for compression socks and adult bladder protection these days! He hopes that by traveling to the island that he'll become a hero and revive his stalled career. But there is one serious problem. Thorncroft is a complete jerk and a dumb one at that. He manages to alienate just about everyone he meets and you cannot help but hate him, but there is far, far more to the story.

Up to the point I've described, the film is a bit hard to take because Thorncroft is such a big jerk.a thorough and complete jerk. Fortunately, the second half of the film improves tremendously and becomes rather funny especially when he ends up teaming up with a guy who calls himself 'the Kestrel'. The film takes a definite turn towards the weird as well as the heroic and actually is very unique and worth seeing.

This film is clearly one that I urge you to keep watchingeven with a slow start. My wife cringed repeatedly and found Thorncroft's character so annoying and awful she wanted to stop watching. As for me, I have a higher threshold for the embarrassing and weird and really enjoyed the film. It's uneven, of course, but a film that ends on a very high note. Hopefully, we'll see more stuff like this from Netflix.

It is not often I get to say this in a review. I could see my house in this film, well my childhood home.

Mindhorn was a hit 1980s television show set in the Isle of Man starring Richard Thorncroft. It was basically Bergerac with a bionic eye.

Now Thorncroft after a drunken rant on the Wogan show is washed up and unemployed. His agent has not been able to find work for him for years.

However a deranged Manx criminal Paul Melly, wanted for murder demands he will only talk to Detective Mindhorn and Thorncroft returns to the island hoping the publicity will get him work and unite with his ex star who was also his ex wife.

A promising premise with cameos from Kenneth Branagh and Simon Callow playing themselves and Steve Coogan playing a side character in the Mindhorn series who now has his own spin off show.

The problem is the movie is too uneven, the plot does not hang together well, it was not that amusing even dull at times. The film is just really a long sketch and really not too far from the Alan Partridge film Alpha Papa which also starred Coogan.

However it is nice to see the Isle of Man play itself when in other films it is used to portray other locations.

I saw the trailer for this film in the cinema, it looked mildly good, and then I saw the good cast of stars and read the positive reviews by critics, so I watched it when I got the opportunity. Basically, Richard Thorncroft (The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt, also writing) is an actor best known for playing Detective Bruce Mindhorn, a detective with a robotic eye that can literally "see the truth", in the 1980s cult TV show Mindhorn. Twenty-five years later, Richard is now washed up and reduced to making a living by advertising embarrassing products. On the Isle of Man, where Mindhorn was filmed, police are hunting an escaped lunatic, Paul Melly (Russell Tovey),wanted for murder. Melly says he will only speak to Detective Mindhorn, not realising that Mindhorn is fictional. Hoping to boost his career, Richard returns to the Isle of Man to help the case but irritates the local constabulary with his arrogance. Following a call and meeting arranged, Melly is arrested. Richard sets out to reconnect with his Mindhorn co-star Patricia Deville (The Babadook's Essie Davis),but discovers she is living with his former stuntman Clive Parnevik (Blunder's Simon Farnaby),and with her daughter Jasmine (Jessica Barden). Another of his Mindhorn co-stars, Pete Eastman (Steve Coogan),now stars in a successful spin-off series. Dejected with the various misfortunes, Richard takes cocaine with his former manager Jeffrey Moncrieff (Richard McCabe),and is detained after a night of drunken antisocial behaviour and dropped by his agent. Waiting for a ferry to take him home, Richard opens fan mail, and finds a package from Melly. It is a videotape revealing that the murder was committed by the Mayor (Nicholas Farrell). Richard shows the footage to Moncrieff but rejects his idea to blackmail the mayor for money. Moncrieff pretends to give back the tape, swapping it for a different one. Richard meets Melly and the police to show the videotape but discovers that Moncrieff has swapped the tape. Moncrieff attempts to blackmail the mayor himself but is killed by DC Elena Baines (Oblivion's Andrea Riseborough),the mayor's niece and part of the conspiracy. Melly and Richard escape to Melly's secret lair, which is filled with Mindhorn merchandise and homemade espionage equipment. Melly dresses Richard in an extensive Mindhorn outfit, complete with wig and fake muscles, and explains that he has a copy of the tape. Baines pursues them but they manage to escape. The copy videotape is inside the Mindhorn classic car, which is appearing in a local parade. Patricia learns that Clive has been hiding letters to Patricia from Richard. Richard, Melly and Patricia intervene in the parade to retrieve the car, while being chased by DC Baines. Richard discovers the second "copy" of the tape is just a plasticine model Melly made. Melly is shot and appears to die. Baines arrives, and appears to kill Patricia and injure Richard. Richard records a confession from Baines using an old Mindhorn recorder belt from Melly's merchandise collection. The police arrive after Baines has been tricked into using a gun filled with blanks, they prove she and the mayor were responsible for the murders. Richard then rescues Jasmine from Baines as she fires at him using a different gun. Richard survives and recovers in hospital, he and Patricia get back together, Baines and the mayor are jailed, and Melly is found alive in his lair. Also starring Killing Eve's Harriet Walter as Richard's Agent, David Schofield as Chief Inspector Derek Newsome, Tony Way as Dad with Newspaper, Simon Callow as himself, and Kenneth Branagh as himself. Barratt with his deep voice gives a good performance as the actor revisiting his most famous role to help a real-life case, and there are good supporting performances. It is a plot we've seen in other films, where a fictional TV or movie is seen by a character and they are brought into a real-life situation, often with hilarious consequences and misadventures, that is the case with this film. I personally think the critics overrate this film slightly, it is funny is a few moments, especially the characters being foolish, but it feels cheesy, it's a reasonable comedy. Worth watching, in my opinion!