Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie, A Review
Quirky … I guess that seems to be my taste in shows and movies as of late, since I obviously don’t get enough of that in my life. Okay, people who know me will readily realize that I was being facetious here, but I added the “italics” for those of you who don’t yet know my snark-ish nature.
So … where was I? Oh, yes, “Quirky” and my tastes in entertainment. Like my last review of Letterkenny, my current enjoyment of The Good Place, and my re-watching of Brooklyn Nine-Nine before the new season starts, I’ve lately become engrossed with characters and situations that are a tad peculiar.
Now don’t get me wrong … I like “normal” just like the next guy and gal. AND … there is “quirky” that is not my cup of tea…
“What? Oh, do tell us,” you say?
Okay, well, I draw the line at Napoleon Dynamite … Ugh, yes, I know it’s an endearing movie. I know it got rave reviews. I know. I know. I know … All I’ll say is that I watched it. Appreciated it. Don’t have to watch it again. But, yes, “Pedro for President!”
Shit, now, where was I? Oh, right…
Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie stars Jeff Garlin, as the primary protagonist, Gene Handsome. You may know Garlin from Curb Your Enthusiasm, and, lately he plays the hilariously “overly-weathered” father on The Goldbergs. In Handsome, which he also wrote and directed, he’s a Los Angeles Homicide Detective, who is “overly-weathered” and, well, a bit lonely. He has the sweetest dog in the world, though … but more on that later.
He’s surrounded by a great cast of supporting characters: Amy Sedaris, who plays his lecherous (yes, I know you normally don’t call a woman “lecherous” but it’s the best way here) boss, Lt. Tucker. Natasha Lyonne, his overly-sexed partner, Det. Fleur Scozzari. Steven Weber, an egotistical actor, Talbert Bacorn, who finds a dismembered body on his front lawn. And, of course, to make this menagerie complete, he’s also surrounded by a team of idiot coworkers, an annoying neighbor and his accordion-playing wife (well-played by Leah Remini), a new single neighbor (and possible love-interest) with her weirdo daughter, a neighbor who likes to hula hoop outside, and the cutest and sweetest GreatDane (who, I believe, steals the show as Candy).
The story is what it is in the title: a mystery. Handsome and crew investigate a murder of a young woman, who is found on Bacorn’s front lawn, decapitated and dismembered. I will forewarn you in “a death foretold way” that if you pay attention, “who did it” isn’t the mystery here. Instead, it is the investigation that uncovers the life and, ultimately, the death of someone, who, for better or worse (and her own doing, mind you), found herself in a complicated web of other broken people.
The fun, of course, is watching Handsome navigate through all of these complexities … and quirks.
It is currently playing on Netflix. Give it a view.
L.B. SISK 