This microbudget comedy, an affectionate parody of old-time television “mystery movies,” is an often-inspired goof.
Cinephiles tend to associate American microbudget filmmaking with raw, edgy earnestness, but some aspirational indies are very much into knowingly silly comedy — see, for instance, the 2017 short “Snowy Bing Bongs Across the North Star Combat Zone.”
“Inspector Ike,” directed by Graham Mason from a script he wrote with the comedian Ikechukwu Ufomadu, who stars in the title role, is almost as daffy as they come.
The movie is an affectionate parody of TV-made murder mysteries of the 1970s, specifically “The NBC Mystery Movie,” the umbrella under which, among others, Peter Falk’s beloved Lieutenant Columbo operated.
Ufomadu’s Inspector Ike is not Columbo-esque. Far from shambling, like Columbo, he’s ceaselessly cheerful and confident. In every “episode” he stops the action to present a recipe, which viewers are asked to copy onto special “Inspector Ike” cards. (I was not provided with a card.)
But the plot — in which a couple of theater types in turtlenecks and corduroy blazers banter before one of them hoodwinks the other into recording a videotaped suicide note of sorts — is very much like one of those “Columbo” stories in which a mad quasi-genius overestimates his criminal acumen.
To establish an alibi, the villainous Harry Newcombe (Matt Barats) takes a date to an avant-garde theater performance. “How long is this play,” the date asks. “Well, let me ask you this,” the pompous Harry replies. “How long is the workday of the average American?” Once she dozes off, he slips out to do his evil deeds.
Mason and company did not have the means to accurately recreate the mise-en-scène of the real deal, but they maintain credibility in the writing and acting departments. The long-pause humor here is the opposite of the barrage we expect from “Airplane!”-style genre goofs. It’ll work best with viewers whose funny bones are of the dry variety
Inspector Ike
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. In theaters.
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February 17, 2022 at 07:00PM
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‘Inspector Ike’ Review: A Murder Mystery Send-Up, ’70s-TV style - The New York Times
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