Washed up actor Richard Thorncroft once had it all with his hit eighties show 'Mindhorn' where he played a bionic cop – a bit like the Six Million Dollar Man but more for a price quoted in Pounds, shillings and pence. Then a brutal murder happens on The Isle of Man and the number one suspect will only deal with the legendary detective… despite the fact he is fictional.Eager to relaunch his career and get back to the days of being recognised by the 'great unwashed' he accepts the gig and goes back in to character. Little does he know that when he walks back on to that island he walks back into the past and a whole 'cluster farque' of problems.Needless to say I loved this. The slapstick, overacting and badly fitting wigs are a joy to behold. The marvellous Julian Barratt plays Mindhorn perfectly and all the cast are great with Kenneth Brannagh giving a career best (IMHO) when he appears in a dream sequence. Russell Tovey seemed to be having a ball too and as for Mr Simon Callow he is always oodles of fun. All in all a great film and I wish there were more like it.

Well I enjoyed this movie from start to finish. It probably isn't for everyone, e.g. if you are too old or too young or from another planet. But if you remember British cop dramas from the 70s and 80s – with a bit of Starsky and Hutch thrown in (and if you have a sense of humour) then you should find some real laugh-out-loud moments here. I found it great, light-hearted, rather slapstick fun, and I will enjoy seeing this again some day.

Richard Thorncroft is a has-been British TV actor who used to be famous in the late 1980's for playing the titular and charismatic lead role in the Isle of Man detective show Mindhorn, a character with a Robotic eye that could literally see the truth. Richard has an unexpected opportunity to reignite his career though when a delusional criminal calling himself The Kestrel starts terrorising the Isle of Man and, having an extremely unhealthy obsession with the show, demands to talk only to Mindhorn. Relishing a chance for publicity, Richard dons his robotic eye, aggravates the police with his method acting, and tries to rekindle an old romance.........I think to appreciate the film just that little bit more, you really have to be of a certain age when these awfully cheesy police shows were rife on the T.V. back in the eighties. Granted, the U.K. never had anything as over the top as Mindhorn, but shows like Dempsey and Makepeace, C.A.T.S eyes, and Lovejoy were very tongue in cheek.You could really imagine Mindhorn being a staple of Saturday night T.V right after the football results were read out at five in the afternoon, while all the family were sitting having their tea.But I wonder just how many celebrities who made it big very quickly and then tried to make it big in Hollywood and failing miserably does Barratt reference? The obvious ones are Coronation Street's own Chris Quentin who famously played 'reporter 2' in Robocop 2, or Ali Osman from Eastenders who went there, came back, and co-starred in Carry On Columbus.And then there's Robert Lindsay, but he came back and made My family.It's a truly wonderful concept, and there are times when the film is laugh out loud funny, especially when Simon Callow makes an appearance. But Thorncroft doesn't really feel like an original character, as at times he reminded me of David Brent, and even Alan Partridge.But the film never outstays it's welcome, and Barratt is self deprecating enough to make Thorncroft funnier than he should be.But if you find the first ten minutes utterly hilarious, especially the Mindhorn opening credits, you'll find lots to love about this.

Mindhorn is the ultimate treat for anyone who has an appreciation for ludicrous humour. The film is set on the Isle of man which in my eyes sets the plot up for greatness as the clash of action and crime with understated countryside life is always a winner for me! I love to see the quaintness of British life being fondly ridiculed by a silly parody action sequence! Mindhorn is immediately funny and the 80s Mindhorn montage sequence reached both people who feel nostalgic about the 80s action genre (my dad was roaring) but it also tickled a 22 year old like myself. I love the parody form and Mindhorn's purposefully cheesy devices landed with rip-roaring comedic success.The acting in this film was spot on because the actors had amazing command of physical humour and timing and the script didn't scrimp on funnies! Visual comedy is a really intelligent and inventive form of humour and the mark of a good script. Mindhorn has some brilliant moments of this and you can clearly tell from watching the film that the art department had a whale of a time! l also thoroughly enjoyed the use of garish colour in this film there was a strong use of carefully considered yet brazenly bold costumes and set. A piece of art as well as a good comedy! I'm sure I could pick faults but because I laughed the entire way through I don't think I need to.