Jeff Garlin Does the Bumbling Detective Bit in Trailer for Netflix’s ‘Handsome’
The hyper-competent likes of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot have their place, but when it comes to detectives, I prefer the bumblers — your Clouseaus, your Columbos, your Ace Venturas. Whether inadvertently stepping on clues or grilling perps in farcical interrogation sessions, sleuth stories come bursting wth potential for humor, and it looks like Jeff Garlin will be the latest actor to follow the zig-zagging footsteps of the goofy gumshoes that came before. Today brings the first trailer for Netflix’s upcoming mystery movie Handsome, and with it, our first look at Garlin’s accident-prone (and well-named) LAPD homicide investigator Gene Handsome.
Like any good whodunit trailer, the clip above keeps the specifications of the mystery almost entirely under wraps. What we know is that a lovely woman named Heather (sound the Femme Fatale alarm) has gone missing, apparently the victim of a brutal decapitation. Handsome and his crack team of investigators — which includes Orange Is the New Black’s Natasha Lyonne and clutch Popstar bit player Chris Redd — have to piece together an increasingly complex conspiracy that involves all manner of Los Angeles weirdo, from self-serious actors to easily distracted space-cases.
Don’t mind the severed head, the tone here is overall comical. Handsome‘s like a bloodhound for clues, but clueless in his own life and social interactions, often excusing himself from awkward conversations abruptly and without warning. While the eccentrics all round him go about their own business, he seems lost in life even when hot on the trail.
Handsome comes to Netflix on May 5. Don’t forget your magnifying glass.