Nerds That Geek Movie Review - 'Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie'

Written by Scott Edwards

Working your last days at any job is not easy, especially when you actually have to do something productive. I have always given it my all as long as I can before moving jobs, as I never liked to burn any bridges, even if I was not a fan of what I was doing. I could only imagine how this problem would treat someone that works in the public services, like a detective who is about to retire. Needing to be able to turn it off once you step out the door seems to be something that would be the hardest thing to do, especially when your last case is a vicious homicide.

Needing to sign off on his retirement papers, Detective Gene Handsome is not ready to hang it up, at least not yet. With a fresh batch of detectives waiting to move up, Handsome can see that none of them are ready just yet. With off the wall theories and no stomach for the job, Handsome at least knows that his partner Detective Scozzari will be fine. Wanting to clear his head, Handsome leaves the office with a batch of cookies from his lieutenant with no intention of eating them, but he will find them a home somewhere around his neighborhood.

Arriving home and having a disagreement with his neighbor about where his dog does his business, Handsome finds out that he has new neighbors next door. Bringing the cookies over as a welcome gift, Handsome meets the babysitter, Heather, who is not trusting of anyone. Leaving the cookies outside, the detective does not know what to think about her, but is happy that the cookies are out of his life. Getting a call early in the morning, Handsome arrives at the crime scene to see the baby sitter once again, but this time in pieces. With her head removed and her body being folded into what appears to be the Star of David, Handsome knows that her killer would have to have been very close to her.

With the body of Heather being found on the front lawn of renowned star Talbert Bacorn, Handsome asks him some questions, but Bacorn is more concerned about his safety from the freaks that did this than anything else. Moving on, Handsome questions his neighbor Nora, who is more than willing to answer the questions he has for her. With Heather having sticky fingers, Nora would not be too surprised if she was in trouble, but being killed for that seems like a bit much in her eyes. Moving on once again, Handsome finds Heather’s roommate Amanda who is not too broken up about her friend being killed. Yet another lead takes Handsome to talk to an older gentleman who was a father figure to the babysitter, but the chat leaves him without any firm suspects. Trying to piece together what could have gone down the night of Heather’s murder, everything he knows about investigating is thrown out the window when he finds out the difference between lotion and cream.

I will admit that I just turned on this movie for some background noise, but it turned out to be an okay flick and clearly, an attention grabber, and when it came to off color dialogue, some of it left me speechless. I am still pining over if I liked this more than the Sandler movies that Netflix is putting out, but I did like the storyline and the appearance of Steven Weber as the bad guy, (that is not a spoiler because it is mentioned in the first minute of the movie). The story is all right, even though there really does not seem to be an emphasis on who the suspects might be when it comes to Heather’s murder. There are plenty of characters that might have had a reason for it, but the movie quickly skipped them over when it was time for the payoff. With some laugh out loud lines, strange questions, a dead baby sitter, a retiring detective, Steven Weber and a new understanding of lotion versus cream for the skin, this movie is a good time killer if you need one.

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