Inspector Ike is a lost television movie from the 1970s. Well, at least one could be forgiven for thinking it was. The plot involves the understudy of an avant-garde theater group named Harry (Matt Barats). In order to bask in the spotlight he desperately craves, he has killed the theater’s main star Chip (John Early) and made it look like a suicide. Can “New York City’s Greatest Police Detective” Inspector Ike (Ikechukwu Ufomadu) unravel this tangled web?
Where does one draw the line between loving homage, faithful recreation, and outright parody? Director Graham Morgan seemed to be unsure of what direction to take Inspector Ike in. The opening suggests it will be a fun remake of 70s television viewing, but aside from a funny idea involving recipe cards, the idea is never revisited after that.
There is also nothing that makes it seem like this was made out of love for television movies. While there are callbacks to the era, they are ones that even those who were not sitting in front of their televisions back then would notice. The setting of Inspector Ike seems to have been chosen more as a convenient set piece than anything else.
The question then becomes, does the film succeed as a parody? Filled with dry humor and sight gags, Inspector Ike is a hilarious watch. The trick with spoofs is how the source material is used. Many times, send-ups will attempt to get their laughs at the expense of their inspiration.
That is never the case in Inspector Ike. The comedy is genuine without being mean-spirited while the cat and mouse game is an entertaining one. There will be the inevitable comparisons to Police Squad! but the movie is strong enough to stand on its own.
Inspector Ike opens in theaters February 18
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