Waldo

Echoing films from The Long Goodbye to Inherent Vice, this LA-set comic crime yarn is a derivative but fitfully enjoyable shaggy-dog story. Charlie Hunnam stars as disgraced former cop Charlie Waldo, living undisturbed off the grid until he is pulled onto the case of an actor (Mel Gibson) who is suspected of killing his wife. Working from a script by Waldo novels author Howard Michael Gould, TV director Tim Kirkby (Fleabag) makes brisk work of the clichés and convolutions that mount as Hunnam wobbles around Hollywood on his bicycle, veering between brutal beatings and flings with teachers. While a grating Gibson overdoes the thespian mannerisms, Hunnam's easy charm proves pitch-perfect for this kind of breezy PI story, where the ambling investigative journey and its colourful characters matter more than the destination.