Private investigator Mort Madison (Matt Rife) has seen better days, according to the official synopsis of The Private Eye, a “mystery romantic comedy” that I’m guessing Rife doesn’t want you to see. Despite the official trailer dropping this week, there’s no whisper of it on Rife’s social media accounts. Take a look and you can guess why.
If you can’t get through it, here’s the gist: Mort Madison is a terrible private eye. A beautiful woman hires him. Rife takes off his shirt.
Rife changes hats.
Rife kisses his co-star for nearly 30 seconds of a two-minute trailer. This is an uncomfortably long time to watch people mash faces.
The educated guess here is that the movie’s release is a direct result of all the heat generated by Rife’s Natural Selection special and the comic’s baffling wave of unforced social media errors. The movie’s official Instagram account was posting posters and production stills back in 2020 so this bad boy has been sitting on the shelf for a minute.
