Starring Brent Butt and Amy Smart. Rated PG.

Well, Humphrey Bogart he is not, but what you’ve got to admire about Vancouver comedian Brent Butt is how he embraces that in his first movie. There’s actually a moment in it when someone informs his bumbling would-be private investigator, Leo, “You’re not going to be winning an acting award anytime soon.”

No, the Corner Gas star likely won’t with this film-noir send-up, but here’s the thing: Butt is so damn folksy and self-effacingly funny that he manages to rise above the hopelessly convoluted crime caper that passes for a plot here.

His clueless Leo drives a beat-up red Chevette, has a cup of Timmy Ho’s coffee practically sutured to his hand, and uses lingo like “poop”, “stooge-y”, and “getting the skinny”. You’ll laugh in spite of yourself when Leo goes undercover as a high-end caterer, promising the corporate client he’ll “go get some hot dogs and chips and whatnot”.

He also has some genuinely funny scenes at a diner with his buddy Ernie (SNL alumnus David Koechner). But those, plus the pulp-fiction-comic credits, are about where the fun ends. The plot, about a blond femme fatale, or as he puts it, “smouldering tower of smoking hottitude” (Amy Smart), who hires him to find her missing brother, a high-stakes video-game designer, grows increasingly frustrating. The investigation descends into endless talk of holding companies, video-game competition, city permits, IPOs… Who cares? And the scenes of Smart fawning over her dickless private dick are too awkward to laugh at.

You can always play Spot the Local Landmark to kill time; the Balmoral and Patricia hotels both make appearances, but even here, director Carl Bessai misses the chance to build stylized, noirish Vancouver atmosphere.

There are yuks to be had watching Butt rub up against sophisticates, but really, you get the feeling it’d be a lot more fun hanging with him over some hot dogs, chips, and maybe a cup of Timmy Ho’s finest brew.