After his glory days as Hollywood's favorite bland teenage everyman in the early and mid-'80s, C. Thomas Howell has carved a niche for himself as a steadily employed if unremarkable low-budget action hero in such memorable fare as Jailbait, Kid and To Protect And Serve. In his latest straight-to-video opus, Howell directs as well as stars as a down-and-out, hard-boiled private investigator who gets tangled up with femme fatale Sophie Ward, a British vixen searching for her lost brother. Howell's search takes him into a shadowy underworld of goateed, bungee-jumping, Mountain Dew-swigging sky-divers working for the mob. Also hot on Howell's tail is a renegade FBI agent who killed Howell's girlfriend and is deeply in debt to a powerful mobster. The central problem of The Big Fall is Howell's unintentionally hilarious performance in the lead role: Howell is about as convincing as a world-weary private eye as he was as an African American in Soul Man. The eternally boyish and effeminate former teen star can't help but inspire chuckles as he spits out supposedly witty tough-guy banter and gritty narration in a silly Bogart-esque mumble that needs to be heard to be believed. The script doesn't do Howell any favors, either, with its wide selection of stock characters and predictable twists. Howell's direction is surprisingly competent, however. If he can find a less ridiculous leading man, he may well have a future as a steadily employed if unremarkable auteur.