Last year, a cocky Delhi lad figured a way to make a quick buck: by donating sperm. Vicky Donor turned out to be one of the most memorable films of 2012. In Mickey Virus, a young man from the shady bylanes of the capital makes pots and pots of cash with just a single click of the mouse: he’s a hacker. But if Vicky Donor was a heart-warming watch of marriage and maturity, family and parenthood, Mickey Virus doesn’t quite know what it wants to be: it starts off as a comedy, turns into a romance and eventually goes into whodunnit territory. Without managing to do justice to any of the genres.

TV funnyman Manish Paul, making his Bolly debut, is Mickey Virus. Genius with the keyboard and mouse, but a dud at everything else, Mickey lives in the world of apps, domains and websites. A professional hacker who is code-named Kung Fu Chameli, Mickey’s friends, Chutney (Puja Gupta), Floppy (Raghav Kakkar) and Pancho (Vikesh Kumar), are as creatively and curiously named as the lines on his tees. Together, the four run a flourishing hacking business in the underground markets of Chandni Chowk. Until one day when the cops come calling — to enlist Mickey’s services in hacking the websites of a dreaded underworld gang that has been carrying out a series of murders.

Along the way, Mickey falls for Kamayani (debutante Elli Avram). Post-interval, the fun and games take a serious turn when Mickey realises that pyaar China ka maal hai (read: fake, a common refrain that runs through the film). Betrayed by his love, he finds himself accused of not only a fraud of Rs 100 crore, but also murder.

Manish Paul may have made a career out of laugh-out-loud one-liners, but in Mickey Virus, his funny bone is not tapped. Even though his vocabulary is peppered with some fun lines like: “Main kya universal charger hoon ki kahin bhi ghusa doge?” and “Mere zubaan ki backspace key kyon nahin chalti?”, the man, who keeps us in splits on the small screen, is not funny enough. Manish’s easy screen presence and camera confidence, however, ensures that you stick with Mickey Virus till the end, despite a hackneyed script and a crowd of unimpressive side players. The overdone climax is another major grouse, with debutant director Saurabh Varma managing to bore and confuse the viewer simultaneously.

Elli Avram, our daily evening fix courtesy Bigg Boss, is very easy on the eye, but not so easy with her acting. But the Swede-Greek stunner could well turn out to be the next Katrina Kaif: after all, a film with Salman Khan awaits her at the end of her Bigg Boss stint. Manish Choudhary, Rocket Singh’s strict senior in the Ranbir Kapoor film, does his bit as a no-nonsense cop, but it is Varun Badola as his subordinate Bhalla who turns in the best act. And its most memorable line: “Aajkal ki generation ke kapde khule aur phone locked rehte hain!”

Mickey Virus qualifies as a one-time watch on a lazy jobless afternoon. If you are looking for more bang for your buck, get lost in space with Gravity or caught at sea with Captain Phillips.