While fleeing from a burglary gone south, Harry Lockhart stumbles into an ongoing audition in New York City. As he pretends to be an actor in order to evade the police, he has an emotional breakdown over his remorse. Casting director Dabney Shaw mistakes this for
method acting and sends him to Los Angeles for screen testing. At a party in L.A., Harry meets his childhood crush Harmony Lane and "Gay" Perry van Shrike, a private detective hired to give him on-the-job tutelage for his screen test. The party is hosted by Harlan Dexter, a retired actor who has recently resolved a feud over his wife's inheritance with his estranged daughter, Veronica. During a stakeout at a
Big Bear Lake cabin, Harry and Perry witness two men dump a car in the lake. Noticing a female body in the trunk, Perry shoots the lock in a rescue attempt but accidentally hits the corpse. Because of this, they decide against reporting the incident, as it would appear Perry killed her. When Harry returns to his hotel room, Harmony shows up and tells him of her sister, Jenna; she supposedly killed herself, but Harmony is convinced it was murder. Due to his connection to Perry, Harmony mistakenly thinks Harry is a detective and asks him to investigate. After Harmony leaves, Harry finds the corpse from the lake in his bathroom, so he calls Perry and the two of them dispose of it at the side of the road. The following morning, Harmony tells Harry about how Jenna was sexually abused by their father when they were young, and that Harmony helped her cope with it by falsely suggesting she was adopted. Later, the body from the lake is identified as Veronica Dexter, from which Perry concludes that the killers were at the party and convinces Harry to leave L.A., as his life may be in danger. At the airport, Harry talks to one of Harmony's friends and realizes that Jenna had been the person who hired Perry to do the stakeout at Big Bear Lake in the first place. Harry, Perry and Harmony reunite at a party and find out that Jenna had come to L.A. in search of her biological father and mistakenly thought it was Harlan Dexter. After the party, Harry is beaten up by the two thugs from the lake. Harmony starts to drive him to the hospital, but on the way she notices a pink-haired woman whom Perry was hired to follow. Realizing this was a trap for Perry, she abandons an unconscious Harry in the car to warn him. One of the thugs is killed in an ensuing shootout, and the frightened pink-haired woman steals Harmony's car, unwittingly driving Harry to her home. There, the other thug kills the pink-haired woman, and Harry kills him in retaliation. Back at his hotel, Harry confesses to Harmony that he is a small-time burglar; she, in turn, confesses that she slept with his best friend in high school, which angers Harry, and he throws her out. The next day, Perry awakens Harry because Harmony left Perry a voicemail about the case before apparently disappearing. Harry and Perry investigate a mental hospital owned by Harlan Dexter and discover that Veronica was locked in there; they deduce that Harlan must have hired Jenna to act as her replacement to end the inheritance feud, then had both girls killed once he got the money. They also get a call from Harmony, who is alive and well, right as Harlan and his henchmen capture the two of them. While Harry and Perry escape, Harmony steals the van used to transport Veronica's body to the crematorium. A violent car chase ensues on the highways of L.A., during which Harry manages to kill Harlan and his lackeys, but not before both he and Perry are critically wounded as well. Harry wakes up in the hospital to find Perry alive, and together with Harmony they learn the truth. Harlan never actually met Jenna; the replacement for Veronica was another woman who, when not impersonating her, wore a pink wig. While stalking Harlan, Jenna must have seen him in bed with "Veronica", and become devastated to find the man she believed to be her biological father engage in incest. She hired Perry to expose Harlan, then took her own life. At Jenna's funeral, Perry confronts her bedridden father and tells him he was the one who truly murdered her. Harry leaves behind his life as a burglar and settles in L.A. to work as Perry's assistant. ==Cast==