Without a Clue
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Movie Reviews of Without a Clue
Movie Review: "Thank you, gentlemen, I am touched." "I can vouch for that!"
Summary: 5 Stars
The reviewers who have said you don't have to be a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast who is familiar with the Holmes stories to enjoy this film are exactly right. I don't generally give in to hyperbole when reviewing a movie, so I won't go overboard with superlatives here, suffice to say that this is a charming, delightful and VERY funny satire! It really is. If you are reading this review and have never heard of this movie, or have heard of it but never got around to watching it because it didn't get rave reviews, don't let that deter you any longer! Buy or rent this movie and you will not be disappointed, I'm willing to bet.
The plotline and background of the film have already been reviewed here, so I won't repeat them. I will say that I first began watching this movie with luke warm hopes that I would enjoy it, but boy, did I enjoy it! The time flew by and I laughed almost all the way through it. Usually, movies with so many in-jokes, visual humor and tongue-in-cheek one-liners will have several jokes that fall flat, but very few, if any, do here.
The character of Mrs. Hudson has a prominent role in this film, and it turns out to be a blessing, as Pat Keen played the role to the hilt. Her comedic portrayal of the proper and sometimes haughty Mrs. Hudson of the books was hysterical! (Oops! Some unintended hyperbole there! Well, what the heck, she really was extremely funny and I was impressed at just how engaging Ms. Keen really is! I had never heard of her before this movie and I found myself searching online for roles she has had in other films.)
I give this five stars. Admittedly, I am a huge Holmes fan, but my girlfriend is not and when I loaned this movie to her, she returned it to me saying that she thought it was great. She even threw a couple of notable quotes at me from the film. I liken Without a Clue, in many ways, to the original version of The Out of Towners with Jack Lemmon, another film I reviewed last month. (NOT the new, inferior version with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn). Like Without a Clue, it is also relatively unknown by many people and is a very underrated comedy.
As for the packaging, I too, like others, am disappointed that this DVD is only available in full screen version and take off half a star on my rating for that. I would gladly have paid a few bucks more for some extras, possibly a commentary by Caine or Kingsley (or best of all, BOTH), or even a short interview or two. But since I am not able to give it 4 1/2 stars, I have given it five, as it is clearly worth more than four. Confusing? Peace.
Movie Review: Two Great Dramatic Actors Create An Absolutely Hilarious Comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
If you asked me who my all time favorite actor was, my answer is Ben Kingsley, who won a Best Actor Oscar for Ghandi, and also impressed me with roles in "Schindler's List", "Sneakers", "Joseph", and "Moses". Honorable mention would belong to Michael Caine, who garnered a Best Supporting Actor for "Hannah And Her Sisters", and who I also have seen in "The Island", "Beyond The Poseidon Adventure", "Educating Rita", "Victory", and "The Muppet's Christmas Carol"; Caine was good in each of those roles, even though some of the movies weren't.
These two are not know for comedies (though Caine has been in his fair share). However, both are absolutely hilarious in this comedy. My dad (Neal Clark Reynolds, also an Amazon reviewer) said prior to seeing this that he had a hard time imagining Kingsley as Dr. Watson, partially because he had a hard time imagining anyone other than Nigel Bruce. Both actors pulled off their roles.
The premise in itself is hilarious, a role reversal of classic fiction. I wonder if Remington Steele was an inspiration, which also was based on a detective who was not taken seriously until a fictitious superior was created.
One concern I have over most movies nowadays is its attitude and worldliness. There are PG-13 and R rated movies (e.g. "The Second Chance" or "Schindler's List") that I consider of a more positive worldview than a PG or even G rated movies (e.g. "Wargames" and "Babe"). This movie, while by no means Christian, did not have that negative attitude or worldliness. There are only a couple of scenes that would make me nervous of having a child watching it, especially without parental supervision, but that's not bad nowadays, and those scenes were not bad enough to bump the rating to PG-13. I will say, though, there is one plot twist I did not approve of, but not to the extent to keep me from enjoying the movie as a whole, and this would make me uncomfortable having a child below junior high watching it with me.
One theme I always enjoy is when a character has to step up to their potential, and does. This movie fits into that category. One important lesson in this film also is the role of gratitude. That's all I'll say, and hope I didn't give away too much of the movie.
Movie Review: I love this movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ben Kingsley is Dr. Watson, a man of science and logic who uses those skills to solve crimes and then writes stories about them. He's hired an actor, Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine) to play his fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.
But "Holmes" is getting on Watson's last nerve. He's getting cockier, not following instructions, and on the verge of blowing the whole scheme with his profligate ways. So Watson fires Kincaid and styles himself as "the crime doctor," but the public wants Sherlock Holmes, and even Inspector Lestrade (Jeffrey Jones), who's suspicious of Holmes's techniques, won't listen to him.
It's particularly bad timing, as the financial fate of the country depends on the swift resolution of a case that the Queen herself asks Holmes to solve.
Then Watson disappears and Kincaid/Holmes is left to solve the case himself, with the help of Mrs. Hudson (Pat Keen) and Watson's Baker Street Irregulars (street urchins, in case you aren't familiar with the Sherlock Holmes stories).
This is a film in which everything just comes together so perfectly that it seems effortless. The comic timing is genius--in fact, Holmes & Mrs. Hudson on the stage is a classic piece of physical comedy with impeccable timing. Caine and Kingsley play off each other very well--neither upstaging the other--and there's more depth to the characters than just the surface frustrations with each other.
Caine's Holmes is a frustrated actor, drinking and womanizing because he knows he's nothing special. When he's called on to prove himself, it's lovely to watch his self-esteem grow. The same is true of Kingsley's Watson. He's a man of science, true, but he's tired of being in the shadows, and needs recognition and appreciation--like we all do.
I think that's why I enjoy Without a Clue so much--it has layers. There's the twist of the Sherlock Holmes story, which is fun, then there's the mystery/adventure plot itself, which is intriguing and exciting, and then there's the emotional story of the main characters, which is... er... emotional. In other words, it's satisfying on several levels, making it a movie I can watch more than once.
My kids enjoyed it, too.
Movie Review: Spoofing Sherlock
Summary: 5 Stars
WITHOUT A CLUE (1988) is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I love this movie!
That said, I have to wonder why this inventive spoof of Sherlock Holmes was not a huge box-office success when it was first released. Certainly it has garnered a cult following over the years, but the mass audience has never really embraced it.
Perhaps the reason is that Sherlock Holmes appeals to a more intellectual viewer and one needs, at the very least, a basic familiarity with Conan Doyle and the Baker Street sleuth in order to appreciate the humor (often slapstick) in this Thom Eberhardt-directed film.
The basic premise of the script, written by Gary Murphy and Larry Strawther, is brilliant. In their scenario, there is no Sherlock Holmes. He is a fictional character, created for Strand Magazine by genius detective Dr. Watson (Ben Kingsley).
The Holmes stories were so popular that people came to believe that Sherlock was a real person. Thus, Watson hired an out-of-work actor (Michael Caine) to play the role of Holmes while he did the actual detective work. Unfortunately, the actor is also a drunk, a gambler, a womanizer, a coward and an absolute moron.
As much as Watson would like to get rid of the imbecile, he's stuck with him...particularly when the evil Professor Moriarty (Paul Freeman) appears on the scene, planning the crime of the century.
This one is laugh-out-loud funny.
© Michael B. Druxman
Movie Review: If you're not British just go brush up your witticism
Summary: 5 Stars
Only The Brits can both reinvent Sherlock Holmes and make fun of him, or rather of us, the audience who made Sherlock Holmes into a reality, who was nothing but the figment of one isolated imagination. This film is a masterpiece of humor, of wit, of surprise, of funny and gay suspense, and I even mean strange, weird, frankly why not slightly queer. If your are learned you have a carriageful of allusions to anything and all of everything else you can think of. Oscar Wilde of course and his Lady Windermere's fan, Ben Jonson and his Silent Woman, and Shakespeare from the beginning of Titus Andronicus to the end of the Tempest, without speaking of King Lear and Hamlet who may sound banal, good enough for a couple of rooms in an inn. From time to time you have an allusion to Conan Doyle and the real Sherlock Holmes and the figment of Sherlock's imagination, Dr Watson, or something like that. I must say I loved Miss Giles. He was the best surprise, the cherry on the cake, the whip cream on the ice cream. And yet already twenty years old. Could we still do that today in our over serious time? Could we laugh at an institution like the Bible, whose Psalm 234 was made fun of in the punch line of the arrest? Are we gay enough to laugh at our little feelings and desires for ever locked up in, is it, a cabinet, a cupboard, a sideboard or a wardrobe?
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne