Holmes & Watson Review

Holmes & Watson is a spoof-like film that follows the greatest detective and his close friend in their dumbest state possible. I was almost shocked by how bad this was to view. I'm not sure what was worse, the terrible plot or the series of awful jokes that didn't land. I will admit, I had a slight laugh or two though for the majority of this I was just somewhat witnessing it. The basics are there, you have a good duo and an unique opportunity with the premise. They just really don't do anything with it, I'm quite glad it was of a shorter run time.

What's really strange here is that it features a really great cast, and just wastes them for the most part. The duo of Holmes (Will Ferrell) and Watson (John C. Reilly) had brief sparks that felt like their older material, yet that just didn't come through here for the most part. Their opposition is the well known Moriarty (Ralph Fiennes) which honestly was a complete waste of the talent. There's some odd extras thrown in, and it just goes along. It's hard to truly explain how much this just exists as something to view.

I suppose as a time piece the setting was well developed, and they had some well done colorful clothing presented. Outside of that, is a bland world filled with terrible characters. They ruin this setting largely by adding modern references, you can take jabs at the past but you need to choose what type of material you're giving.

It was all over the place, at one point they're joking about lack of knowledge at the time and next they're referencing modern politics. It's weird, it doesn't make sense and neither does the plot. The story is all over the place as well and it really wasn't clever. It had some neat ideas in how to twist things up, but didn't add enough of a context or even focus on that. It was just two idiots stumbling around and things happening.

The Conclusion

Holmes & Watson is an absolutely terrible film that wastes a great cast and is the type of spoof-like experience that isn't meant for theaters. I'm not sure how this was able to progress towards being an actual release, it's awkward and strange for the most part. I will again state that I did have a few laughs, this was minimal however with the many joke attempts.

The tone of the humor was all over and this resulted in a mostly quiet time. There were mere glimpses of the duo's great chemistry, but it wasn't in full swing and I felt that mostly had to do with what they had to work with. There was also some rather weak acting and a series of characters that just came, or went. It was random for the most and just didn't make a whole lot of sense. The most just viewed thing I've seen in a theater. I just watched it, and witnessed this atrocity of cinema.

Holmes & Watson Review at Theater with Standard Viewing

Rating Overall: 3.2