| Without a Clue | | Cast : | Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley | | Director : | Thom Eberhardt | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Color | | Released Date : | October 21, 1988 | | DVD Released Date : | March 02, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 06, 2005 | | Summary | A Sherlock Holmes Treat | Content
 | This is a wonderful, literate satire of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, in which Watson is the actual great detective and Holmes an unemployed ham actor. One of Michael Caine's best performances as Holmes, with Ben Kingley witheringly sharp as Watson. Beautiful production, excellent supporting cast. It helps to know your Conan Doyle to appreciate the nuances this film offers. Most unusual that it has not received the notice it deserves. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 18, 2004 | | Summary | A Funny Holmes Pastiche, Worth Having | Content
| Dr. Watson has a problem. He's always been the brains behind Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character he dreamed up as cover for the cases he has solved. He even hired a third-rate ham actor, Reginald Kincaid, to impersonate Holmes. But now he's fed up with the fatuous dimwit Kincaid whom everyone is fascinated by and who seems to believe his own notices. He longs to be known as John Watson, Crime Doctor, and to receive the recognition due him for his amazing deductive powers.
That's the set up, and it's a funny one, especially with two first-rate actors as Ben Kingsley playing Watson and Michael Caine playing Kincaid. Watson finally boots out Kincaid and decides to solve a case as himself...but no one is prepared to take Dr. Watson seriously as a detective, even his publisher. Plates for 5-pound notes are stolen from the Royal Mint, the powers of England want Holmes on the case, Watson finds he may need Kincaid after all, and the game's afoot.
Caine makes a spectacular dimwit who finally and inadvertently comes through. Kingsley combines frustration and resentment in a performance that is funny and believable. They both learn something about friendship.
The movie has its weaknesses. It goes on a bit, the climax is workmanlike, and it's essentially a one-joke premise. It still, however, is a very nice, amusing movie, especially if you're a fan of Holmes pastiches. If you're stuffy about Holmes and the sacred canon, well, you may not find this suitable. I thought it was great fun.
The DVD transfer is nothing special but good enough. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 04, 2004 | | Summary | Ben Kingsley does comedy | Content
| You might think of Ben Kingsley wearing a diaper as Gandhi, or as a villain in various roles (playing Meyer Lansky in _Bugsy_, Cosmo in _Sneakers_ or as the frightening Don Logan in _Sexy Beast_) but Kingsley can also do comedy, as proven by this film. The central conceit of this film is that John H. Watson, M.D. of the Sherlock Holmes stories was actually the detecting genius and that Sherlock Holmes was a fictional creation. Later Watson was forced to hire a drunken actor (played to perfection by Michael Caine) to fill out the role of Holmes for a public that would not accept the talents of "John Watson, the Crime Doctor". The chemisty between Kingsley, playing the tightly wound John Watson, fed up with the fact that his creation has taken center stage and that no one will believe in his talents, and Caine, as the buffoonish actor, receiving the adulation that rightly belongs to Watson is fantastic, as witness the scene where Holmes is recounting the curious case of the Manchurian Mambo ("It was a night like any other, when suddenly a knock came at the door. I opened it and there were these Manchurians, doing a rather festive Caribbean dance...").
The only reason I'm giving this DVD four stars and not five is because it is a panned and scanned print of the original movie and pan and scan sucks. Even so this is still worth seeing. |
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