Holmes & Watson... I remember the circulating outrage when first released in 2018, and it was enough to turn me away from the movie completely.
The record low scores from all big reviewers, saying this was a flop doesn't even scratch the surface. It remains to this day a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes which is a feat in all the wrong ways.
However, with it releasing on Netflix, I thought it was about time I made my own judgment and gave it a shot. I didn't actually think it could be as bad as it was...
Within five minutes, I was utterly baffled as to why anybody would make this movie let alone watch it. From the two actors who brought us Step Brothers and Talladega Nights, I expected some humour that actually worked.
Will Ferrell falls closer to slapstick than any other sort of humour, so you always expect stupidity, but Holmes & Watson is a new level nobody needed.
Slapstick is embarrassing, but this is embarrassing to slapstick.
Even an A-list duo was not enough to safe this god awful movie, Sherlock Holmes may live at 221B Baker Street, but this movie lives in the minds of the judges of the Golden Raspberry Awards.
But what technically makes it so bad?
Overall the film suffers from unbelievable amounts of predictability, and honestly, it's a shame. The general premise of a parody of Sherlock Holmes appeals to me. John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell are also two people capable of making this work. However, this attempt was completely over the top and lacked any real substance whatsoever.
I sat through the entire thing (barely) to try and pull the positives from it, but ultimately I came up flat. This movie is unsalvageable and that is elementary my dear readers...
Some very slight funny moments can be dug up from this film, but they are so few and far between it's a chore to make it to the end. I guess the costumes are fantastic and the facial hair is top-notch but aside from that, truly nothing.
It's a shame, there was a way of approaching this movie which kept Sherlock semi-smart. Instead, they made him and Watson a pair of complete and utter idiots who would struggle to solve a dot to dot between them.
The world of Sherlock Holmes is vast, but Holmes & Watson is beyond help and by far the worst rendition in history.
You would need the biggest magnifying glass in the world to find this film good. A film so bad that I'm sure Sir Arthur Conan Doyle nearly came back from the dead just to ensure it stays at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently, streaming on Netflix will you take the Holmes and Watson challenge?
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