Holmes & Watson

Detective novels was one of my favourite books in my youth. I used to read the most interesting murder novels ( even though it took me a long time to finish them ), with very well known criminal authors. One of the classics that i did enjoy reading was books from author Arthur Conan Doyle, and especially his novel The Hound Of The Baskervilles, where Detective Sherlock Holmes try to solve a murder mystery in Baskervilles with his sidekick Dr Watson. The legendary detective Sherlock Holmes have been very popular for a very long time, and the books by author Arthur Conan Doyle is still today read by millions of people. Sherlock Holmes had a very unique personality, and the way he solved crimes was also something that captured the attention of readers. I think one of the reasons why this legendary character is still loved today, is the way that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his novels, he knew how to tell stories about murders without being too graphical. I remember seeing the TV movie adaptation of The Hound of The Baskervilles, released in 1983 with legendary actor Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed this film, and they managed to tell the story of the mystery surrounding Baskerville in an interesting way. There are plenty of films done with Sherlock Holmes, with a lot of different actors. But my personal favourite so far is the TV series with British actor Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. I did enjoy the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr, but i have to say that Benedict Cumberbatch made the Sherlock Holmes character come to life in a complete different way than before. if you have not seen the TV series Sherlock, i suggest you watch it on Netflix. Let´s change subject for a short while. How many of you remember the 2008 comedy known as Step Brothers with actors Will Ferrell and John C. Reilley ? It was a really funny film about 2 adult step Brothers, who are adults living at home with their parents but act like they are still children. Both actors did a really good job playing spolied brats in adult bodies, and i suggest you see the very funny music video with them both doing a hip hop video called Boats N´ Hoes, just really funny comedy material. When i saw the trailer for Holmes & Watson, that Will Ferrell and John C. Reilley would reunite to a new Sherlock Holmes comedy, i was happy. Do we finally have a funny comedy, that would be just as crazy as Step Brothers turned out to be, or is this a movie that does not deserve to exist at all ?

In the year of 1881, Sherlock Holmes ( Will Ferrel ) meets and befriends John Watson ( John C. Reilly ). They begin to work together as Detective Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, trying to solve crimes and catch criminals. During the trial of Professor James Moriarty ( Ralph Fiennes ), who is a suspect of murder, Holmes declare that Moriarty is not the killer. Instead, he believe that a man named Jacob Musgraves is the man they need to catch instead. As Holmes believe he have solved this case. Watson have arranged a surprise party for Holmes birthday at Buckingham Palace. While cutting the birthday cake, a body falls out of the cake. Holmes is on the case right away, as Queen Victoria ( Pam Ferris ) ask Holmes to solve this murder. The most brilliant detective in the history of England will find the truth, or is he simply too stupid to do that ?

Maybe i was hoping too much with a great cast, when i feel disappointed. Because a lot of the scenes that are supposed to be very funny miss the goal. Now, i do think it was a great idea to have Will Ferell and John C. Reilley return in a new film together. Unfortunately we don´t get the same magic here as we got in the very funny comedy Step Brothers. For some reason, they don´t seem to find the right comedy elements in this Sherlock Holmes adaptation. The vulgar language and the comedy timimg does not deliver as much entertaining as this film should have with a cast like this. We even have actors Ralph Fiennes , Rebecca Hall and Steve Coogan in this film, so how can you fail with a cast like this ? There are only a very few scenes i smiled, but not more than that ( especially a musical scene where Sherlock Holmes dance on the streets of London, looking for Dr Watson as he is in love with him, a good idea to bring in gay influences ). Will Ferell does at least not do as bad performance as John Malkovich did in Johnny English from 2003. I am telling you, i have never seen Malkovich make a fool of himself, and that performance was dreadful. John C Riley usually manage to deliver solid comedy scenes, but fails to do so in several scenes. One of the few performances that does not fail completely, is actor Hugh Laurie ( who you might remember from the critially acclaimed TV series House ) as Mycroft. There is also a funny scene where Billy Zane goes on board on Titanic ( reference to the 90´s classic ), and both Holmes & Watson are exremely happy, because that is Billy Zane. . With all the missed oppurunities, it feels like Holmes & Watson feels like a comedy that is trying too hard to make people laugh. Director Etan Cohen directed the pretty funny comedy Get Hard, the first time he worked togeher with actor Will Ferrell. This was a film that actually had some funny scenes, but it feels like Etan may have taken on this project without knowing how to make it work with Sherlock Holmes. He clearly does not seem to use the right comedy influences correctly, so he basically throws in anything to make people laugh. I wish that comedian and director Simon Pegg ( who has done a number of really good comedies such as Shaun Of The Dead and of course Hot Fuzz ) would have directed Holmes & Watson, and we might have had a completely different film. If you enjoyed Step Brothers, i suggest you skip Holmes & Watson, because i guarantee that you will be disappointed. I am not surprised why this film bombed at the box office, we deserved something better than this.

Rating: DD