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52 reviews in total

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33 out of 37 people found the following review useful:
A must see!, 9 November 2001

Author: super marauder

I was a theater manager in 1988. I got this movie called 'Without a Clue', and that describes what I knew about it. I never saw a preview, I had no one sheet (poster) for it......Nothing! When I put the thing together, and saw the beginning, I thought oh, no! Not another Sherlock Holmes movie! (I think they made too many as it is!) But when Watson yelled at Holmes "You idiot!", that blew me away! I sat and watched it and laughed my butt off! Unfortunately, nobody else knew about this movie either! My theater was in a small town, and everybody knew me, and I told people if you want to see a funny movie that has no sex, really bad words, you have to see this movie! On Friday, when it opened, the theater was nowhere near full, on Thursday, the night it closed, we had a good crowd, some seeing it two, or three times (our admission price was $1.00 at the time). Granted, the teen-agers didn't care for it, but the adults loved it! In fact, one lady said to me, why don't they make more like that anymore! This movie IS an overlooked gem of a comedy!

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26 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
Moriarty KNOWS you're an idiot., 22 February 2004
Author: indiana-ike from Cincinnati, Oh

The year was 1994, the advent of DVD was still a few years off. Laserdiscs were mainly used for films in classrooms, and the old video store down the street was STILL clutching to its 80's look of neon colors, flourescent signs and black and white striped trim. In six years it would be sold and changed dramtically. But in 1994, I walked down from my house and found this little gem. I knew how much my mother loved Sherlock Holmes, and I was a big fan of Michael Caine's, ever since I had seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. (which came out the same year as this film, incidentally).

After I brought it back home, and we watched it, I fell in love with it. The pure irony, the intellectual humor, the idiotic slapstick; every time we'd watch it it would be the most fun you could spend in two hours, it would get funnier every time. Pure escapism at its best.

Michael Caine plays the out-of-work actor Reginald Kincaid as Sherlock Holmes and Ben Kingsley plays the true genious behind the mysteries, Watson. As the rethought storyline goes, Watson hires Reginald Kincaid to play Holmes, line for line, after Watson's first dally into writing mysteries has become a huge success. What he didn't gamble on was an alcoholic womanizing gambling idiot. We pick up the story as Moriarty has come back and as Holmes starts to seek his independance from Watson. Watson, fed up with Holmes' crap, is happy to oblige.

The more you watch it, the more jokes seem to jump out at you. We have actually fallen out of chairs watching this. Whether it be the "integrity of English literature" line or the "he KNOWS you're an idiot," its good times had by all.

I went back to the video store and over the next year, we rented the movie four times. Curious of the movie's popularity, I asked the clerk how often the movie had been rented. He told me that it had been rented six times, five of them by us. I asked if I could buy the movie and they were happy to. We've shown the movie to people over the years, all of them have loved it, and I can't imagine why such a hilarious, witty film can remain so obscure.

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27 out of 30 people found the following review useful:
A Sherlockian Comedy of Grand Proportions!, 21 December 2001

Author: peacham from Pa.

Its a shame this film is not better appreciated.Its the finest parody of the Holmes Mythos ever set to screen. The stories are sent up without being malicious.Its an absurdists view with loads of honest laughs. Ben Kinsley shines as Dr. Watson,the true brains behind the Holmes cases.In order to continue his medical practice without repurcussion (Crime Solving is shunned upon for a respected professional)Watson invents a character named Holmes. His reputation grows to the point that people wish to meet him...enter Reginald Kincaid played to perfection by Michael Caine. Kincaid is a drunken,out of work actor hired by Watson to play Holmes. With the teaming of these two screen greats the chemistry is electric. Add a solid supporting cast of wonderful character actors (including Paul Freeman as Moriarty and Jeffrey Jones as Lestrade)and a very convincing performance from the lovely Lysette Anthony and the film is off to a great start. The screenplay and Direction solidify its relevence as a first class comedic romp. If you can catch "Without A Clue" on television don't miss it! Its not yet available on DVD and sadly out of print on video.

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22 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
A true lost gem, 6 December 2002
Author: Baroque

The premise is so clever. Sherlock Holmes never really existed. It was Dr. Watson (Ben Kingsley) who had been solving these cases all along, and simply hired bumbling actor Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine) to play the fake Sherlock Holmes.

To those who are hard-core Holmes fans, this film will be cherished. Sadly, the VHS is out of print in the USA (I bought mine used at a flea market), and DVDs are available only in Europe.

(UPDATE: The film has been released on DVD in the USA, but in Pan & Scan.)

Also, the film received hardly any promotion in the USA. But it is lavishly directed, cleverly written, and magnificently cast.

Everything about this film deserves exclamation points!

Track it down any way you can, and prepare to laugh out loud.

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24 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
Absolutely brilliant, Watson! A Sherlock Holmes story where LESTRADE SOLVES THE BLOODY CASE!, 23 September 1999

Author: Spleen from Canberra, Australia

The Sherlock Holmes stories are full of monumental blunders. Watson's famous war wound, which moves about from limb to limb, is among the least of them. Most of the blame for Arthur Conan Doyle's unparallelled clumsiness has fallen upon poor old John (or, according to one story, James) Watson - as if HE could possibly be responsible for the all (or any) of the inanities in, say, `The Mazarin Stone'.

`Without a Clue' is an honest, meticulously researched film that does what it can to redress the injustice. It reveals that Watson was really the brains of the Holmes/Watson team - that Sherlock Holmes does not, technically speaking, even exist. How does this get us around all the inconsistencies that have puzzled Sherlock aficionados over the past century? To be frank, it doesn't. But no theory does. There are just too many inconsistencies to be fended off and this theory is about as likely to be right as any other. It's the theory I tend to believe. At least it's funnier than any of its rivals.

Anyone who loves the Holmes stories - anyone who has not been exposed to the stories but is genetically predisposed to love them nonetheless - MUST see this film. You don't need to know who Holmes, Watson, Lestrade and Moriarty are in order to enjoy it. Or rather, you need to know, but whatever you may think, you DO know - knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes universe has found its way into the water supply and 90% of all people are born with it. That's why `Without a Clue' is so hilarious. That's why it won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actor. Actually, it didn't win anything, but I presume this was only because of some footling technicality.

P.S.: I should really set readers' minds at rest by telling them that Lestrade doesn't really solve the case. `Without a Clue' offers us a radically revisionist account of history - but not THAT radical.

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17 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Unexpected gem turns Holmesian lore on its head, 16 May 2005

Author: Libretio

WITHOUT A CLUE

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

'Sherlock Holmes' turns out to be a ham actor (Michael Caine), hired by brilliant detective Dr. John Watson (Ben Kingsley) to play a character whose adventures are dramatized by Watson and published in a popular weekly magazine. But the two men are forced to set aside their differences when Prof. Moriarty (Paul Freeman) hatches a fiendish plot to destabilize the British Empire.

An unexpected gem. Thom Eberhardt's clever revision of Holmesian lore foregoes puns and sight gags for character-based comedy, and a wonderful cast of experienced British thesps plays it with just the right degree of reverence and mockery (Caine and Kingsley, in particular, make a formidable comic team). However, the script - by Gary Murphy and Larry Strawther - is entirely faithful to the spirit of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation: Despite Holmes' incompetence and Watson's escalating outrage, the central mystery is genuinely skillful and engrossing, the clues are delightfully outlandish, and the Victorian atmosphere is conveyed with elegant simplicity, thanks to stylish art direction (by Brian Ackland-Snow) and costume design (by Judy Moorcroft). However, the writers aren't afraid to poke gentle fun at the established conventions, particularly Holmes'/Watson's uncanny ability to draw conclusions from even the most obscure scraps of evidence, and the climax manages to combine warm-hearted comedy and genuine thrills during a final showdown with Moriarty in an abandoned theatre. Highly recommended.

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13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Most excellent comic turn on the Sherlock Holmes saga. The game's afoot!, 16 August 2001

Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ

This is one of Michael Caine's funniest performances and he and Ben Kingsley worked quite well together. The supporting cast is top-notch as well. Jeffry Jones as LeStrade is very good and Peter Cook has a fine supporting turn. As for the premise-that Holmes was a front for Watson, given the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was himself a physician and that he grew so sick of Holmes he tried to kill him off, I suspect he would have enjoyed the whole thing enormously. Twists and turns throughout, as a good mystery should and enough comedy to keep you laughing. Some interesting twists at the end. Poor LeStrade! Recommended.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Witty movie with great performances, 6 March 1999

Author: daryl russ (darylr4596@aol.com) from South Carolina

Every once in a while you see a movie that most everyone overlooks but it still strikes a cord with you. Without A Clue is a such a movie. It starts with a clever premise, Watson is the brains behind the bumbling Holmes, and while the actual criminal investiation in the movie isn't exactly a big stretch in deductive reasoning, what makes this movie worthwhile are the solid performances of Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. The professional reviews linked with this movie would have you believe this movie isn't worth the bother, but that's not true. Caine and Kingsley seem to be having the time of their lives in this movie. (Granted Kingsley has the less flashy role but he still fills it with a great deal of subtley that the likes of Roger Ebert and his ilk must have missed) The quote page has some great excerpts from this funny movie, but there's so much more to it than just that. This one ranks as a guilty pleasure of mine, maybe not one that sits in everyone else's video collection, but it definitely holds a place in mine.

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12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Witty entertaining farcical romp, 4 May 2002

Author: BadWebDiver from Perth, Australia

This si a great story idea speculating on the assumption that the real genius of the famous Conan Doyle detective duo is Dr Watson, the academic. The acclaimed Sherlock Holmes is just a publicity front, played by a hack actor, while Watson does the real sleuthing.

It an interesting idea and Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine make it work exceptionally well. This is one of those films where the comedy works best if it's played totally deadpan seriously (which is the case with most comedy in fact). If you run along with this idea, it runs as a very intriguing and wonderfully fun story, almost on par with any other classic Holmes film.

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17 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
Funny (but not hilarious) spoof of the legend – made twice as good as it should be by the two leads., 16 March 2002
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective to live. Unfortunately he is only a creation of Dr Watson who is the true great detective. Forced to give life to his creation Watson hires actor Reginald Kincaid to play the part in real life. However when the pair are asked to investigate the theft of £5 note printing plates they find themselves up against Moriarty and in greater danger than they expected.

It sounds like a terrible idea – other films that have messed with the Holmes story have not done well – but this comes off quite nicely. The switch of characters is funny in itself and there are plenty of nice jokes and set pieces. The plot itself is full of holes and never grips as a mystery for one minute - but it is more than sufficient to support a comedy spoof. The real enjoyment comes not from the plot however but from another factor.

The two main actors are superb and it's their class that lifts the film well above the material. Caine is excellent and is visibly enjoying himself while Kingsley also looks at ease with his co-star. Support from Jeffrey Jones and Paul Freeman is good, but really the lead duo make the film work so well.

Overall, it is not a good mystery and it is not what you'd call hilarious – but the casting helps raise the bar a bit to create an enjoyable lightweight film.

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