Title: WITHOUT A CLUE (1988)
There was a time when a light fare consisted of Ben Kingsley & Michael Caine starring in a Sherlock Holmes comedy. The twist being that Holmes hmself was merely a character played by an actor for public interest, concieved by Dr. Watson himself, the true deductive genius.
Wit, slapstick, gunfights, swordfights are all on display, in a feature that wears 'Saturday Matinee' proudly on its shoulder. It doesn't try to be anything more than you would imagine it to be, and has but every desire to show you a good time. A success in spades, no one will forget it soon, nor will the smile so quickly leave their face.
Sherlock Holmes, with his wide variety of short stories, covering numerous genres, is always open to interpertation. So it comes to no surprise, a reworking of the character was well in order. The fact is, besides making Holmes a fictional character brought to life by an actor, the key elements from his lore remain the same. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, and the great detective's most feared nemesis. His stories are written by Watson for the publicms consumption. Lestrade is the invaluable officer of the Scotland Yard. They even make use of the much maglined Baker Street Boys, who, for the uninitiated, where a group of young orphans, who assisted Holmes in more than a few cases.
The stage, and fun is set early with Watson losing his cool as the actor portraying Holmes, drunkard reginald Kinkade, prematurely deems a case 'closed'. Due to the blunder, he decides to end the charade once and for all, asking Strand Magazine to halt further Holmes storie. Watson wants to be dutifully acknowledged as the true genius, dubbing himself "the Crime Doctor" (I tried to no avail, to keep from laughing anytime someone mentioned the moniker). Needless to say, he fails, and must further rely on the usage of Kinkade to finish the last case.
Michael Caine is one of those actors, who seems to be capable of any part put infront of him, and sinks his comedic jaws into Reginald Kinkade. A drunk, womanizing, failed actor he may be, but the part is one for the ages, and despite his lack of intelligence, Kinkade knows he will never find a bigger stage, or audience. His main issue, is how can you take credit for attempting to be the worlds greatest actor, when to expose yourself, would be career suicide. Better, or as equally brilliant as Dr. John Watson, Ben Kingsley plays the part of a brilliant mind, perpetually on the edge of losing his cool, to a public, who could more or less do without him. Then there is Lestrade, played by the fantasic staple of the 80's, Jeffery Jones. Although most people will always associate him as the principal from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", the foolish, bumbling Lestrade will be the image i hold of him in my mind. Here again, he is chasing after a smarter, faster, more cunning beast, at many instances, like a child who just learned how to spell the most obvious word.
This being a comedy, as well as a product of the late 80's, slapstick is the main ingredient to the stew. Luckily, the writers chose to maintain much wit, and whip-fast dialouge, befitting any true Sherlock Holmes adventure. Truth be told though, it is the comedy at points, that want to see the films undoing. It comes off, at times, as too broad at the wrong moments, specially in the drawn out conclusion. Though, I will confess, a running gag earlier in the film, concerning a dog that is not too fond of Reginald Kincade, found me howling with laughter. the second issue of the film, is predictability. For a film, whose basis, is turning the very nature behind Sherlock Holmes, on it's ear, the film telegraphs events well in advance. there are no great surprises, revelations, or last minute gasps. The proceedings work, because, both Caine and Kingsley fully commit to their characters. It says a lot of the craft, and love of the filmmakers, that we can declare, as happens all to often these days, "they sure donmt make them like they used to."
*** 1/2 out of *****
No comments:
Post a Comment