Without A Clue

Remember Remington Steele? It's about a woman who becomes a detective and is quite good at her job, but unfortunately nobody takes her seriously even if she delivers results. Because she is a woman, and so can't be good, can she? So she comes up with an idea and creates a fictional character called Remington Steele, and names her investigation agency after this fictitious Remington Steele character. But the thing is everyone wants this fictional Remington Steele character to take their case, they want to see him with their own eyes. So she appoints a thief and a charming guy as Remington Steele, and he fits perfectly into the role. And her business soars with Remington Steele walking away with all the credit, as the woman detective does most of the hard work.

Something quite similar happens here as well. This is a very different take on the legend of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. 

The story here is that John Watson is the actual detective, he is a person who solves those befuddling cases and Sherlock Holmes is the fake detective character that John Watson has created for the world. John Watson here is just a writer, like the original, but he is the creator and the boss of Sherlock Holmes who is supposed to be a puppet in his hands.

So for all those who are fans of Sherlock Holmes, this is a fantastic take on the story. It is hilarious to see a drunk, silly, vain, brainless Sherlock Holmes fooling the Scotland Yard and the media with his absurd ramblings silly antics, while John Watson does the actual investigations secretly and away from the spotlight.

This is a character led comic drama. The story here frankly takes a backseat to the shenanigans of the two lead characters who are superb. Two legendary actors cast as two legendary characters. Ben Kingsley as John Watson, and Michael Caine as a drunk, stupid, bumbling Sherlock Holmes. The two actors pull of their roles with absolute perfection. They keep on fighting with each other and getting on each other's nerves. Watson specially wants to get rid of Sherlock Holmes, but it isn't as easy as he thought. The first half is mainly the two men mainly at each other's throats, but then they come together to stop Prof. Moriarty who has hatched a devilish plot to destabilise Britain using fake currency. 

This is filled with absurd situations, funny dialogue, visual gags, loony characters. It has a good script but brilliant portrayals by the two lead characters. The result is worth a watch, and luckily the entire film is on youtube. Check out the link below... Enjoy.

Without A Clue

The Full Movie