Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly star as the famous deductionist and his faithful assistant in their latest comedy.
After constant bullying from his classmates, young Sherlock Holmes casts away emotions and decides to approach every situation with science and logical reasoning. After befriending John Watson, the pair go on to solve many crimes with Holmes being solely recognized. Holmes eventually develops a rivalry of intelligence with criminal mastermind Dr. Moriarty, who has bested him. While attending a celebratory party at Buckingham Palace in Holmes’ honor, a corpse is discovered with a letter stating the Queen will be killed in four days time. Suspecting Dr. Moriarty is responsible, Holmes and Watson team up with Dr. Grace Hart and her mute assistant Millie, who had been raised by feral cats, to solve the mystery and save the Queen.
Let’s go ahead and address the elephant in the room: there have been countless adaptations of Sherlock Holmes and this is a very unique take on the famous detective. In my opinion, this adaptation should not be viewed as another Holmes mystery, but rather a simple (lackluster to some) comedy. Fans of Ferrell and Reilly are aware this is not the first project to feature the two comedians as the main protagonists. However, I believe most would rank their previous films higher than Holmes & Watson. That’s not to say this film isn’t enjoyable or funny, but when you’ve starred in multiple comedies some are destined to be ranked at the bottom.
It’s understandable that hardcore Holmes fans may turn their noses up at this film. There are historical inaccuracies, bad accents, it’s all over the place, and overall it’s a very silly film. This is why I don’t think it should be compared to other Holmes films. I found myself laughing throughout the film and enjoying a comedic take set in the Victorian era. In the battle of bad accents I have to say Reilly’s wasn’t the worst, but this may be attributed to his (okay-ish) Irish accent in Gangs of New York.
On a personal note, I found great joy in Billy Zane’s cameo. Anyone familiar with Mr. Zane’s past films will truly appreciate this cameo as well.
I do like this film. Despite being a mess, the film is filled with classic Ferrell and Reilly laughs and can be found enjoyable. I would absolutely watch it again and recommend it to anyone looking for a laugh.
