Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

formationlc I have just finished watching this movie after viewing the entire Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett. Of course, it was not the first time I watched this parody but then again, after viewing and savoring the remarkable performance of Mr. Brett, it makes this movie even funnier than usual for it puts emphasis on the delirious dialogue and the amazing acting and comical talent of Mr. Caine, extremely well supported by a wonderful cast. How astonishingly funny the man can be, even without saying a single word. This is a superb production with lots of attention given to details and respectful mockery of Sir Doyle's characters. Even Lestrade's portrait by Jeffrey Jones is hilarious. Definitely worth watching.

Predrag '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 dramatised 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 destabilise the British Empire... An unexpected gem. Thom Eberhardt's clever reworking of the mythology surrounding Holmes and Watson relies for the most part on character-based comedy rather than puns and sight-gags, and a wonderful cast of experienced British thesps plays it with just the right amount 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 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).The character of Mrs. Hudson has a prominent role in this film, and it turns out to be a blessing, as Pat Keen played the role to the hilt. Her comedic portrayal of the proper and sometimes haughty Mrs. Hudson of the books was hysterical! (Oops! Some unintended hyperbole there! Well, what the heck, she really was extremely funny and I was impressed at just how engaging Ms. Keen really is! I had never heard of her before this movie and I found myself searching online for roles she has had in other films.) Turning the Sherlock Holmes stories any which way but loose, Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley make a great duet, battling crime and each other. The movie succeeds in being outrageously funny, and yet absolutely gripping. The movie is clean, though Leslie Giles' secret is enough to make you squirm in front of little ones. Lots of humor, a good mystery with quite a bit of suspense and the threat of real danger, plus very nice repartee between the two men as Watson becomes increasingly exasperated with his creation. This is a very under-rated film with a top notch cast.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Steven Torrey Drawn to its logical conclusion that Dr. Watson (played by Ben Kingsley)created the fictitious Sherlock Holmes, hired a buffoon, drunk, womanizing wastrel (Reginald Kincaid played by Michael Caine)to play the role. Watson tires of his character upstaging him--Watson, who is really the sleuth, the detective, the brain, and wishes to kill off this character he created. (Much like Conan Doyle tired of his fictional Sherlock Holmes who also upstaged him and killed him off with the story "The Adventure of the Final Problem" to have Holmes die in the Northern Swiss Alps at the Reichenbach Falls.) Back to the movie. Watson tells the editor of the Strand Magazine, which serializes the Holmes' stories, and the editor will have none of it. The Sherlock Holmes stories are a financial bonanza to the magazine. Worse news: the police or Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade (played by Jeffrey Jones) want none other than Sherlock Holmes to solve cases, no matter how diligent and intelligent Dr. Watson is.So Kincaid/Holmes must be found so the Strand can continue to make money as well as Dr. Watson. What ensues is unending hilarity, a hilarity matched only by Inspector Clouseau.Puns aplenty abound. Slight site gags slip soundlessly. And to top it off, there are all the elements of suspense, shock, deus ex machine to please the most dedicated deist, mystery, Holmes fencing with Moriarty (played by Paul Freeman), and in the end the comeuppance of evil and evildoers to please that most Eminent Victorian who would surely say: "We are indeed amused!"

Spikeopath Without a Clue is directed by Thom Eberhardt and written by Larry Strawther and Gary Murphy. It stars Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Lysette Anthony, Jeffrey Jones, Matthew Sim, Paul Freeman, Pat Keen, Matthew Savage and Nigel Davenport. Music is by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Alan Hume.Sherlock Holmes (Caine) is really a second rate actor hired for incognito purposes by the intelligent crime solver Dr. Watson (Kingsley). Tiring of him getting all the praise, Watson tries to dispense with the oafish Holmes' services. However, a major counterfeit case rears its head and Watson, with a bumbling Holmes in tow, must set aside differences to try and crack the case.The premise is role reversal and it makes for a lovely entertaining movie. Oh the plot itself is hardly ingenious, and the absence of Kingsley's Watson for a good chunk of the last third of the movie is sorely felt, yet the japery and chemistry of Caine and Kingsley see it safely home.Caine as Reginald Kincaid as Sherlock Holmes is a buffoon, a hard drinking pratfaller in waiting, someone who is not beyond peeking through a keyhole to ogle a shapely thigh. And Caine has a ball with the role! On the other side is Kingsley's Watson, continually irritated by his companion in crime solving, he's grumpy and stomps about like a spoilt kid. Kingsley also has a ball.Holmes aficionados will appreciate the characterisation of Inspector Lestrade (Jones), since he's played as clueless, while the Baker Street Irregulars (Savage sprightly), Professor Moriarty (Freeman not in it much and not playing it for laughs really) and Mrs. Hudson (Pat Keen wonderful and really given a character that impacts on the jollification on show) keep the Holmes/Watson world vibrant.Elsewhere Lysette Anthony raises the temperatures with her beauty and sexuality, whilst thankfully getting a character written as more than just an ingénue. Mancini strings together a jaunty and period themed musical score, while the Victorian production design is authentic and pleasing on the eyes. So all in all, one or two quibbles aside, it's good wholesome fun that is well performed and constructed by the makers. 7.5/10