Without a Clue
Without a Clue
PG | 21 October 1988 (USA)
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Sherlock Holmes is as dashing as ever, but with a little secret: Dr. Watson is the brains behind the operation. When Reginald Kincaid, the actor he has hired to play Holmes becomes insufferable, Watson fires him and tries to go out on his own, but finds that he has done too good a job building Holmes up in the public's mind.

Reviews
Hellen

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Greenes

Please don't spend money on this.

Kinley

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

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Winifred

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

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Gum_Bercules

These days, most people's favourite shows will get dulled to their senses thanks to easily accessible videos and DVD's. But I must have seen this movie over 400 times (literally), can quote it verbatim, and yet it is still as hilarious today as it was when I first watched it over twenty years ago.The acting is sublime from all, especially Sirs Caine and Kingsley. They can both turn the simplest, most overworked gags into total hilarity with such underlined subtleness you can't help but laugh. A mere raised eyebrow can have you rolling on the floor in completely unsuppressed giggles.I can honestly say I will never tire of this movie. The stellar performances from all involved means it will always stay fresh no matter how many times it gets viewed.If you don't laugh whilst watching this movie, I'd advise you to check your pulse.

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ianlouisiana

Third-rate actor Reginald Kincaid is hired by Dr John Watson to impersonate Watson's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and thus take some of the spotlight off the author whose place at a Teaching Hospital could be jeopardised by the publicity surrounding his most famous cases. He has tried to discard his creation but the public will not hear of it nor are they interested in his proposed new series "John Watson-Crime Doctor",so he is obliged to endure Kincaid's drunken incompetence and cover up for all his faux pas. Hired to recover printing plates stolen from the Treasury,Watson and his fumbling assistant embark on a dark and dangerous adventure. "Without a clue" is a quite brilliantly witty take on Victorian values and morals and an anachronistic delight at the same time.The music by Henry Mancini is full of Gilbert and Sullivan parodies as well as perfectly in - period melodies.Possibly his most fitting since "The Great Race". Mr Michael Caine is in inspired form as Kincaid/Holmes,gifted with maniacal energy and completely unjustified pride in his thespic abilities.However,just once,in a splendidly choreographed swordfight,his theatrical experience helps win the day as he fences with Rathbonian skill and elegance,"I almost killed 6 men a week - 8 if you count matinees",he quips nonchalantly,backing his opponent into a corner. Mr Ben Kingsley,only slightly more restrained,obviously enjoys this rare foray into comedy. Only the most po - faced of Sherlockians could object to this affectionate and knowledgeable unofficial addition to the canon.

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The_Void

I'm a big fan of the classic Universal Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and so naturally I was a bit weary going into this film knowing that it plays around with the basics of the classic detective stories. Well, I have to give credit to all involved as while this is not what I'd call a brilliant comedy, it's fun and entertaining and at least does justice (in a comedic way) to Arthur Conan Doyle's classic character - although that is largely thanks to excellent central performances from Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. The idea of the film is that Doctor Watson is the real detective, while Sherlock Holmes is just an actor hired to front the investigations. However, the actor hired likes to drink and frequently annoys the 'crime doctor'! The plot itself is influenced by a few Sherlock Holmes stories but isn't - as far as I know - based on any one in particular. We follow Holmes and Watson on the case of some stolen plates, used for printing five pound notes.The story itself takes some ideas from the classic Universal films in terms of plot - most notably The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Spider Woman. However, the plot itself isn't really important; it's not particularly in depth and clearly the point of the film was to focus on the 'tweaked' characters rather than tell a mystery story. And this works quite well! Kingsley and Caine have a good rapport with one another and work well on screen together. Michael Caine is of course the standout and delivers an excellent comic performance. There are plenty of jokes in the film, mostly stemming from Holmes' ineptitude, and some of them are laugh out loud funny - although it has to be said that these are mostly few and far between and the film is generally more likely to raise a smile than a laugh. Still, the important thing is that it's entertaining for the duration, and the film certainly is that. I'd say it falls somewhat short of 'great' but if you're looking for a fun little flick to kill a couple of hours with, then you could do much worse than Without a Clue.

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ackstasis

The Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have been adapted countless times into film and television, but never have they been so skillfully turned on their heads. When I first heard the brilliant concept behind 'Without a Clue (1988) – that Holmes was merely a cover for the real genius, Dr. Watson – I knew that it was a film I'd adore. Just as 'Murder by Death (1976)' brought absurdity to the classic "country-house murder mysteries" of Agatha Christie, this hilarious comedy shatters the immortal notion of Sherlock Holmes as the sharpest and most discerning criminal mind in nineteenth century London. Ben Kingsley, displaying a sense of humour I didn't realise he had, plays the city's greatest detective – Dr. John Watson – who is constantly exasperated by the incompetence of his hired stooge. In an inspired piece of casting, Michael Caine plays the bumbling and frequently-drunken hero, who first attempts to track down the evil Professor Moriarty by jumbling the letters of his name into "Arty Morty." This is the real private life of Sherlock Holmes, and it isn't flattering.The British empire is in chaos. After two £5 banknote printing plates are stolen from the Bank of England, the Treasury fears that they will soon be flooded by a massive influx of counterfeit notes, crippling the economy. Dr. Watson tries to take the case himself, having just dismissed Sherlock Holmes from his service for his latest act of incompetence, but the idea is laughed away by the incredulous Inspector Lestrade (Jeffrey Jones), who knows nothing of Watson's little literary conspiracy. Reluctantly, the drunken Holmes is invited back to 221B Baker Street to carry out their usual act, with Watson whispering his conclusions and Holmes reciting them to his clueless admirers with all the understanding of a trained parrot. The prime suspect in the case is bank employee Peter Giles, whose beautiful daughter (Lysette Anthony) may know more than she's letting on (though Holmes has something else on his mind as far as Lesley Giles is concerned).Though spoof comedies typically take shortcuts when recreating a different time and place, director Thom Eberhardt here constructs a classy and believable 1800s London, a setting that (with one exception, concerning Lesley Giles) remains entirely faithful to the setting of Doyle's stories. All he does from here is to reverse the roles, a hilarious device that opens up dozens of exciting new questions concerning a character who has been endlessly debated by Holmesians for over a century. I enjoyed the more subtle subtext concerning the nature of history, and how Watson's (and, by implication, Doyle's) writing has had the effect of revising history and inventing reality, to such an extent that most characters in the film – and, indeed, many people in real life – never realised that Sherlock Holmes was a fictional creation. Also note how Watson tries unsuccessfully to "kill off" Holmes by proposing a new series about "Watson, the Crime Doctor." Doyle tried to do the same thing is his 1893 story, "The Adventure of the Final Problem."

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