When a mystery needs to be solved, the city of London calls upon Sherlock Holmes (Will Ferrell) and Doctor Watson (John C. Reilly). Now the dynamic detectives are on a hot case when the Queen’s life is threatened. Naturally, this film is classed as a comedy and relies heavily on comedic methods such as slapstick and severe amounts of random dialogue from our two leading actors.

If you’re seeking a true plot and mystery, I can say in advance; you will be disappointed. Holmes & Watson’s plan is weak and also extremely lazy in its style of storytelling. Even after watching the film, I had to ask myself again what the main plot was all about. It’s merely forgettable and almost feels as though the plan is non-existent.

I had high hopes when I heard the comedy pair of Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly were teaming up again for a third film together. I enjoy the chemistry the two always share in films such as “Talladega Nights” and “Step Brothers”. But unfortunately this is the duos weakest film together. Will Ferrell uses an over the top accent, which was truly awful to hear throughout the film’s duration. Ferrell’s make up work was also questionable as certain shots would reveal far too much makeup on the actor’s face and it felt like an error. Any chuckles that did fly out of my mouth here have come from John C. Reilly, but don’t worry, every time I chuckled I felt pretty dirty/bad afterwards.

The comedy here as mentioned is random, but it’s also tasteless and a dry type of humour. One example of the humour in the film was watching a character continually vomit while visiting a morgue or seeing a couple eat an onion seductively. These are just some of the jokes that simply don’t gain the laughs and makes the film completely fail at what it originally set out to do. 

As far as the characters developments go, Sherlock as a character enjoys taking the credit for solving the crimes while poor Watson feels left out and never gets any credit for his work. Funnily enough, these are the same type of characters from Talladega Nights … hence my term of what feels like lazy writing for this film.

Overall, Holmes & Watson is a poor comedy. It’s a film that has a lazy plot along with being a tasteless comedy. It’s truly hard to find anything to praise other than a couple of minor chuckles that managed to escape my mouth. It is truly a comedy disaster that could have been something far greater considering the talent on screen and how well they are known for great comedy chemistry.

1.3/10

Thank you for visiting! Walkden Entertainment is also available on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/walkdenentertainment/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walkdenentertainment/

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Peter_Walkden/

Review Written by Peter Walkden