Review: Without a Clue

Dr. Watson (Sir Ben Kingsley) has always been the real master of deduction, writing of his real-life crime-solving exploits but attributing them to fictional master sleuth Sherlock Holmes, so as to not get in the way with his image as a medical professional. To help with the ruse, Watson hires an idiot fourth-rate stage ham named Reginald Kincaid (an hilariously preening, pompous Sir Michael Caine) to play the ‘part’ of Sherlock Holmes. Kincaid as Holmes is required to spout off a few written and fed lines Watson has prepared for him, whilst he goes about the real crime-solving. Eventually Watson and Kincaid have one falling out too many, and go their separate ways. Unfortunately, no one seems to want Dr. Watson solving their crimes, authorities refusing to collaborate with him on anything. So when some printing plates go missing, Watson is forced to retrieve Kincaid from the pub and join forces yet again. Lysette Anthony plays the beautiful daughter of a missing man, Paul Freeman turns up as the dastardly Moriarty, Peter Cook is an editor, and Nigel Davenport appears as Lord Smithwick of The Treasury.

 

It’s a shame this 1988 Sherlock Holmes comedy from director Thom Eberhardt (the infamous flop “Captain Ron”) failed with audiences and most critics. I know Sir Michael Caine and Sir Ben Kingsley had their fair share of flops in the 80s, but here’s one that didn’t deserve that fate. Looking back from a 2021 perspective, this is actually a clever and entertaining film. As scripted by Gary Murphy (a veteran writer/EP for TV shows from “Night Court” to “Malcolm in the Middle”) and Larry Strawther (ditto), it comes equipped with a clever conceit: Holmes is an idiot (and an actor), while Dr. Watson is the true detective genius. Sir Michael Caine probably wouldn’t register as most people’s best casting for the legendary fictional sleuth, but that’s OK because he’s not playing Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective. He’s really playing an actor pretending to be Holmes, who isn’t actually real even in this film’s universe anyway. Holmes was a figment of Watson’s imagination based on the deductive reasoning genius of Watson himself. Caine being cast as a preening idiot who enjoys the limelight and fanfare? Now that’s perfect casting. ‘I see…and observe’, this guy’s an absolute pompous fool. Kingsley probably could play a straight version of Dr. Watson, but is clearly having fun playing this film’s comedic Watson who is the true hero of the piece. It becomes evident pretty early on that while Holmes is an idiot who needs lines fed to him, Watson needs Holmes because he himself simply lacks the charisma, authority and panache to be taken seriously. They need each other, despite spending most of the running time bickering with one another.

 

As for the rest of the cast, Lysette Anthony is lovely and gets a bit of a break from appearing in Bryan Adams music videos. Predictability is the only issue with her and the character she plays. If you’ve seen a Sherlock Holmes film before – practically any of them – you’ll be ahead of the game there. As dopey Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard, Jeffrey Jones is probably the weak link of the cast. Struggling with an English accent, the actor somehow ate an entire house between 1986’s “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and this film two years later. What the hell? It’s not his finest showing to say the last. I also wish Nigel Davenport, Peter Cook (in practically a walk-on) and a terrific Paul Freeman were given more to do. Freeman in particular is perfect as fiendish arch-nemesis Moriarty, with a positively Mephistophelean visage to him.

 

Handsomely mounted, a clever premise, and an absolutely hilarious Sir Michael Caine playing a preening idiot of the highest order. This is a likeable and enjoyable comedic inversion of the Holmesian world. I think this one deserves a bit of a re-appraisal, it’s jolly good fun and looks like it was similarly enjoyable to make.

 

Rating: B-