Holmes & Watson

I finally got to see this movie today after trying to avoid all spoilers and reviews. I liked it as a silly spoof, and I would rate it 2.5 out of 5 stars. I don't know how on earth it got 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. One reviewer complained about the actors' bad English accents. They were bad on purpose. That's part of the parody. Do you not get that? It's supposed to be broad and outrageous like a Mel Brooks movie or a Blackadder farce. You can love the original characters in the books, without taking them so seriously that you can't enjoy an irreverent romp like Without a Clue.

The story starts out with young Holmes being bullied at school, to the point where he "uncries" a tear and decides to be an emotionless automaton devoted to solving crimes (initially for revenge). He also meets young John Watson, a "janitor's son" and deduces that he will become a doctor one day. The movie then skips through years of Holmes's growing fame as a detective and Watson's admiration in his writings. I mean, it's not canon, but this revisionism about their first meeting isn't any more outlandish than the backstory shown in Young Sherlock Holmes.

I laughed at many jokes, and I loved Rebecca Hall as Dr Grace Hart. She became the love interest to Dr Watson while her sidekick character had a much shallower courtship with Holmes. And though the movie makes both Holmes and Watson heterosexual, their friendship becomes an important element in the movie. Grace encourages Watson to ask to be "co-detective" with Holmes, as a sign of real respect and trust between them. So we actually get Watson being a little less adoring and showing some spine, and Holmes eventually learns to value Watson in a heartfelt musical number, similar to a rom-com. I've seen far worse depictions of their friendship, reducing Watson to a servile and stupid puppy taking all the abuse of his callous master. In this film, Holmes is just dismissive and emotionally dumb about Watson, but when he gets better, it's nice. There are some points when the Moriarty plot gets a little frustrating and Holmes's ego becomes unbearable, but it's not long enough to make it unwatchable.

Yes there's low-brow potty humor, but also other kinds of satire. The movie spoofs Guy Ritchie's Holmes movies, Victorian medical quackery, American love for guns, Trumpian politics, and even the Titanic, for this exists in an anachronistic world where Victoria is still alive for the Titanic's maiden voyage. (I worried that Dr Hart wasn't going to survive the voyage, but then we get a brief glimpse of a newspaper headline saying "Lady Doctor saves 700" which I think is a good sign.) If you're willing to suspend your disbelief for improbable antics like Mycroft and Sherlock being able to have a telepathic conversation with each other at Diogenes, then this movie will be to your taste.