Review of Holmes & Watson (2018) by Richard D — 29 Dec 2018

The onscreen chemistry between Will Ferrall and John C. Reilly makes this movie worth going to see. Our group of six showed up to the theatre to find the movie we went to see was sold out. It was either Holmes and Watson or an animated Marvel movie. Naturally, we opted for a comedic romp through Victorian England.

Holmes and Watson break all the rules that keep society together. They break all the rules on how white male landowners should conduct themselves by screaming at the top of their lungs for their female servant girl. The actress who plays the servant girl does a good job falling into the scene as she buttons up her gown and is followed around by whichever gent she was with when she was summoned by the unabashed crimes solvers. Then there is a American female doctor who has to prove herself to Holmes and Watson to be a doctor because there are no female Doctors in Victorian England.

There are plenty of drug references to make fun of Sherlock Holmes penchant for chasing the dragon. There are plenty of phallic jokes and opportunities for the characters to call each other wankers. a wanker. Dr. House makes a special appearance as Holmes telepathic brother. How could they put Dr. Watson in the back with the elephant man? Billy Zane makes a surprise appearance as himself and he impresses on other ship boarders the size of his canoe. Holmes and Watson save the Titanic from sinking before it left England's shores to, well... sink. Ralph Fiennes plays the imposter and the real Dr. Moriarty. At the end, Dr. Moriarty is hiding out in Wyoming, leaving room for a sequel of Holmes and Watson hunting Dr. Moriarty in the Wild West. They have to wear a good disguise. Handle bar mustache will suffice.

There are enough light hearted quips about Trump and American politics to have a sequel set in the West. England gave us our freedom, we should at least have a good USA sequel. If Holmes and his wrongly convicted counterpart (Holmes almost sends Dr. Watson to the gallows) can't save the Queen's life (despite killing her, they do save her in the end) at least they have a chance to make England great!