AniInterview
Sorry, this movie sucks
UnowPriceless
hyped garbage
Spoonatects
Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
Megamind
To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
irishm
How can a movie starring Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn not be funny? I'm still not sure how this one managed it, but it did. The plot was difficult to follow and seemed to constantly meander... this wasn't helped by the numerous inexplicable bursts into song which broke up the narrative and destroyed any momentum the plot might have managed to gather. The desperately un-amusing "Kangaroo Hop" is repeated several times and is more tedious with each repetition. I think during Dom DeLuise's lengthy career he was funny once for about five minutes... unfortunately, those five minutes are in some other film. Wilder, as writer and director, seems to be trying to channel Mel Brooks, who was pretty much a hit-or-miss kind of a guy himself, so the failure of this movie to impress isn't so surprising. Still, I do wish it had been better. It should have been, with this pedigree.
Robert J. Maxwell
Wilder, the writer/director, is Sigurson Holmes, supposedly Sherlock's smarter brother. Marty Feldman is his exopthalmic sidekick, Orville Sacker. Leo McKern is an overweight Professor Moriarty, and Madeline Kahn is Jenny Hill, the pretty chorister. Kahn begs Wilder for help in unraveling a mystery and Wilder does so, though the task involves many tribulations.It's a comedy with occasional thrilling scenes but it struck me as a little deficient in the laugh department. I don't mean it's a stupid movie, because it's not. It isn't cheaply done and it's evident that some care went into its preparation. The name of Feldman's character, for instance, is Orville Sacker. "Ormund Sacker" is one of the names that Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle considered for his detective before settling on you-know-what. That in-joke reflects a little research on Wilder's part. Not much, necessarily, but we're not dealing with a slapdash job.The problem is that it's not really very funny. First, Wilder has a tendency, here and in his work elsewhere, to linger a while over reaction shots following a gag. The gags aren't usually that funny, although the performers put them over as well as they can.Some of the gags are repetitive. As Holmes, Wilder is always hearing footsteps outside the door, calling the person by name to enter, and it's the wrong person. Sherlock would never have made such errors. And they aren't entirely devoid of amusement. In one case, Wilder identifies the caller as a young lady but a heavy-set man enters. Wilder dresses him down, shouts at him to stop pussyfooting around in hallways.Some of the gags are slapstick and these are usually not very funny. A chase involving three hansom cabs down a cobblestone street just doesn't generate the smiles it's designed to.Wilder as Actor may be better than Wilder as Writer/Director. He has a face that's comic all over, and surrounded by that nimbus of frizzy hair. And his best moments come when he explodes after a particularly frustrating moment or two. I would guess that he had a fencing coach for the climactic bout on the rooftop because he appears to handle an épée fairly well.As I say, not insulting, not cheap, not careless -- but not too funny either. And that's a shame because, wow, what a set up for parody the canon is.
ppuhak
Definitely an underrated film. One of my favorite scenes is where Professor Moriarty is having everyone bid for the letter and his assistant is eating from the bowl of potato chips and finally makes his assistant spit out the potato chips because they are for company. The scene with Gene Wilder and the ambassador where he is attempting to hide the fact that we eating the box of chocolates was hilarious. I would like to know if any of the songs from the movie are original to the movie or are they just old songs. They sound as if they could have been written years ago. I have seen this movie on cable and sometimes they edit some of the funny lines.
buddhadan-1
Well, I can see that this movie really didn't get the best reviews, which surprised me as it is one of my favorite movies ever.I thought back on it while posting my 9 out of 10 review and I can see how others might not enjoy this style of humor, as it does take getting used to and not everyone gets that chance because the movie is rarely played.If you are a Gene Wilder fan, a Marty Feldman fan, a Madeline Kahn (sp?) fan, or a fan of sherlock holmes, then this movie is for you. Yes, it's a bit dry in places, and yes it can be a bit flighty, but if you can stick it out and just turn off the logical part of your mind for a bit and go along with the wild ride, I think that in the end, you'll buy a ticket and ask to go on the ride again.The singing numbers, the wild looks of Kahn, Wilder and of course my buggy eyed friend, Feldman, help to make this movie quirky and humorous at the same time. The dark London (I think it's in London) streets and the perpetual night helps to make this a very fun period piece with humor at every step.For someone such as myself who does enjoy a good Sherlock Holmes story, I truly loved the way that our main character (Wilder) is constantly getting things so way off. Such as when he thinks he is describing the person on the other side of the door based on the clues he has and then he is so way off that it's hilarious.See this movie, and if you need to watch it again to fully enjoy it, give it about a week and then see it again. It's worth the multiple viewings.