# Is Holmes and Watson really that bad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2018, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969 "2018-12-31T07:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/1 "2018-12-31T07:11:02Z")
Its hard to believe a comedy team like John C reilly and Will Ferrell could produce a bomb. But who knows. All the bad reviews are making me want to go see it. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/2 "2018-12-31T07:16:07Z")
I seen a preview it looked like an abrams/zucker parody of holmes films ……… ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/3 "2018-12-31T07:32:43Z")
Well it’s a bit like when the US took the ITV series Man About the House, called it Three’s Company and totally, criminally butchered it? Well think that, only much worse. Of course, whether the locals deem it fit for human consumption is another kettle of fish. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/4 "2018-12-31T08:05:35Z")
It’s a sacrilege. I thought the same thing about that weird ‘Sherlock Holmes Younger Brother’ I think Gene Wilder was in it. Wrong, just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/5 "2018-12-31T08:40:37Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Its hard to believe a comedy team like John C reilly and Will Ferrell could produce a bomb. This is probably the one sentence ever posted on the dope on which I most vehemently disagree. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/6 "2018-12-31T13:01:50Z")
Right? Will Ferrell is cringe worthy enough and then you throw John C Reilly in the mix. Blech. No thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/7 "2018-12-31T13:12:10Z")
I don’t know. Individually, Ferrell and Reilly are not untalented. **Everything Must Go** and **Stranger Than Fiction** were legit good movies, and **Walk Hard** was criminally overlooked IMO. But yeah, **Step Brothers** was not good. “What could be better than _one_ humongous, massively annoying Man-Child? That’s right-- TWO!!!” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/8 "2018-12-31T13:32:00Z")
Will Ferrell is an enigma to me, he produces utter pedestrian schlock, but then he will also do beautifully weird and funny things like his Milwaukee Best commercials, the Spoils Before Dying on Netflix and an entire movie in rudimentary Spanish. He clearly makes some movies to make money so that he can make Milwaukee Best commercials in Swedish for free. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/9 "2018-12-31T15:30:14Z")
The movie isn’t “so bad it is good!”-It is “I’ve dropped off twice already and I’m done waiting for the movie to kick in so I’m walking” bad. It is as if Ferrell is channeling the worst of Leslie Nielsen, while Reilly is required to be even dumber/duller. The movie makes Ferrell’s “Land Of The Lost” look good. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/10 "2018-12-31T15:36:55Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > It’s a sacrilege. I thought the same thing about that weird ‘Sherlock Holmes Younger Brother’ I think Gene Wilder was in it. Wrong, just wrong. Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother was funny. Wilder and Marty Feldman were very good together. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/11 "2018-12-31T16:07:48Z")
If we assume that they did the usual Hollywood stunt of putting the best bits in the trailer, then yes, it’s that bad. From watching the trailer, I was able to get the vague impression that they were attempting to be humorous. I didn’t even get that much of an impression that their characters were, or were in any way inspired by, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/12 "2018-12-31T16:12:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If we assume that they did the usual Hollywood stunt of putting the best bits in the trailer, then yes, it’s that bad. From watching the trailer, I was able to get the vague impression that they were attempting to be humorous. I didn’t even get that much of an impression that their characters were, or were in any way inspired by, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Remember those _Saturday Night Live_ skits from the lean years-the ones shown after midnight? It’s like that. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/13 "2018-12-31T16:58:13Z")
My brothers family gave all of us tickets to see it as a family on Christmas Day, and yes, it really is as bad as the reviews say. It’s tediously unfunny, and while a bad joke can usually be forgotten by a good joke soon after, this one just dwells on the same bad jokes over and over and over. I mean this in all sincerity, I was more entertained watching “The Room” than I was watching Holmes and Watson. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/14 "2018-12-31T17:06:51Z")
I just watched the trailer and was saddened. Just a couple of actors shouting or doing silly things (like shooting a gun at a bee swarm or insulting the Monarch.) Sherlock Holmes is a classic character and his friendship with Watson is well worth filming. The TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman was excellent, as was the film series with Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law. There have also been well-written comedy versions, but this isn’t one. It’s currently at 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/15 "2018-12-31T17:16:10Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother was funny. Wilder and Marty Feldman were very good together. Nah, not my taste. But I do accept the correction of the title. Thx. Now I’ll know when to skip it over when it comes up on my channel guide. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/16 "2018-12-31T18:07:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The movie makes Ferrell’s “Land Of The Lost” look good. I…I liked that movie…I thought it was hilarious. ☹ Though I do admit that I don’t think Holmes and Watson looks good at all. But fwiw I hate it when he pairs with Reilly. That guy annoys the hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/17 "2018-12-31T20:22:59Z")
There are subjects and plots that Ferrell/Reilly work well for. Never in my life have I ever thought that any Sherlock Holmes story would be one of them. I really have to wonder who thought this was a good idea? From the very earliest trailers I thought it looked dire. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/18 "2018-12-31T20:32:16Z")
One of my rules is that if the ads/coming attractions don’t look good\*, the movie will be a bust. The ads for “Holmes and Watson” are so awful that I’d never contemplate seeing it, even later on TV. \*similarly, I try to avoid restaurants when the food in the ads can’t even be made to look appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/19 "2018-12-31T20:38:53Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > But yeah, **Step Brothers** was not good. “What could be better than _one_ humongous, massively annoying Man-Child? That’s right-- TWO!!!” Only redeeming thing about that movie was hearing Mary Steenburgen shout,\* “What the Fucking Fuck?”\*. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969/20 "2018-12-31T21:26:50Z")
Too bad. I was going to watch “Holmes & Watson” for Rebecca Hall, who I deeply admire. But I guess I’ll pass. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-holmes-and-watson-really-that-bad/826969.md?page=2)