I read a story where someone watched a group of 14-year-old boys walk out of this movie about a half-hour in. The storyteller said "when you manage to bore the most easily entertained moviegoing demographic, you have failed."
Fun fact: After disastrous test screenings, Sony tried to sell this film to Netflix but they rejected it. When it did release to theaters, it flopped at the box office and there were reports of people walking out.
@@dragonsblood23 Considering they also said yes to The Ridiculous 6, it’s all the more damning against Holmes and Watson that it was the first film they ever actually straight up said no to broadcasting (even if only at the time Sony first offered for them to do as much).
This movie is such a fascinating case of bad. I mean, after the test screenings, they ask Netflix to put it on their platform only to be rejected. Can you imagine how bad you have to be when even Netflix rejects it?
@@mechanomics2649 That could have been funny on paper, but it probably would have bombed in the final movie. My go-to comparison is Octavia Spencer being called "The Help" in Shape of Water.
Omg, this is like watching one of those Seltzerberg parody movies where they think hammering in random pop culture references counts as a joke except here it feels even more haphazard somehow.
The weirdest thing about Holmes & Watson being a parody of the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes films was those films were made with a light touch to begin with.
Agreed- they didn't take themselves too seriously so it feels pointless. The more serious Cumberbatch show might have made a better target but I'm sure it would have still be just as bad.
That was why I didn't care for the first one and never saw the second. In my opinion, Sherlock Holmes is supposed to have a dark, intense, Se7en-esque tone, not Pirates of the Caribbean slapstick, and the parts where it did go dark came out of nowhere.
Three things: 1) Another awesome review. 2) Nice swipe at the end about Hollywood needing to pay the writers. 3) I can’t wait to see you tear apart Cats limb from limb.
Great Mouse Detective was a film that made my childhood. Even to this day, the two jump scares with Fidget the bat genuinely scare me and I sometimes wonder what the animators were thinking when they made that scene. Hell the opening with him when he makes his first appearance still gives me chills to this day.
Richard Roper, film critic, waited 30 minutes to hear a laugh from the audience, nothing, then waited another 30 minutes, and still nothing z then he got up and walked out. Him and 70 other people walked out and demanded their money back.
I honestly wish Roger Ebert had lived to see this. His excoriation would have been delicious. And I can't imagine any reason why he would have liked it.
@@kali3665 Sometimes I wish Richard Roper was still doing those thumbs up/down style movie reviews with another critic on TV but no one could ever replicate Siskel and Ebert when destroying a bad movie although Roper did have one of my favorite reviews of Movie 43 even if he did technically had a meltdown. Also @shainewhite2781 If I'm understanding your comment correctly then this movie wasn't shown to critics before it was released which probably means that every poor critic who had to sit and watch this movie before writing their reviews had to spend their own hard earned money on this piece of cinematic trash.
Film Brain's podcast had one of the film's extra's on hand, and basically the entire production was mismanaged, from having two different intros a la Movie 43, to bad blocking, to the MEGA fez looking like it was added in post, to a scene being filmed with the camera out of focus!
I was an extra on Step Brothers for the Catalina wine mixer sequence for a week which were all 5am call times and shooting by 7am sharp when it was daylight outside. They were typically 12 hour film days and we background players were all wine mixer guests snd asked to cross, walk to and from, pretend to interact with one another, etc. The working process they had was the director would casually say Action, Will Farrell and John C. would start the dialogue scene of what was scripted. Eventually one of them would go off script and improv dialogue and the other would then go off of him and they'd go where the muse took them. At some point when the improv idea ran its course to its logical conclusion or a sudden burst of inspiration would hit, the director would yell out certain things for them to try like an audience member at an improv show. Lije, 'Talk politics!' or 'Accuse him of sleeping with your mom.' to 'Now accuse him of sleeping with a horse.' And the two actors would just launch instantly into that direction with the scene. Normally actors say the same lines over and over again with usually a blocking run through before filming, multiple camera set-ups and a slight directional tweaks here and there so you as an extra are ready and used to any dialogue being said and nothing takes you by surprise like an unscripted funny line. Well, what I haven't brought up till now is just how freakin genuis level piss your pants funny these two improv kings of comedy were and are on each and every GD take. So much so and the fact they never talked about the same thing twice, I quickly couldn't be in scenes walking by or anywhere near them because I seriously couldn't keep it together. They were so crazy good off the cuff making up the funniest dislogue I've ever heard. I don't kbow how my fellow background group kept their sh*t together that cound stay in the scenes. And there was a week of this. It was pure joy. The hours were insane with a long 405 freeway commute traffic both ways every day and it was a blast and over way too fast. The week I was there Adam Scott was going around table to table just insulting us in character before the cameras were rolling just to get us focused in which was great and funny in its own right because knowing his work, Adam playing a duche is the most hilarious thing ever. He whispered in my ear, 'My god man, get your dick out your ass and get it together, man.' which I immediately lost it laughing my ass off, but he was already off to the next party guest extra to insult comic to. We were told another day to throw pieces of bread at John C. as he was drumming to show how critical of it we were, and the director on take two whispered to us to really chuck them at him this time, aim for the face. Which we did, and hilariously he figured it out pretty quick saying, 'Son of a bitch, fuckers...' using his drum sticks to swat them back at us. We were quoting 'Boats and ho's' a full year before the film came out. One dude from SNL had a very specific bit being the band frontman who only sang Billy Joel songs, but only beteeen 1978 thru 1982. So we SAG extras would yell out requests but always songs before '78 and he in character would go Sam Kineson on us in full on meltdown mode take after take. That was the most savage bit I'd ever seen in my life. The actual movie was great, but i akways thought of all the genuis stuff they left on the cutting room floor never used. So, to go from that where they were at the height of their powers and an embarrassment of riches to devoid of inspiration where the well had run dry is do sad so behold.
7 месяцев назад
That is the most interesting story behind the making of a comedy movie ever. I think Step Brothers is garbage, but hearing all this was more interesting than that film.
So let me get this straight. Netflix allows movies like 365 Days, The Ridiculous Six, and The Bubble, but Holmes and Watson was too bad for them. Anyways, next time we’re watch a movie that’ll make you wanna be a dog person.
Initially. They eventually caved in because I watched it on Netflix. Although I wonder if it's still available because people seems unaware that it was there at one point...
Don't know about 365 days but they made Six and Bubble. They were probably asked to buy the distribution rights to Holmes & Watson for some inflated figure [such as the $125 million Amazon paid for Coming 2 America] but said no, picking it up later for Home Media.
How they got Rebecca Hall, Kelly Macdonald, Pam Ferris, Ralph Fiennes, Bella Ramsey, Steve Coogan, Hugh Laurie and Lauren Lapkus in this I will never know. Must have been the mother of all paychecks. On a side note, Rebecca Hall and Kelly Macdonald would make a good Holmes & Watson if you wanted to do something really different.
Well, weird as it is, that is just so often the simple fact that makes the movie bad. In this case, it's just insulting how much this film goes for the lowest, most mean spirited and just unpleasant attempts at humor. That fail. From the the trailer I knew everything I needed to know about this debacle. I'm just sad that Ferrell and Riley even were involved in this. They both deserve so much better.
Roger Ebert once said “One rule of comedy is that it’s hard to be funny when it’s obvious you’re trying to be funny. Great comedies take their premises seriously and the laughs flow naturally.”
Coogan probably only did this as a favour to Riley [and his friend, UK comic Rob Brydon is also in this] as he's been pretty vocal about how bad it is. Stan & Ollie is great.
Back in 2018, my mom wanted to pick a movie for the family to see. She suggested Holmes & Watson. I said the trailer looked awful and suggested something else, like Aquaman or something. We ended up seeing Mary Poppins Returns instead. I still haven't seen Holmes & Watson - I've only watched it by proxy through reviews - but I feel confident that my family made the right choice.
In terms of casting, I don’t know what’s worse: Rebecca Hall being here (who proved in both The Night House and Resurrection that she’s WAY too good for this), or that we straight up have Queen Trunchbull (no, really, that’s Pam Ferris, who played Miss Trunchbull in the original Matilda movie). Both are major WTF.
@@coolnerdlll6053 she’s also in Children Of Men, and is great in that too. I just mentioned Trunchbull since that’s probably how most would know her (though Aunt Marge is probably right after that). But I agree, she’s WAY above this. If Trunchbull was her having the time of her life playing a deliciously horrible villainess, this looked like she’s just waiting for her paycheck to clear.
@@gracekim25 it sure is! Now I’m sure a lot of us wish we could’ve had a scene where the Queen forced Will Ferrell to eat an entire chocolate cake in front of a crowd or hammer-threw John C. Reilly over a fence (as those would’ve actually come close to funny). Yet, THIS is what we get.
The UK version of this movie actually has a different opening. The UK version opens with Watson attempting suicide and Holmes tells him not to jump on his watermelon.
This confused me at first coz before watching the movie I only saw reviews with the other intro. I thought at first that I missed it but turns out that the director pulled a move a la "Movie 43" for no good reason!😂
I'm loving all the MST3K clips you're including in this video. Didn't see this movie and don't want to but I think the Hannah Montana quote could've been funny if they used an actual quote from the show.
Yeah I double checked to make sure it wasn’t like a joke the show made a la “The inner workings of my mind are an enigma “ (although if my memory serves me right the show was usually not that clever) which wouldn’t completely save it but would redeem it just a tad
Hannah Montana ended in 2011 so 7 years before this came out [and of course star Miley Cyrus has totally shred that image]. Feels like something in the script when the project was first planned and they were clearly too lazy to change it to something more topical when the actually got around to making the film.
@@jamesatkinsonjaProbably. Made sense back then, during its peak it was kind of one of those children’s franchises that grown men LOVED to hate but by 2018 no one really cared that much, like nowadays those same men just kind of shrug whenever Flowers pops up on the radio LOL
@@jamesatkinsonja %100 laziness. There's no reason they couldn't find a relevant funny quote to open the movie with and set the stage for the rest of the movie. On top of that, they literally just made the quote up, it has NO relevance to the film in anyway, and they couldn't even be bothered to lie about it being from a recent enough show to make people laugh. Judd Apatow is the EPITOME of "formulaic, uninspired predictable trash". The existence of this film is a blight on all humanity, and anyone involved in it's production should be publicly lynched and exiled from all of existence. ...... OK I got carried away at the end. Bur I figured the start of my comment was so pretentious, I might as well just carry it as far as I could.
They actually were released around the same time [Stan and Ollie in the United states only 3 days after Holmes]! Probably explains Steve Coogan's cameo.
OK I know historical accuracy probably noped out of this movie right quick, but how the hell could Queen Victoria have been on the completed Titanic? She’d been dead for 11 years.
Makes sense, especially since both Ferrell and Myers really took off thanks to stints on SNL. Yet I wonder how this movie only slightly hurt Ferrell’s career instead of completely ending it like with Myers.
@@heymistercarter. Ferrell's lucky he has a lifetime pass thanks to Anchorman. You'd think Myers would have that with Wayne's World, Austin Powers, and Shrek but I guess not.
It should speak volumes about any movie when - true story - not even Netflix was willing to pick it up for distribution. Yes, Sony was that damn desperate to unload this.
You thought this Razzie awards was questionable, wait until you get to 2021 when they decide to shit on the My Pillow guy, and give his documentary worst picture. As bad as it is, and while I love a good dunk on Republicans, Sia's movie Music should have won worst picture that year, because while Absolute Proof was a dumb movie, Music was downright offensive in how it portrayed Autism.
Given the Razzie’s love for lame jokes, I’m a bit surprised that Music wasn’t nominated for worse remake, rip-off, or sequel; as a ripoff of Simple Jack from Tropic Thunder.
There's actually an alternate opening in which Holmes and Watson meet where Watson tries to kill himself by jumping off the roof of his home, but Holmes, who lives next to Watson wants him to jump away from his garden and a huge zuccini that Holmes grew. But Watson intreprets Holmes' words as saying that he shouldn't kill himself and that life is worth living. Watson then accidently falls from his roof and lands on the huge zuccini squashing it. Holmes gets over it quickly and they become partners
We all know John C. Reilly can be funny like in Walk Hard or Dr. Steve Brule. He just needs some good material to work off of, but Holmes & Watson had no good material whatsoever.
I will never understand why you didn't skyrocket to way more subs and views years ago. It"s a damn shame. You may not have their "production value" but IMO you've always been funnier and a better actual movie critic than Nostalgia Critic or others of the same kind. I'm really glad you still continue your reviews after all this time :)
This movie was so bad that Sony tried to sell the distribution rights to Netflix, which they declined. You know a movie's bad when even Netflix says no to it.
at the time this came out, I was nannying for a guy who was a regular in Adam Sandler movies. The man was in Jack and Jill and came home one day announcing how bad this movie was lol
Wait, you hate Step Brothers? But pretty much a lot of people I’ve seen have considered it even better than Talladega Nights. And as a guy who also loved Talladega Nights, I agree as it’s entertaining as hell.
...uh, he DIDN'T say he hates 'Step Brothers'; he said 'Step Brothers' was "just okay". Where are you getting that he hates it? I think you need a new dictionary, my dude. The one you have is labeled "antonyms".
At the end of it all, we are almost done with this journey of tackling every film that has won Worst Picture. As for next time, I dread the day you witness that monster. Prayers go to you, Sean.
I just realized that the cleaner is played by Kelly Macdonald, who voices Merida in Pixars Brave. And they did the exact same joke with her character in Ralph Breaks The Internet which came out the same year and came out about a month before this one! Anyone else wanna bet that they saw the trailers for Ralph Breaks The Internet and shoehorned this joke in once they realized they had Kelly Macdonald and could do same thing Disney did? This movie really does have no ideas of their own.
Welcome my good people as we take a look at a movie that was so bad, reports of people walking out of the theater in the middle of the movie was on a few news channels on RU-vid.
Steve Coogan and John C. Riley were in the really good 'Stan and Ollie' [about the later years of Laurel+ Hardy] around the same time. Coogan remarked 'If you want to avoid laughing, watch 'Holmes and Watson'. You should be pretty safe with that'. He also stated 'In 20 years when the dust has settled and people can look at the film objectively...people will still think it's rubbish!'
With all the surprising amount of talent that was in this stinker I’m kind of shocked that no one has made trading cards with all the actors who are too good for this movie.
No mention that Sherlock and Holmes would probably on that ship, because... you know: "Women and children first!" And all the other people that died. Me thinks they didn't think that joke through at all... 🫥
I did not expect to be discombobulated with the clips shown in this movie, but somehow I got there before you could even say "From minute one, we are already in trouble."
6:30 *Watson walks in on Holmes with a woman* "HOLMES!? WHAT KIND OF SCHOOL GIRL IS THAT?!" "Elementary my dear Watson, Elementary" ...there I made the cursed joke
I was on business at Chatham Historic Dockyard on a day the venue was closed for filming parts of Holmes and Watson. The crew were stressed out due to rewrites, and morale was terrible.
"I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore", says the quote by Billy Wilder (who, by the way, was a lot more successful than whatever this is in making a light-hearted Sherlock film with "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes")
Gah, I really wish you had more subscribers, your work is excellent! I expect some of it comes from the word 'excrement' not appearing in search, but you can't really change that. Anyway, keep it up!
I saw the Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother a really long time ago and I don't remember very much about it other than I liked it but it's gotta be better than this
Another fun fact: Arthur Conan Doyle studied at the University of Edinburgh Medical School being awarded a MD in 1885. Also the school admitted women to limited courses in 1869, giving them equal access to courses in the late 1880's. [So no, Holmes would *not* have been surprised by female doctors, disapproving perhaps, but not in the least bit surprised].
Oh god this movie!! Dad and I wanted to see a movie in theaters some time in December to escape the scorching Australian summer, and we picked this crap-tastrophe. We lasted all of 15-20 mins before we *did* to decide to walk out, so I can personally attest to reports of that happening. Idk how long into the movie we actually lasted, never double checked it, but we didn't even bother trying to get our money back. We decided going home and sweating with no AC was more bearable than this tripe. Edit: the Australian cut of this film was arguably even worse than the American one. We here Down Under got an alternate version of the opening scene that doesn't portray them as children, but shows them meeting as adults. Watson was about to jump off a roof into Holmes' garden, and thinks Holmes' pleas to move on and jump somewhere else so he doesn't ruin his garden, as genuine cries to not end his life and thinks Holmes is being compassionate and kind. Yes really. The punchline of Watson falling off accidentally and landing and crushing a large prized fruit/vegetable was as predictable as this film flopping at the box office. Also, I'm told this alternate opening ruins a running "joke" of Holmes being unable to show emotion that the schoolyard scene was supposed to set up. I wouldn't have known as I didn't even get that far into the movie.
To be fair, having Ralph Fiennes play the Moriarty character wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing . . . if it were actually in a good Sherlock Holmes movie. And if it were in a comedic retelling . . . well, the writing will need to be pretty good--certainly better than Holmes & Watson here.
Hey Sean, big fan of your videos. It looks like you'll be caught up on the Worst Picture Project before the year is over and have you thought about what you might want to review afterwards? May I suggest The Spirit or the 1998 Godzilla?
I find it ironic that while watching you at beginning talking about not funny I kept staring at the bold intrusive spine of the *”Movie 43”* BluRay. 😂HaHaHa😂
I went to see it the day after Christmas with a group of friends at our local Alamo Drafthouse, and within 25 minutes we had all pretty much decided that it was not going to be a pleasant experience. The only thing we agreed on about that movie was the back that it was great that the theater served alcohol. That was honestly the only way we could get through it.
There's a cameo towards the end of Billy Zane walking on to the titanic, which could have been a fun little cameo if they hadn´t pointed it out. They yell to him using his real name and wave and he waves back. I think that kind of sums up the film. They have to point everything out and tells us it's a joke.
I can’t believe I actually wanted to watch this. The idea of this movie seemed funny on paper. I mean, a Sherlock Holmes parody with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly? That could be fun. But, from what I’ve seen in reviews, it’s most definitely not as fun as I thought it would be. I think I really dodged a bullet by forgetting about the movie.
You can't not talk about Jeremy Brett when talking about the legacy of actors who have played Sherlock. He was the most iconic prior to the more "Millennial" iterations of the character today.
