With Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr's versions of Sherlock Holmes a fair while away from being on screen any time soon, Will Ferrell and John C Reilly are on hand to bring the iconic detective and his friend Dr John Watson to audiences this festive season.
Holmes & Watson reunites the stars for the first time since Step Brothers, and serves as a comedic take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic character as Holmes (Ferrell) and Dr John Watson (Reilly) seek to stop the villainous Moriarty (Ralph Fiennes) from assassinating the Queen (Pam Ferris).
So, obviously the question we have to ask now is: Is Holmes & Watson actually any good then?
Well, according to the first reviews for the film... not really.
The Hollywood Reporter
"You can feel the flop sweat emanating from the third onscreen pairing of Will Ferrell and John C Reilly. Making their previous vehicles Step Brothers and Talladega Nights seem the height of comic sophistication by comparison, Holmes & Watson features the duo parodying Arthur Conan Doyle's famous characters to devastatingly unfunny effect."
Variety
"As far as Ferrell and Reilly are concerned, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s unstumpable sleuth and the thankless sidekick who recorded his every exploit are not just a great crime-solving duo but one of the great bromances of English literature — and therefore a natural target for the two actors’ ongoing exploration of dysfunctional friendships. The trouble is, Sherlock Holmes exists so large in audiences’ minds already that the pair’s uninspired take feels neither definitive nor especially fresh — just an off-brand, garden-variety parody.
"In writer-director Etan Cohen’s version, the joke begins and ends with the concept of Ferrell and Reilly as these two characters."
The AV Club
"One might call it a failure on almost every level — that is, if the movie ever gave the impression that it was trying to succeed. Instead, it’s pervaded by an air of extreme laziness. It’s cheap and tacky — a bizarrely dated parody of Ritchie’s Holmes (complete with a soundalike score) poisoned with rib-elbowing topical references and puerile gags.
"It succeeds in only one respect. As a Christmas Day release that wasn’t screened in advance for critics, it managed to avoid our list of the worst films of 2018."
Screen Rant
"Holmes & Watson is a lazy comedy that wastes a fun premise and talented cast on tired jokes, tasteless gags, and sometimes bafflingly outdated humour. [...] There are fleeting moments where Holmes & Watson feels like one of Ferrell's better absurd comedies, but for the most part it's a botched attempt to realise what sounds like an enjoyably goofy idea on paper (Sherlock Holmes by way of Step Brothers).
"It's also a film that either should've been released years ago or not at all, rather than being dumped in theatres well past its expiration date. Fans of Farrelly and Reilly's previous movies together may still find things to enjoy about this one, but even then it's probably best saved for a viewing at home down the road."
New York Times
"More laughs are all that would have been necessary to prevent the stagnation of Holmes & Watson; as the movie stands, smuggling in booze to dispel the sense of dull routine could only help. Sony sneaked this parody into theatres on Christmas without screenings for critics, normally evidence that the film in question is less than the work of a mastermind.
"Still, a viewing of the movie doesn’t quite solve the mystery of why the distributor deep-sixed the latest chapter in an enduring partnership — not of Holmes and Watson, but of Will Ferrell and John C Reilly."
Indiewire
"Ten years after Step Brothers was gifted unto humanity — and at least five since the world rightfully came to recognise that film as the Dadaist masterpiece that it is — Will Ferrell and John C Reilly have re-teamed for a comedy that’s somehow even dumber than the one that first galvanised their incredible chemistry. That should have been a good thing. It isn’t.
"Usually, you’d have to watch the Golden Globes to see this much wasted talent. As it stands, the only compelling mystery about Holmes & Watson is how so many funny people have been squeezed into such an unfunny movie, a movie that isn’t nearly smart enough to recognise how stupid it should have been."
Looks like we may be better off binge-watching Sherlock again, then.
Holmes & Watson is out in cinemas in the UK and US now.
