A very funny, clever and original telling of a Sherlock Holmes story. Rolls along, with fun and great humour. Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley are in fine form as Holmes and Watson. Good support from Jeffrey Jones, Peter Cook, Pat Keen and others.

As the tagline says, watch Without a Clue to "meet the world's greatest detective, and his bumbling partner." It's a film with the famed literary detective duo, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but in this version, it's Dr. Watson who's the genius. Sherlock Holmes is an idiot! I absolutely love this movie, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Even if you've never seen a Sherlock Holmes movie or read a story, you'll still love it. The jokes are both clever and hilarious, which is a rare and welcomed combination. In the entire 107-minute running time, there might have been a collective ten minutes in which I wasn't laughing myself silly. Several times I had to press pause and guffaw, waiting to resume the film until I'd composed myself. Thank you Gary Murphy and Larry Strawther for writing such a side-splittingly funny movie.A perfectly hysterical script is a good start, but if bad actors with lousy timing deliver the lines, the movie will be terrible. Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley have a wonderful chemistry together, and they both add so much to their roles. While anyone else might play Sherlock Holmes as an ordinary doofus, Michael Caine puts himself in the moment so the blunders are really unintentional. He isn't playing dumb; he means well and happens to be stupid. I'm convinced anyone else cast as Dr. Watson would have played him with more of an angry, jealous, resentful edge. Ben Kingsley is enormously kind, so even when he's frustrated with Michael Caine, the audience can tell he's still a caring person and enjoys his rapport with his lesser half.When they're attacked by Paul Freeman's henchman, Michael Caine gets really upset and worried. Ben Kingsley reassures him that he isn't the real target because Paul is only trying to stop the smarter of the two. "He knows you're an idiot," he says, with only good intentions behind the remark. There's a beat before Michael Caine's response, and the audience thinks he'll certainly take offense, but instead he sighs, "Oh, thank God!" It's one of my favorite jokes in the film, since it shows the adorable combination of sweetness and comedy that runs through the script.If you've had a bad day, Without a Clue will cheer you up. If you've had a good day, Without a Clue will make it better. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy. Renting it once won't be enough.

The same year, Michael Caine gave life to the alcoholic & stubborn Inspector Abberline of Scotland Yard, assigned to investigate the Jack the Ripper murders in the high budget'd mini-series of the same name, he played the total opposite (well, except for the liquor part) in "Without a Clue", a lighthearted 'pastiche' on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, spoofing his most famous characters on reversing their roles, placing Dr. Watson as the real sleuth with great deduction powers and Sherlock Holmes as a has-been stage actor with an alcohol problem, hired by Watson as his figurehead. As the incompetent Holmes, not only disturbs and embarrass the genius detective work of Watson, but he's seen by the Press and general public as the mastermind of investigation and Watson just a mere inefficient sidekick, the self- called "Doctor of Crime" tries to rid out of him to assume his real talents , but the process won't be easy...The screenplay by Larry Strawther & Gary Murphy, two Sherlock Holmes' devoted fans, is smartly written to work both as a slapstick farce and as a harmless parody to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, who at a certain point, was tired of his own fictional creation and tried, unsuccessfully, killing him off.The dialogue is wonderfully witty and the staging of the comedy situations it's well-crafted and genuinely funny without forcing it to the viewer, due a vivid and inspired direction of Thom Eberhardt, self-aware of the comedy timing and inducing a perfect tone to the movie, and the absolutely brilliant cinematography by Alan Hume, which is visually top notch, recreating the Victorian Era. The editing is also very good with the movie, flowing at a relatively fast pace without filling-in with unnecessary scenes. The production design, art direction, set decoration and costume design, all together did a terrific job giving life to the Sherlock Holmes' world.In terms of performances, Sir Michael Caine and Sir Ben Kingsley are both excellent in their respective roles with Caine being a riot to follow. Kingsley got the less meaty part, but he subtly, captured the true essence of his straight character and gave the essential counterpoint, for Caine's flamboyant performance to work.The supporting players were all perfectly cast for their roles and well-directed in their performances, especially Jeffrey Jones as the dumbest Inspector of Scotland Yard, Lestrade (his facial expressions' are comedy gold) and Paul Freeman as Sherlock Holmes'... well... Dr. Watson's arch enemy, Prof. James Moriarty.In short, "Without a Clue" failed with movie critics and audiences, in both continents, when it was released in '88 which was a shame, because it's not only one of the best Sherlock Holmes' movies ever made, but also one of the very best spoofs out there and 30 years after it was made, is still criminally underrated for the general public, even if it was re- valuated along the years and started to be figured in some Top Lists made by Sherlock Holmes' aficionados.Erroneously, some critics pointed out that was way inferior to the previous, Sherlock Holmes' humour oriented 'pastiche', "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" ('70) directed by the acclaimed Billy Wilder, but it's like comparing apples to oranges, it's a totally different genre and tone with obviously, totally different results.Highly recommended !!

I'm a big fan of the classic Universal Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and so naturally I was a bit weary going into this film knowing that it plays around with the basics of the classic detective stories. Well, I have to give credit to all involved as while this is not what I'd call a brilliant comedy, it's fun and entertaining and at least does justice (in a comedic way) to Arthur Conan Doyle's classic character - although that is largely thanks to excellent central performances from Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. The idea of the film is that Doctor Watson is the real detective, while Sherlock Holmes is just an actor hired to front the investigations. However, the actor hired likes to drink and frequently annoys the 'crime doctor'! The plot itself is influenced by a few Sherlock Holmes stories but isn't - as far as I know - based on any one in particular. We follow Holmes and Watson on the case of some stolen plates, used for printing five pound notes.The story itself takes some ideas from the classic Universal films in terms of plot - most notably The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Spider Woman. However, the plot itself isn't really important; it's not particularly in depth and clearly the point of the film was to focus on the 'tweaked' characters rather than tell a mystery story. And this works quite well! Kingsley and Caine have a good rapport with one another and work well on screen together. Michael Caine is of course the standout and delivers an excellent comic performance. There are plenty of jokes in the film, mostly stemming from Holmes' ineptitude, and some of them are laugh out loud funny - although it has to be said that these are mostly few and far between and the film is generally more likely to raise a smile than a laugh. Still, the important thing is that it's entertaining for the duration, and the film certainly is that. I'd say it falls somewhat short of 'great' but if you're looking for a fun little flick to kill a couple of hours with, then you could do much worse than Without a Clue.