Holmes & Watson Squandered A Great Premise

gamerant.com:

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly proved themselves to be one of Hollywood’s most hilarious comedic dynamics with their unparalleled on-screen chemistry in Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, two of the funniest movies ever made. For their third co-starring vehicle, Ferrell and Reilly tackled one of the most iconic and endearing double acts in the history of literature: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. With painfully unfunny gags, a muddled and nonsensical mystery plot, and a bizarre lack of references to Holmes and Watson’s iconic legacy, Holmes & Watson arrived in theaters as a bitter disappointment.

Holmes & Watson isn’t just a forgettable laugh-free comedy; it was panned as one of the worst movies of the decade. It has an abysmal 10% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it swept the Razzie nominations, and there were reports of walkouts during theatrical screenings. According to Deadline, test audiences hated Holmes & Watson so much that Sony tried to sell it into the new-world bargain bin of the streaming-sphere – and not even Netflix would take it.

1905 Book Features Sherlock Holmes Solving a Wordle-Like Puzzle

The sad thing is that this movie could’ve been really great. A comedic take on the Sherlock Holmes mysteries should’ve been a slam dunk. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson have the classic dynamic of an eccentric comic persona and his strait-laced deadpan foil – it’s the perfect basis for a buddy comedy. But Holmes & Watson wastes the satirical potential of the characters’ dynamic by lazily presenting them as morons. Within the first few minutes, Holmes and Watson – supposedly the greatest minds in Victorian London – try to fend off a swarm of bees with gunfire.

The bromantic comedies of the Apatow era (some of