Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s A Teaser For Something That Might Be Ghostbusters 3

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, earlier today, Twitter was all abuzz because of a minute-long teaser for a film that won’t be coming out until 2020.  That title of that film …. well, actually, it doesn’t have an “official” title yet but, for now, people are just calling it Ghostbusters 3.

That’s right.  After all the controversy and drama that we went through with the last attempt to revive (or reboot, depending on which side you were on) the Ghostbusters franchise, it is happening again.  Except this time, according to Entertainment Weekly, it appears that the new film is going to be a “direct sequel” to the first two Ghostbusters films and it’s going to be directed by Jason Reitman.  Jason Reitman, of course, is the son of Ivan Reitman.  He’s also a director who, after his last few films, could really use another hit.

(Apparently, audiences in 2018 really weren’t interested in watching a movie about a forgotten 1988 presidential campaign.  Who would have guessed?)

The teaser itself is pretty simple.  There’s a storm.  There’s a barn.  There’s an old vehicle with a Ghostbusters logo.  Here’s what is not in the teaser.  First off, there’s no sign of the cast of the 2016 reboot, which I guess will make the YouTube commentariat happy.  There’s also no sign of Bill Murray, Dan Ayrkroyd, or even Ernie Hudson.  In the past, Bill Murray has said that he wasn’t interested in doing a third Ghostbusters films and, considering that Bill Murray pretty much does whatever he wants, you have to kind of wonder if he’ll actually come back or if maybe Ghostbusters 3 is just going to be Dan Aykroyd teaching his grandson (probably played by Pete Davidson) how to hunt and trap ghosts.

One of the many theories on twitter is that the film will bring the two sets of Ghostbusters together, which I assume means that we’ll get hilarious scenes of Aykroyd and Melissa McCarthy teaming up to complain about Chinese food.  To be honest, though, a crossover is not really that bad of an idea and it certainly would be fun to watch people’s heads explode as a result.  In fact, if this new Ghostbusters film is anything like the last Ghostbusters film, watching people’s heads explode will probably be more fun than actually watching the film itself.

(For his part, Ivan Reitman told EW that this film would be a “passing of the torch,” which could either refer to a new group of Ghostbusters or maybe just the fact that Ivan’s giving his son a job.)

In other words, who knows!?

But here’s the teaser.

Music Video of the Day: From the Bottom of My Broken Heart by Britney Spears (1999, dir by Gregory Dark)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Cedar Springs Garden!

It’s a nice little town, somewhere down south.  It’s a place where you can spend the day swinging back and forth on a tire swing and where you and your boyfriend can chastely spend the night sitting on the back of a billboard.  It’s also the setting for the music video of Britney Spears’s From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart.

From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart was the last single to be released from Britney’s debut album and I have to admit that, when I watch it today, I have mixed feelings about this video.  On the one hand, the song showed, in its own simplistic way, that Britney was a singer who was capable of delivering emotional content.  On the other hand, there’s a soft-focus blandness to the video that kind of reminds you of why it took critics a while to take Britney seriously as a performer.  Some of the problem is that the guy that Britney’s singing about doesn’t really seem like he’s worth all the drama.  The other problem is that the video itself could have just as easily been set in the 1950s as opposed to the start of the 21st century.  This is the safe, non-threatening Britney, as opposed to the Britney who, in her next big hit, would joyously and triumphantly celebrate getting “lost in the game.”

For such an inoffensive music video, From the Bottom of My Broken Heart was surprisingly controversial when it was released.  That’s because was directed by Gregory Dark.  It’s one of the many videos that have been directed by Mr. Dark and, in fact, one could argue that, in the 1990s and the early aughts, he was one of the best video directors around.  However, before he directed music videos, Gregory Dark directed not only hardcore adult films but also several erotic thrillers.  Even though, by the time that this video came out, Dark was no longer making adult features, it was argued by some critics that Dark directing this video was evidence that Britney was an unwholesome influence.  That’s especially hilarious when you consider that this is probably one of the most wholesome videos in which Britney Spears ever appeared.

Enjoy!

Film Review: White Boy Rick (dir by Yann Demange)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, as a part of my attempt to get caught up with the films of 2018, I watched White Boy Rick.

As you might guess from the title, this film is about a white boy named Rick.  It’s based on the true story of Richard Wershe, Jr., who grew up on the streets of Detroit.  His father sold guns out of the trunk of his car and, by the time he turned 14, Rick was running with drug dealers and street gangs.  (The fact that he was white while all of his friends were black is what led to him getting his nickname.)  Rick became an informant for the FBI and, according to Wershe, the government helped him build up his reputation by supplying him with the drugs that he would then sell on the streets.  When the FBI eventually decided that Wershe was no longer a useful asset, he was arrested for dealing and sentenced to life in prison.

The story seems like one that has the potential to say a lot that needs to be said about not only the economic realities of life in a dying city but also about the role that race plays in America’s often misdirected “war on drugs.”  Unfortunately, the film falls flat because, with the exception of a few scenes, it never really convinces us that Rick was really worthy of being the subject of a film.  While the film surrounds him with interesting supporting characters, Rick himself remains something of a cipher.  Rick is played by a young actor named Richie Merritt.  Merritt’s has the right look for the character but you never get the feeling that there’s anything going on underneath the surface.  Rick comes across as just being a moron who got lucky and then, eventually, not so lucky.

The supporting cast fares a bit better.  For instance, Matthew McConaughey plays Rick’s father with just the right amount of manic energy and Bel Powley has a few harrowing scenes as Rick’s drug addicted sister.  Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie don’t get to do much as Rick’s grandparents but it doesn’t matter because they’re Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie.  (All Bruce Dern has to do to make a character interesting is look at the camera.)  Jennifer Jason Leigh plays one of Rick’s FBI handlers with the perfect hint of subversiveness.  You’re never quite sure whether she’s messing with Rick’s life because she’s incompetent or because she’s enjoying it.  Unfortunately, the supporting characters are often so interesting that Rick often gets overshadowed.  He’s a bystander in his own story, which may have been the film’s point but, from a storytelling point of view, it hardly makes for compelling viewing.

Admittedly, there are a few memorable scenes to be found in White Boy Rick.  At one point, Rick goes to a wedding at the mayor’s mansion and he’s a sight to behold in his blue tuxedo.  In another scene, it’s explained to Rick why, when it comes to being arrested, charged, and incarcerated, the stakes are very different when you’re black than when you’re white.  In scenes like that, you kind of get a hint of White Boy Rick could have been if it had been centered around a more compelling character.

As it is, though, White Boy Rick is well-made but kind of dull.  It’s definitely a missed opportunity.

 

Music Video of the Day: Oops! …. I Did It Again by Britney Spears (2000, dir by Nigel Dick)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Before The Martian, there was …. Oops! …. I Did It Again!

Oops! …. I Did It Again is one of Britney Spears’s best-known songs and it’s certainly one of the most fun to sing at the top of young lungs when you’re speeding down the interstate on the way to Lake Texoma.  (Just ask my sister.)  But I think that people forget just how weird this video is.

Basically, we’ve got an astronaut (Eli Swanson) exploring Mars when he comes across an image on a Martian stone, the cover of Britney’s second album, Oops! …. I Did It Again.  On Earth, the nerdy NASA guy is impressed while the astronaut wonders if it’s possible that Britney Spears has come all the way to Mars just to play with his heart….

And she has!  Suddenly, there’s a stage on the Martian surface and Britney and the backup dancers are performing while the astronaut watches.  Eventually, Britney approaches him and proceeds to …. TAKE OFF HIS HELMET!  (Britney will not only play with your heart but apparently, she’ll also try to kill you.)  For a few brief seconds, it appears that the astronaut’s head might explode but no, he survives.  He then hands her the Heart of the Ocean, the extremely tacky blue diamond that was at the center of the film, Titanic.  The astronaut explains that he went down to the bottom of the ocean to get it for her and then he took it to Mars for some reason.  (Remember, the video makes it pretty clear that the astronaut wasn’t expecting to run into Britney Spears during his Martian exploration.)  In one of the most badass moves of all time, Britney says, “Oh, you shouldn’t have” and then walks away.  As for the astronaut, he hopefully managed to get home.  I mean, if Matt Damon could do it, anyone could do it….

Yeah, yeah, we know….

This video was directed by Nigel Dick, who also directed the video for ….Baby One More Time.  During filming, Britney was actually struck in the head by a falling camera and had to get four stitches before she then went to finish the video.  Like all great artists, Britney suffered so that you may enjoy.

So, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Sometimes by Britney Spears (1999, dir by Nigel Dick)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, this year, Britney Spear’s debut album, ….Baby One More Time, is 20 years old and good people everywhere are celebrating.  Myself, I’m going to be listening to Britney all week and I’m also going to be singing every single song out loud.  I’ll probably end up annoying a lot of people, as that seems to be what happens whenever I loudly sing Britney.  (My sisters claim that, when it comes to singing, I’m borderline tone deaf but I think that’s going a bit too far.  I will, however, admit that my accent probably never sounds more Texan then when I’m singing.)

Anyway, Val has already taken a look at the video for ….Baby One More Time and, yesterday, I featured the video for (You Drive Me) Crazy.  So, it only seems appropriate that today’s music video of the day should be the video for Sometimes, which was the 2nd single to be released off of ….Baby One More Time.

Sometimes finds Britney on the beach, watching as a male model named Chad Cole runs alongside a dog and then stands around tossing a football up in the air.  (Chad Cole is crazy hot in this video, though I have to admit that I’ve always preferred people who spend their time at the beach writing poems about dead trees and industrial pollution.)  Anyway, when Britney isn’t stalking Chad, she’s performing with her back-up dancers.  Everyone’s wearing white, which is not only designed to play up the video’s pure intentions but also makes it seem like everyone in the video came to the beach straight from a Backstreet Boys theme party.

With this video, you can tell that the main aim was to provide a contrast to the sexualized Britney of the ….Baby One More Time video.  In this one, Britney’s dressed in all white and, instead of asking to be “hit” one more time, she’s instead demurely watching the all-American boy from a proper and chaste distance.  This is the Britney who wouldn’t have been out-of-place in one of those sun-drenched, virginity-celebrating beach films from the early 60s.  “Fear not, moral guardians,” this video announces, “our Britney is a good girl!”

Interestingly enough, the video’s original concept was that Britney would be looking the beach and having flashbacks to a past relationship.  However, in the video that was actually shot, the idea is that Britney is looking to the future, thinking about the perfect relationship that she’ll someday have.

Enjoy!

Lisa’s Week In Review: 1/7/19 — 1/13/19

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last week, I spent a lot of time cleaning out my DVR.  This upcoming week, I’ll not only be getting caught up on the films of 2018, I’ll also finally be posting my picks for the best and the worst of the previous year! It should be fun!

Also, last week, I went through our blogroll for the first time in like two years.  I dropped some dead links and added some new living ones.  If you have an entertainment or culture-related site and you’d like to included in our blogroll, please let us know!  Thanks!

Movies I Watched:

  1. The Art of Murder (2018)
  2. Babysitter’s Nightmare (2018)
  3. The Climb (2002)
  4. Deadly Delusion (2018)
  5. Flashdance (1983)
  6. The Girl in the Bathtub (2018)
  7. The Girl in the Bunker (2018)
  8. He Knows Your Every Move (2018)
  9. He’s Watching (2018)
  10. Holmes & Watson (2018)
  11. Homecoming Revenge (2018)
  12. Lake Placid: Legacy (2018)
  13. Left for Dead (2018)
  14. Lizzie (2018)
  15. The Lover in the Attic: A True Story (2018)
  16. Mandy (2018)
  17. Mean Girls (2004)
  18. Overexposed (2018)
  19. The Perfect Mother (2018)
  20. School’s Out! (1992)
  21. Sorority Stalker (2018)
  22. Stalked By My Patient (2018)
  23. The Strange and Deadly Occurrence (1974)
  24. Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. The 24th Annual Critics Choice Awards
  2. 60 Days In
  3. 911
  4. The Bachelor 23
  5. Bar Rescue
  6. Brooklyn 99
  7. Degrassi Junior High
  8. Degrassi High
  9. Doctor Phil
  10. Entertainment Tonight
  11. Face the Truth
  12. Friends
  13. The Good Place
  14. Hell’s Kitchen
  15. King of the Hill
  16. Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath
  17. Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club
  18. The Love Boat
  19. Project Runway: All Stars
  20. Seinfeld
  21. Shipping Wars
  22. True Detective

Books I Read:

  1. The 103rd ballot: Democrats and the disaster in Madison Square Garden (1976) by Robert K. Murray
  2. Convention (1977) by Richard Reeves
  3. Degrassi Junior High: Exit Stage Left (1988) by William Pasnak
  4. James Bond in Win, Place, or Die (1985) by R.L. Stine

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Above & Beyond
  2. Adam Rickfors
  3. Adi Ulmansky
  4. Alvin Risk
  5. Anat Moshovski
  6. Armin van Buuren
  7. Avicii
  8. Big Data
  9. Blanck Mass
  10. Bring Me The Horizon
  11. Britney Spears
  12. Cedric Gervais
  13. The Chemical Brothers
  14. Coldplay
  15. Dada Life
  16. Dillon Francis
  17. DJ Judaa
  18. DJ Snake
  19. Fiona Apple
  20. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
  21. Gwen Stefani
  22. Jackal
  23. Jake Bugg
  24. Jennifer Lopez
  25. Joywave
  26. Lady Gaga
  27. Hardwell
  28. Kaskade
  29. Otto Knows
  30. Porter Robinson
  31. Saint Motel
  32. Skrillex
  33. Sleigh Bells
  34. Steve Aoki
  35. Swedish House Mafia
  36. Syrup
  37. Taking Back Sunday
  38. Tiesto

Links From Last Week

  1. On her photography site, Erin shared: Sun Drenched, Cars, One Missing Trash Bag, Litter, Never Forget, and Mushrooms!
  2. On my music site, I shared songs from Blanck Mass, Kaskade, The Chemical Brothers, Armin van Buuren, Skrillex and Alvin Risk, Jake Bugg, and Saint Motel!
  3. On SyFyDesigns, I wrote about my new year’s resolution!
  4. For Horror Critic, I reviewed The Strange and Deadly Occurrence!
  5. Six Spot: Best Supporting Actress 2017 (This is a really fun feature at Awards Circuit, where they speculate about who just missed receiving an Oscar nomination.)
  6. Tom Hiddleston Said To Be The Narrator Of The Upcoming Young Loki Series
  7. Britney Spears’s …Baby One More Time Is Weirder Than You Remember
  8. ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ Cast Is Revealed
  9. Whoopi Goldberg is game to host the Oscars
  10. Oscars will be hostless for the first time in forever!
  11. Will the Oscars go hostless?  Here’s what we know about the situation.
  12. Finally, my tweet about the whole Oscar hosting situation got picked up and used in a twitter moment so yay me!:

Links From The Site

  1. Erin shared the following artwork: Dressed to Kill, Scandal!, City Hotel, Appointment With Fear, Model for Murder, No Angles For Me, and The Case of the Violent Virgin!
  2. Gary reviewed Handsome Johnny, The Spanish Main, and The Ghost and Mr, Chicken!
  3. Ryan reviewed The New World : Comics From Mauretenia and Cry, along with sharing his weekly reading round-up!
  4. Arleigh shared music from Mamamoo and the trailers for Kingdom and Season 2 of The Punisher!
  5. I shared music videos from Bring Me The Horizon, The Chemical Brothers, Hardwell, The Chemical Brothers (again), Jennifer Lopez. Steve Aoki, and Britney Spears!  I also shared the DGA nominations and the trailer for Velvet Buzzsaw!  Finally, I reviewed Flashdance and Holmes & Watson!  I also shared the winners of the Critics’ Choice Awards and the teaser for the 8th season of Game of Thrones!

(Want to see what I accomplished last week?  Click here!)

Have a great week and stay supple!

Here’s That Teaser for Season 8 of Game of Thrones!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, before the premier of the 3rd season of True Detective, HBO aired the teaser for eighth and final season of Game of Thrones.

Now, I’m not even going to try to pretend like I have some sort of special insight into what this teaser means.  To be honest, I always struggle a bit when it comes to keeping up with who is plotting against who on Game of Thrones.  Whenever I try to speculate about what’s happening on the show, I’m always proven wrong.  Back during the first season, I even used to get Robb Stark confused with Jon Snow.  Just try living that down….

Here’s what I will say.  The trailer has a lot of atmosphere and it’s all appropriately ominous.  If anyone’s still alive by the end of the show, I’ll be surprised.  And, really, that’s the way it should be.  The teaser takes place in a crypt and features a lot of death statues so even the teaser seems to be warning us that nobody’s going to get out of this season untouched.

Here’s the teaser:

In the past, HBO show have occasionally struggled during their final seasons.  I’m never going to get over what happened to True Blood during its final season.  Hopefully, Game of Thrones will be the exception to that rule.

As always, we’ll see what happens!

Here Are The Winners of the 24th Annual Critics Choice Awards!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

TSL writer Patrick Smith has referred to The Critics Choice Awards as being his “fifth favorite awards show” and that seems like the perfect description of where they fall in awards season.  People do pay attention to them and, in the past, they’ve been a pretty good precursor as far as the Oscars are concerned.  At the same time, there always seem to be confusion as just who exactly votes for the Critics Choice Awards.

Well, the answer to that question is that the Critics’ Choice Awards are voted on by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and, tonight, they announced their picks on the CW.

It was interesting night — two ties and Christian Bale was named Best Actor twice, which of course meant we had to suffer through his “I’m just an ordinary working bloke!” routine two times too many.  By far, my favorite winner was Amy Adams for Sharp Objects.

(On another note: Taye Diggs was an interesting choice to host.  I thought he did okay but, with his talent, he really should be receiving the awards instead of talking about them.  Someone write a great role for Taye Diggs ASAP!)

Here are tonight’s winners!  (Check out the nominees here!)

Movie

Best Song — Shallow from A Star is Born

Best Young Actor or Actress — Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade

Best Supporting Actor — Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Best Supporting Actress — Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Sci-Fi or Horror Movie — A Quiet Place

Best Acting Ensemble — The Favourite

Best Action Film — Mission Impossible: Fallout

Best Animated Film — Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse

Best Foreign Language Film — Roma

Best Original Screenplay — Paul Schrader, First Reformed

Best Adapted Screenplay — Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Actress In A Comedy — Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Best Actor In A Comedy — Christian Bale, Vice

Best Comedy — Crazy Rich Asians

Best Cinematography — Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Best Production Design — Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart, Black Panther

Best Editing — Tom Cross, First Man

Best Costume Design — Ruth Carter, Black Panther

Best Hair and Makeup — Vice

Best Visual Effects — Black Panther

Best Original Score — Justin Hurwitz, First Man

Best Director — Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Best Actress (tie) — Glenn Close, The Wife and Lady Gaga, A Star is Born

Best Actor — Christian Bale, Vice

Best Motion Picture — Roma

Television

Best Supporting Actor (Drama) — Noah Emmerich, The Americans

Best Supporting Actress (Drama) — Thandie Newton, Westworld

Best Supporting Actor (Comedy) — Henry Winkler, Barry

Best Supporting Actress (Comedy) — Alexis Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Best Supporting Actor (Limited Series or Made-For-TV Movie): Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal

Best Supporting Actress (Limited Series or Made-For-TV Movie): Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects

Best Movie Made For Television — Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert

Best Animated Series — BoJack Horseman

Best Actor (Limited Series or Movie Made-For-TV): Darren Criss, American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace

Best Actress (Limited Series or Movie Made-For-TV): (Tie) Amy Adams, Sharp Objects and Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora

Best Actor (Comedy Series) — Bill Hader, Barry

Best Actress (Comedy Series) — Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Best Actor (Drama Series) — Matthew Rhys, The Americans

Best Actress (Drama Series) — Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Best Limited Series — American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace

Best TV Drama Series — The Americans

Best TV Comedy Series — The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

 

Music Video of the Day: (You Drive Me) Crazy by Britney Spears (1999, dir by Nigel Dick)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Remember Drive Me Crazy?

Released in 1999, Drive Me Crazy was a little film from the Freddie Prinze, Jr. era of teen romcoms with generic titles.  Of course, Freddie Prinze, Jr. is not actually in Drive Me Crazy.  Instead, the Prinze role was taken by Adrian Grenier, who does a decent impersonation.  In this film, Grenier plays the neighbor of Melissa Joan Hart.  The plot was pretty standard for the films of this era.  Melissa Joan Hart needs to make someone jealous so she pretends to date Adrian Grenier and then they end up falling in love for real.  Along the way, an important lesson is learned about being yourself and not worrying about what cliques think of you.  It’s pretty much a forgotten film, overshadowed by the likes of She’s All That and Get Over It.  (When Adrian Grenier took on the role of “greatest actor of his generation” Vincent Chase on Entourage, it was often said that Chase’s first film role was in a romantic comedy with Mandy Moore.  I assume that was a reference to this film.  Not that I ever watched Entourage….)

(Want to be your super hero …. fallin’ from running horse….)

Originally, Drive Me Crazy was going to be called Next To You, which is perhaps the only possible title that could have been more generic than the one that they went with.  The title changed after the success of Britney Spear’s debut album, …Baby One More Time.  One of the songs from the album, (You Drive Me) Crazy, had been included on the film’s soundtrack and the film’s producers decided to try to capitalize on Britney’s popularity by renaming the film after it.  And so, Next To You became Drive Me Crazy.

This also led to the production of a music video tie-in.  In the video for (You Drive Me) Crazy, Britney plays a dorky waitress who turns out to be a great dancer.  Of course, both Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier make appearances in the video.  Apparently, Grenier really didn’t want to be in the video and had to be talked into it by the video’s director, Nigel Dick.  Did Grenier think that he was too good to appear in a video with Britney Spears!?  That’s a bold statement from someone who subsequently spent 8 years acting opposite of Jeremy Piven.

Anyway, this is a fun video and, with everything that she’s been through, it’s always kind of nice to see Britney actually enjoying herself.  Filmed years before the marriage to Kevin Federline and all the stuff that followed afterwards, there’s a lot of optimism and hope to be found in this video.

Enjoy!

Film Review: Holmes & Watson (dir by Etan Cohen)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Will Ferrell is Sherlock Holmes!

John C. Reilly is John Watson!

Together, they get really bad reviews!

Well, that and solve crimes and protect royalty.  Holmes & Watson, which came out this previous Christmas, features Sherlock and John attempting to prevent Professor Moriarty (Ralph Fiennes) from assassinating Queen Victoria.  Watson, being the proud Englishman that he is, is an obsessive fan of Queen Victoria.  In fact, he’s such a fan that, upon meeting her, he insists that she pose for a “self-photography” with him and Holmes.  Of course, cameras back then were a lot bigger and more bulkier than cameras today so Watson ends up bashing the Queen in the head.  Watson and Holmes are terrified that they’ve killed the Queen.  But then she wakes up.  That’s the joke.

Holmes & Watson isn’t so much a parody of the original Sherlock Holmes stories as much as it’s a parody of the Guy Ritchie films that almost everyone has already forgotten about.  Of course, it can be argued that the Guy Ritchie films were, themselves, parodies which makes Holmes & Watson a parody of a parody.  (Now, we just need someone to parody Holmes & Watson so that the universe can collapse in on itself.)  As a result, the film opens with a young Sherlock Holmes being tricked into kissing a donkey’s ass and then it progresses to an adult Holmes using his deductive powers to deduce that a man is a compulsive masturbator.  The film never seems to be quite sure if its version of Holmes is meant to be an eccentric genius or an overrated bungler and Will Ferrell’s inconsistent performance doesn’t help matters.  When Holmes starts to incorrectly suspect that Watson has betrayed him, we don’t know if we’re supposed to share Watson’s feeling of betrayal or if this is just another case of Holmes being a brilliant idiot.  The film doesn’t seem to know either.

In the role of Watson, John C. Reilly is expected to do most of the dramatic heavy lifting.  He gets several scenes in which he discusses how difficult it is to always be the sidekick.  It’s a role that Reilly has played in several other films and perhaps that explains why he seems so bored in this movie.  We’re all kind of used to Will Ferrell being an inconsistent performer but it’s far more depressing to see John C. Reilly sleepwalking through a film.

Anyway, Holmes & Watson is not a film that I normally would have wasted my time seeing but, with so many people proclaiming it to be not only the worst film of 2018 but the worst film of all time, I felt that I had a certain obligation to do so.  After all, I’ll be posting my worst of and best of lists over this upcoming week and Holmes & Watson seemed like it would be a legitimate contender for one of those lists.  Having now seen the film, I can say that it’s pretty bad.  Unfortunately, unlike some other bad films, it’s also rather dull and forgettable.  It’s certainly far more dull than any film featuring John C. Reilly, Ralph Fiennes, Rebecca Hall, Hugh Laurie, Steve Coogan, and Kelly MacDonald has any right to be.  It’s a comedy where so many of the jokes fall flat that even the jokes that do work kind of suffer just by association.  Usually, I would have laughed at the film’s Billy Zane cameo but I was still annoyed by the film’s unnecessary musical number so I merely chuckled.

If Holmes & Watson has a saving grace, it is that it’s just a silly comedy.  It’s not really pompous enough to justify the claim that some have made that it’s the worst film of all time.  It’s neither as smug as Vice nor as pretentious as Life Itself.  In fact, it’s not even the worst comedy of the year.  (That honor would belong to The Happytime Murders.)  What Holmes & Watson is, is a huge disappointment.  With all the talent involved, you would hope that the film would be a bit more memorable.