Holmes and Watson (2019): A Supplemental Discussion

Why is Will Ferrell wearing that stupid expression on his face?

Seriously!

Why?

I have already previous reviewed this film, unfavorably, of course, just like practically everybody else.

Parody

Now, it is important for people, as individuals, not to take themselves too seriously. It is important for you to accept and even embrace the fact that there are things about you that are funny, even when you are being serious about them, especially when you are being SERIOUS about them.

The ability to laugh at yourself is, at a bare minimum, a sign of a sense of humor --- and perhaps, further, even psychological stability.

Now then, similarly, it is important for Art not to take itself too seriously. It is important that Art be able to laugh at itself, as it were, for the sake of what might be called the maintenance of the creative elasticity of Art, Art's own "psychological stability," in a sense.

Now, the chief argument I made in the previous review is that this film did not parody Holmes and Watson, but it "Buffoon-erized" those characters.

There is a difference between lovingly parodying someone or something, encouraging good humor in the subject, encouraging the psychological stability of the subject --- and "Buffoon-erizing" a subject.

To "Buffoon-erize" a subject is to inherently disrespect and insult the subject. It is unfair because foreign elements, nonexistent to the subject are imported to draw a picture of the subject that is untrue as well as being shabby.

Does that make sense?

Even if you want to be "critical" of a subject, you must remain rooted in a place of truth. You cannot attribute negative characteristics to the subject, that the subject is not known to possess, just to fill out your portrait of contempt for the subject.

Now I'm not going to go over all of that again here.

I have already said, in the previous review, that Holmes and Watson (2019) should have been an origin story, in which a Holmes and Watson, at least twenty years younger, should have been depicted almost like superheroes, in the same way that the two Guy Ritchie films treated the characters.

However, I wonder if anybody had ever considered this: A good, fun, "parody" of Holmes and Watson would have been the movie version of a cartoon that aired from May 6, 1999 to July 21, 2001: Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century.

Anybody out there remember that show?

Now, two things:

1. I am one of those old-fashioned people who believe that, 99.99% of the time, comedy is played best when it is played straight (as possible), not when Will Ferrell goes through an entire movie wearing a stupid expression on his face that screams: Here comes something funny! Watch out! I am about to do and/or say something hilarious!

2. What could be funnier --- you know, in an actual funny way --- than taking the master detective out of the Victorian Era of the late nineteenth-century, and moving him forward in time two or three centuries --- as opposed to taking elements of 21st century cultural apparatus and sending it backward two or three centuries into the hands of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson?

To give you an idea of what fun a Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century live-action movie could be, let me quote you just one sentence from the description of the cartoon, from Wikipedia:

"Lestrade's compudroid reads the original Watson's journals and assumes his name, face, voice and mannerisms in order to assist Holmes in both his crimesolving duties and his difficult assimilation to the Great Britain in the 22nd century."

Android Watson!

Think about that!

Okay, I don't think I want to go on too much longer with this, but...

Last thing

There is a scene in Holmes and Watson (2019), in which the two Victorian Era investigators take a selfie ("self portrait) with the Queen of England --- you know, in the late nineteenth-century.

I think it would have been much funnier --- or even, you know, funny --- if Holmes and robot Watson had taken a proper selfie with the Queen of England in the 22nd century --- AND THERE PROVED TO BE A LATER-REVEALED INVESTIGATIVE PURPOSE FOR THE SELFIE, AS OPPOSSED TO SIMPLE CELEBRITY OBSESSION.

Thank you for reading!