Holmes & Watsoncurrently has a 0% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The comedy, which is the third project that Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have teamed up for, is getting torched by critics and audiences, though the movie has a 16% viewer rating, which isn’t really good either. The movie opened on Christmas Day and has been underperforming at the box office, getting lost amongst some of the bigger titles out there like the recently releasedAquaman,Bumblebee, andMary Poppins Returns.
The new comedic take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic tales ofSherlock Holmesis getting terrible reviews from critics. The New York Times says that the only way to enjoyHolmes and Watsonis to smuggle in “booze.” That may be true, but a lot of Will Ferrell’s work gets savage reviews and is only later hailed to be an underappreciated comedy gem. Plus, they serve alcohol in a lot of theaters, so the booze thing can be said for a lot of movies that are currently on the big screen, and you don’t really have to ‘smuggle’ it in anymore.
The Hollywood Reporter was a bit more harsh on theirHolmes and Watsonreview, calling it a “Christmas turkey,” and stating that you can “feel the flop sweat” coming off of the screen. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise since the comedy was not screened in advance for critics, which usually means that the studio doesn’t have much faith in the project scoring rave reviews. Again, this is how a lot ofWill Ferrellmovies start in theaters, though this one seems to be getting a pretty bad beating, even for Ferrell’s standards.
Other reviews say that the deleted scenes fromStep Brothersare lightyears ahead of the comedy inHolmes and Watson, which isn’t necessarily a fair comparison. Others call the comedy awaste of talent, while questioning how so many funny people can make such an unfunny movie. More than one review has calledHolmes and Watsonthe worst movie to ever include the two iconic characters and nearly all of the reviews warn to stay away from this one. This might be one to watch on Blu-ray when it’s released, which will more than likely be very soon.
Holmes and Watsonis getting torn apart, even earning a D+ from CinemaScore, but that doesn’t mean that Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly fans aren’t going to enjoy it. However, it does look like it might fall to thebottom of the bucket, even for hardcore fans who have been hoping for a sequel toStep Brothersfor all of these years. That being said, only time will tell when seeing whereHolmes and Watsonranks with the rest of the duo’s work over the years. You can check out the 0% Fresh Rating over atRotten Tomatoesand read some of the negative reviews there.
