So, here we arrive at the sub-genre of mystery!
No, I really mean it. Up until now, I've shied away from the mystery genre. Any particular reason? Was I watching a mystery movie the night my sister was abducted by aliens? No, I just haven't gotten around to it.
Before you ask, yes, this Clue is based on the Parker Brothers (I think that's the company, if I'm wrong, use the email address) board game. All the main characters are characters out of the game. The supporting characters . . . die, so they aren't that important now, are they?
Clue begins (stop me if you've heard this one) on a dark and stormy night. Some very familiar characters all arrive one by one to a dinner party at the home of Mr. Wadsworth (Tim Curry).
Turns out Wadsworth is not the master of the house, mearly butler, ("I buttle, sir," he says). The real lord of the manor, Mr. Boddy, soon makes and appearance and Wadsworth reveals what our dinner guests have in common. All are paying blackmail to Mr. Boddy, who knows a deadly secret about each of them. Wadsworth has invited everyone here to expose Boddy and put him behind bars. This gets kind of difficult when Boddy is murdered. The rest of the movie is spent on a quest to find the murderer(s) before the police, whom Wadsworth called, arrive.
Roll call!
First off, we have Martin Mull as the stalwart Colonel Mustard. He plays the part like a . . . a stalwart.
Is it just me or does anyone else thing that Michael McKean, who plays Mr. Green, looks like Christopher Reeves' Clark Kent? As Green, McKean (star of the Steven Spielberg move 1941) busts Tim Curry and Christopher Lloyd as the third best actor in the cast.
Madeline Kahn, of all people plays Mrs. White. Yes, the star of everything from Nixon to Young Frankenstein was along for the ride here, too. Though I would recommend Young Frankenstein over this, she still puts in a credible performance.
Professor Plum is played by Christopher Lloyd, whom everyone will eternally think of, as Doc from Back to the Future. He's just another one of those actors whom I can't get any dirt on. Quick, somebody name a bad Christopher Lloyd movie. Hey, no fair bringing up The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Lesley Ann Warren plays Miss. Scarlet. Odds are you've seen her in a TV movie. With the acting she puts on here its a shame she's stuck in that little nook of the movie spectrum. Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan) is darn anoying in some scenes, fairly competent in others. I suppose getting any reaction out of such a jaded beast as me is a good thing. You, however, might have then uncontrollable urge to strangle her. If you watch "7th Heaven", on which she is a regular, you'll have plenty of opportunity. Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving) . . . dies. So he isn't that important, is he? Tim Curry, as you know, plays Wadsworth and we'll get to him in a second. I'd just like to take this paragraph to mention that, if Mr. Curry looks familiar, its probably because you saw him (and dressed like him) in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Bring back any memories?Actually, when all is said and done, Clue is more of a comedy then a mystery. Oh, it's funny, don't worry. Just not a ha ha, bust a gut kind of funny. Until the last thirty minuets, that is. In those last few minuets, Tim Curry gets to finally (finally) cut loose with his character, and we all get to discover what a great comedic actor he really is. Is it worth the wait? Hell yeah (hey, Curry is really funny). The movie is clever and tightly written by John Landis and director Jonathan Lynn to the point of which all three of its endings seam total plausible.
Is your interest peeked? Good, then go forth and rent Clue, its well worth it.
RATING (OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)