Review and Clue Rhyme. How Neat! (9.5/10)

Movies based on video games are a dime a dozen these days, and rarely very good, thanks to a certain Uwe Boll. But, really, how many movies can you think of based on board games? Just one comes to mind, and it is easily among my top ten. 'Clue' is a fast past murder mystery/comedy with an amazing casting line-up. I can't say much for the board game itself (not that I have the patience for them anyway), but I am a fan of the murder-mystery genre, and this dark humor plays it's card right to give us an entertaining little film that leaves you breathless between laugh out loud gags. If you watch it once, you'll watch it again and again!

Tim Curry is the big name on the cast list, and his performance as the butler is a prime example of this man's talents. Also on this list, we have Eileen Brennan (Murder by Death) as Mrs. Peacock, Madeline Kahn (History of the World pt. 1, Blazing Saddles) as Mrs. White, Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future, The Addams Family) as Prof. Plum, Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap) as Mr. Green, Martin Mull (Rosanne, Sabrina the Teenage Witch)as Col. Mustard, and Lesley Ann Warren (Deep Water) as Ms. Scarlet. Most of these names I had not heard of before watching Clue, but I recognized their faces from about a thousand different places. They may not be A-list actors (excluding Tim Curry, and probably Christopher Lloyd), but they bring so much energy to the film, and they extract every bit of funny possible.

I simply adore Tim Curry, he is one of my favorite actors, but in this film, Madeline Kahn stole the show in my eyes. Instead of playing the maid (or the cook, depending on your version), Mrs. White is somewhat of a black widow and gets all of the best lines.

'Men should be like Kleenex; Soft, strong, and disposable.'

I rarely get excited about casting or celebrities or any of that, I like to look at movies as, I don't know, a tangent universe where Average Joe looks like Tom Cruise (ick) and someone like Brad Pitt doesn't think he's too pretty to get punched in the mouth once in a while. But Madeline Kahn has a place in my heart, all snuggled up with Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.

My only beef here (which I also have with House on Haunted Hill, but I'll let that slide because if Vincent Price invited me for a sleepover, I wouldn't second guess it either) is that these people don't know each other, and they don't know Mr. Boddy. They receive letters to go to a place they've never been and they all go? Call me a cynic, but if I got a letter like that, I would assume it was some kind of weird prank from someone without much of a sense of humor.

Speaking of humor! You would hardly remember this was a murder mystery if it wasn't for the corpse! This is such a funny movie, there is a nice healthy mix of slapstick, dry humor, and sitcom with silly one-liners and plenty of innuendo (via Ms. Scarlet and Prof. Plum, mostly) that the drama and the darkness is well hidden. Not that it is a bad thing, exactly, it just isn't what you expect from murder. Sometimes it seems as if the characters are even that serious about the death.

I've probably watched this movie more often than any other movie in my library, which is quite a feat, as it is more often out on loan than it is on the shelf. It is not a big budget production, but it isn't quite a B movie. I'm not sure how I feel about this. it's either really really good, production-wise for a B movie, or not good at all for an A movie! But really, that isn't what's important. What really matters is that I laugh my ass off at this movie every time! I'm hesitant to give out a perfect ten so early in my reviewing life, but if you've seen this movie, you'd understand. I'm deducting points for Mrs. Peacocks weird hat. 9.5/10!