Clue (1985) [VHS] (1985)

Involving the talents of seven of Hollywood's funniest funny people, including Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum, and Tim Curry as Wadsworth, the requisite butler, the film is guaranteed to keep you laughing. The script is packed with sparklingly witty exchanges, such as this one between Wadsworth and an angry Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull):

Mustard: Are you trying to make me look stupid in front of the other guests?

Wadsworth: You don't need any help from me.

Mustard: That's right!

Later in the picture, as the by-now-blasé guests glance down at the most recent victim, Mr. Green (Michael McKean) updates the count to "Six murders." Wadsworth's grave response? "This is getting serious." And Wadsworth's explanation of "who killed whom where and with what" at the end of the picture is packed with the impersonations, facial expressions, and things not-quite-British that rank Tim Curry among the funniest Britons ever to defect to Hollywood.

Madeline Kahn, too, liberally sprinkles commentaries, both vocal and facial, into any and all situations, the sheer spontaneity of which make one wonder whether or not they're actually in the script. The line in the show which had me laughing the hardest, anyway, was not really a line at all, but rather a high-pitched, yodeling scream from Mrs. White. (You'll know it when you hear it.) And her operatic descant over the guests' chorus of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" had me rolling in the aisle.

Another facet of the movie, disguised by the humor, but every bit as important to one's enjoyment of the film, is the maze of leads, lies, and leaps of logic which ultimately culminates in not one, but three possible answers as to "Whodunnit." And here's the amazing part: each of the three endings (I checked) stands up to close scrutiny of the clues provided earlier in the film. From the time Wadsworth verifies Yvette's mysterious "instructions" until the last pull of the trigger, each minute detail is essential to the plot. A word of warning to the dedicated popcorn-munching detective: the guests at this dinner party are all experts at using comedy to distract. While you're busy laughing at Miss Scarlet in the ballroom, a desperate dinner guest wielding a monkey wrench is hurrying through the secret passage to the study, trying to silence that unfortunate motorist before he says too much....

The film isn't perfect-the physical humor becomes strained at times, and there are a very few lines whose comedic and textual value I question. Still, the film bears enough good comedy and old-fashioned mystery, garnished with a sound track that adds just the right spice to the flavor of both humor and suspense, to earn a "five-star comedy" rating from me.

Without a doubt the best feature of this DVD is the multiple endings feature. After you select "play" you will be asked if you would lilke the player to randomly choose one of the three endings for you, or see all three of them at the end. Whoever thought of this feature deserves a raise as it greatly enhances the longevity of the disc and brings the film closer to it's board game roots. Now you have the option of really not knowing who did it until the final scenes play bringing suprise into the untold repeat viewings that are sure to occur.

The technical imperfections mentioned before are slight and I believe are primarilly due to original production decisions and the films age. To make a long review short (too late), this is a must own for any fan of one of the numerous stars, comedy or film firsts. You won't be disappointed.

The story to Clue is a great mystery. Six individuals Mr.Green(McKean), Mrs.Peacock(Brannen),Col.Mustard(Mull),Mrs.White(Kahn), Miss Scarlet(Warren), and Pro. Plum(Lloyd) have all received invitations to a mysterious house. They all have been invited to dinner and have no idea while they are there. When they reach the house they discover that the master is not there, but his butler Wadsworth(Curry) and Maid Yvette(Camp) are the only poeple there. The guests are informed that they are there by the invitation of Mr.Boddy. Mr.Boddy is blackmailing them all and thats the only thing in common the six people have. Then people start dying in the home and now it's up to the whole group to see who is doing it and to see if they can get out alive.

This really was a great cast. It had a bunch of big stars from that day. All have pretty good performances in there roles as the character from the game.

Tim Curry gives the best performance of the movie. Curry is a very talented actor. He's been quite underrated in Hollywood. He really takes the role as Wadsworth the Butler and runs with it. He is such a weasal and nobody plays a character like Curry can.

The other actors in the movie really do give good performances in the movie.

The movie is quite funny and has a bunch of slapstick in it. Mull as Col.Mustard is the funniest out of the six characters because he sets himself up to be made fun of so well. The dialogue is also quite funny and when the characters start ranting it gets quite good. John Landis(Blues Brother, Animal House) wrote the story with Johnathan Lynn writing the screenplay. They've combined for a fantastic written movie.

It's a great mystery and the three different endings are fun. You get all three of them on the DVD and all are enjoyable though some are better than others. You really are kept quite clueless as to who has killed who and that again is credited to the writing skills of Landis and Lynn.

Thi is a funny movie. If you like to play Clue the game then you will definetly enjoy this movie. If you like slapstick comedies you will definetly enjoy the movie as well. This is a funny movie that can be watched by the whole family. So go get Clue and be prepared to laugh and have a good time.