Despite Its Stacked Cast, 8 Years Later This Is Still the Worst Sherlock Holmes Adaptation (And It Just Hit Free Streaming): A Practical Look

There are some iconic stories that keep getting adapted and fans are all for it and among those stories are adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. There is just something about the adventures of the fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that has captured the attention and imagination of audiences for nearly 140 years, leading to adaptations across just about every kind of media you can imagine. In fact, two MCU stars have brought the iconic detective to life in two different live-action adaptations, Benedict Cumberbatch in television’s Sherlock which debuted in 2010 and ran for four seasons and Robert Downey Jr. who starred in two films, 2009’s Sherlock Holmes and it’s 2011 follow up, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. But not all adaptations of these stories are great. There are plenty that fall short and now, the absolute worst of them has just hit free streaming — and it’s just bonkers enough that you probably don’t want to miss it.

Released in 2018, Holmes & Watson stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson respectively. Rebecca Hall, Rob Brydon, Kelly Macdonald, Steve Coogan, and Ralph Fiennes round out the cast. As you can probably guess, this isn’t meant to be an adventure film or a serious detective mystery. This adaptation is meant to be a straight up comedy, one that follows the iconic duo as they investigate a threat at Buckingham Palace. But while Ferrell and Reilly have a relatively solid box office track record, Holmes & Watson just wasn’t it. The film didn’t even make back it’s $42 million budget at the box office and didn’t fare well with critics either. It’s now streaming on Pluto TV.

Holmes & Watson Might Not Be Great, But It Could Still Be Worth Your Time

Now, I’m not going to try to convince you that Holmes & Watson is secretly some gem of a movie that critics and audiences were wrong about when it came out eight years ago. The movie is honestly not great, but it’s also not the absolute disaster I think that it’s been made out to be. The trick to watching and appreciating this movie is that you have to accept it for what it is — and what it’s not. I think that a big part of the reaction against Holmes & Watson comes from the fact that it’s not Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, which is a more serious approach to the character and story, or Downey’s version, which is more humorous but maintains a serious and dramatic element. When two versions of a character and story that are, quite honestly, gold standards are what you’re up against, anything is going to fall short.

But there’s also the nature of what Holmes & Watson is on its own and the short answer to that is that it is never meant in any way shape or form to be a serious movie. This is a comedy that is meant to be as silly, juvenile, and even a little low quality in the same vein as Ferrell and Reilly’s previous collaborations. To put it more bluntly, this is meant to be childish and tacky and sometimes, that’s really all you want. It’s a movie that you don’t need to have your brain turned on for, you’ll get a few cheap laughs out of, and it might also be the most bonkers thing Ferrell has done so it has that, too. The reality is that not every movie that gets your time has to be great or even good. Sometimes, you just need a bad one to not only help you appreciate good movies, but sort of let your brain rest. Given that this one is free to stream, it’s pretty low risk which makes it a great weekend afternoon watch.

Holmes & Watson is now streaming on Pluto TV.