Clue is a movie based on the famous board game of the same name. It features a set of guests who have been invited to the home of "Mr Boddy" and given aliases for the evening - Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, etc etc. As the night progresses a murder (well more than one but you'll have to find out just how many!) is committed and the doors are locked… the race is one to find out who the killer is before the police show up. The trouble is, each one of them has the means and motive to be the killer - or is there more than one murderer afoot? What was the murder weapon? A gun went off but it's bearer claims someone else fired it, that candlestick looks pretty deadly, the knife is glinting sharply and the cook suddenly doesn't look too healthy… plus the mansion they're in seems to have no end of hidden passages, which evidently someone knows about while others stumble upon them unawares…
What we have here is a truly madcap comedy with a great cast led by an endlessly energetic Tim Curry as the Butler, Wadsworth. His manic performance is the cornerstone of the whole movie and he relishes every moment of it in a truly great performance. Other cast members include Lee Ving as Mr Boddy, Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard, Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlett, and Colleen Camp as Yvette, the sexy maid with a murky past. Also of note is Christopher Lloyd's performance as Professor Plum - he's been brilliant in pretty much everything I've seen him in, and this is certainly no exception. Madeline Khan as Mrs White, Eileen Brennan as Mrs Peacock, and Michael McKean as Mr Green complete the set. While each is great, without Tim Curry's glorious performance the film wouldn't have held together too well.
As it is though, this is a very funny film indeed. It's essentially a spoof not only of the board game but also the whole murder mystery genre, but I don't think you'd need to be a fan of those (or even particularly familiar with them) to find this funny. I have both this and "Murder by Death" on my Top Ten Spoof Movies list, with fond memories of both, but having recently re-watched both it is obvious that Clue is not only much funnier but also has a much broader appeal. I'm not a great fan of the murder mystery genre myself but still found Clue hilarious.
The music score (by John Morris) was a perfect blend of jolly and spooky depending on the scene, and it’s all shot with a joyful abandon. It's also quiet unique (I think) in that it actually has 3 different endings - one after the other! (I'm not reviewing the DVD per se but you can watch the film with one ending, randomly picked from the three.) I think it's kind of fun having the three endings one after the other anyway, it's funny how they are so different but all sound plausible.
Anyway, if you like spoofs or comedies in general, and in particular if you like Tim Curry, then you'll thoroughly enjoy this film. Which is, really, all that needs to be said of the matter.
Other Information
Director: Jonathon Lynn
Year of release: 1985
Rating: PG (not much in the way of offensive content, just a few small bits, can't remember any bad language, Yvette the maid was quite saucy so that may be it - o, and the murders of course!)
Runtime: 94 minutes (or 97 minutes in Sweden, for some unexplained reason!)
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