![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/c/clue.jpg)
Clue
Clue is a clueless comedy. It is entirely possible to sit through the entire film and not smile, much less laugh, once. Its creators, the unfunny John Landis, credited as a writer, and the equally unfunny Jonathan Lynn, whose directorial filmography is abysmal, have done nothing interesting in contriving a story from the board game, which by the way is designed for the mental age of four or under. Why this 1985 film, which grossed a mere $3.1 million upon initial release, suddenly merits transfer to DVD while so many other Paramount titles are still missing is itself a mystery, but the exercise is probably based on the film's "trick" of having three different endings, supposedly as random as the game, which at the time of release played in different theaters. On the DVD, as on the VHS edition, they simply appear seriatim at the end. Narratively, Clue is an "old dark house" mystery, and the viewers are invited to wonder who is killing a group of imported and inconsequential characters who stumble upon a set of collected dinner guests at a mansion. The "suspects" include Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock, Tim Curry as Wadsworth the butler, the late Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, Christopher Lloyd as the leering Professor Plum, Michael McKean as the meek Mr. Green, Martin Mull as the unmilitary Colonel Mustard, Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet, and Colleen Camp in a sexy French maid's uniform (but who unfortunately is knocked off halfway through). Good anamorphic transfer (1.85:1), but of mediocre, TV-style photography. Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono). Trailer, keep-case.
—D.K. Holm
