Stats: 1985. Starring Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Leslie Ann Warren. PG.
Background: In college, one of my roommates went on about what a wonderful movie Clue was. I had never heard of it before. Her praise for it stuck with me, though, and when I saw it as a “watch now” option on Netflix several years later, I decided to watch it with my sister. We really liked it, and she even bought a copy.
Last Saturday, I found it at Target for $5. When Steph bought her copy, I didn’t think I liked it $13 (or whatever she paid for it). But $5? I totally like it $5.
Reactions: This movie is great! It's a movie adaptation of the game, but it also has much in common with Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. While the basic plots are similar—strangers, who all harbor dastardly secrets, are summoned to a house by an unknown host, and people begin dying—Clue is definitely a comedy, while And Then There Were None is a serious and suspenseful murder mystery.
Of course, all the elements of the game are present in the movie. My favorite aspect of the movie is the three possible endings. (Since the game can end in a variety of ways, it’s a nice touch to have the end of the movie vary also.) Apparently, only one ending was shown in the theatrical version—according to Wikipedia (I know, not the most reliable source in the world), each theater that showed the movie was randomly assigned one of the endings.
I also love the touch of having Tim Curry’s character step in dog poop before he enters the house, and then each person who comes in sniffs, trying to identify the stench. Juvenile, maybe, but it made me laugh!
Verdict: Keep
