Will Ferrell promises smart jokes and slapstick in 'Holmes & Watson'

[December 21, 2018]    By Simon Thompson

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comic actors Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reunite on the big screen on Christmas in the film "Holmes & Watson," a spoof of the famous stories about the legendary British detective duo.

In the movie, Sherlock Holmes (Ferrell) and his partner Doctor Watson (Reilly) set out to stop a plot to assassinate Queen Victoria.

The film takes a far different tone from the classic mysteries written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ferrell said from the beginning that he envisioned a film with "almost a Mel Brooks-ian kind of approach," referring to the director famous for spoofs such as "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein."

The "Holmes & Watson" film "has some smart jokes, but it also has some jokes that are pure slapstick and go for the joke that will make you blush," Ferrell told Reuters.

Ferrell and Reilly previously appeared together on screen in "Step Brothers" and "Talladega Nights."

Reilly said he hopes Holmes purists will welcome the new take.

"Most of the jokes in the movie I think are based on stuff in the books," he said. "We're riffing on things that are in the books, that are done seriously in the books, but then we look at them in a funnier way."

(Reporting by Simon Thompson; Writing by Lisa Richwine; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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