Girls of Geek Movie Review: Clue

Written by Scotty

There was a time when families would sit together and play games that would captivate their imaginations.  I know this is hard to believe in this day and age where our children are all stuck playing a game on their PlayStation, Xbox or even on their new tablets.  Before technology took over the world, families would sit around a table and play a board game.  One of the most popular games that would have families and friends at each other’s necks was called Clue.  Clue was a game that rarely had the same ending twice, unless you played it more than thirty times.  With it all being the luck of the draw, everyone was a suspect in this murder mystery classic but I have always been a true believer that the butler did it.

Before the comic book rage had taken to the big screen, studios were looking to capitalize on something that was different, but could still captivate the minds and hearts of the audience and that is what gave birth to one of the classic movies by the same name, Clue. Assembling a great cast of actors was not out of the ordinary in the mid-eighties, but having them in a story that had never really been tested to date was.  Being led by Tim Curry, the cast of greats included Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean, Martin Mull and Christopher Lloyd.   With a strong cast assembled, all that was left was to get a strong script in place that could stand true to the popular game and that was done by John Landis and Jonathan Lynn.

When all was said and done, the classic board game was brought to the big screen and our favorite characters had been brought to life.  With Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, Wadsworth, Mrs. White, Professor Plum, Mr. Green and Miss Scarlet the game has been set for audiences around the nation.  Although the first pass at this film could have been called a box office bust, the cult following of this film has been anything but.  With the basic storyline of the game being highlighted and played out properly, it was missing something from day one, but for the life of me, I do not understand what.

With a group of six strangers being locked in a house and nobody going by their actual name, it is amazing what this movie brought to the screen.  With a bag a tricks being handed out by Mr. Boddy, everyone in the house is a suspect when he ends up dead at his dinner party.  When nobody will fess up to his death, the cook becomes the next victim and the list of bodies grows larger and larger.  The butler admits to gathering the group for the deadly dinner party, but will not admit to killing anyone as he is trying to have them all cleared of their crimes they are being blackmailed for.  As the group tries to determine if there is anybody else in the house, more deaths occur and the killer needs to be pinpointed before the police arrive and sends them all to jail. 

This is one of my favorite movies and I try to find something new every time in watching it.  With fantastic acting and great interaction between all of the characters, this is one of the most intriguing murder mystery movies I have seen.  Witty dialog and plenty of levity, Clue does what no other movie before its time had done before and made characters with nothing behind them into household names once again.  With multiple endings, the movie plays true to the game and it adds a fantastic twist at the end that you will never see coming.  Social interaction games are played face to face are a thing of the past, but sometimes having that extra contact with a person is something we all need once in a while.  Happy viewing.  

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