Clue (Movie) - Review

Communism was just a red herring...

Clue movie poster

Based upon the classic board game, we have Clue: The Movie. To be honest, Clue is probably the best board game to make a movie out of, as it actually has a story. I mean, remember Candy Land’s epic quest? No, of course you don’t, so why are we wasting time. Let’s get right into it.

Quick Plot Summary
A butler named Wadsworth invites 7 house-guests to an old creepy mansion at the end of a hill, 6 of them arrive and after an awkward dinner, they are all invited down to the study, and then the 7th guest arrives, Mr. Body, the original murder victim from the game. The first 6 guests, using the code-names: Mustard, Peacock, Scarlet, White, Plum, and Green, are all informed of the one detail that they have in common: they are all being blackmailed for embarrassing and confidential information that they each possess about Mr. Body. After a short speech from Mr. Body, he hands out 6 lethal weapons: a revolver, a rope, a pipe, a knife, a candlestick, and a wrench, just before he flicks the lights off. When they are turned back on, Mr. Body lay on the floor dead, and the house-guests must cooperate with Wadsworth, the cook, and the maid to solve the mystery as to who killed him, before the police arrive, as Wadsworth called them In advance as part of a side plot to catch Mr. Body in the act.

Almost immediately the cook is found dead in the kitchen, and the blame train starts to travel around the group. After a while of silly shenanigans, the group decides to split up and search the house, and several more potential victims show up to the front door. As the night goes on, we learn more about the confidential information of each of the house-guests, and as to why they were being extorted in the first place.

The Ending
As the plot goes on, by the end of the night, four more lives have been claimed by the murderer, and before the police arrive, Wadsworth hilariously reenacts the events of the night, saying who did what, how they did it, and then reveals the culprit in one of three endings. In later releases, it’s possible to even see all three, back to back, which is cool to say the least, especially for the time period. I don’t want to go into to many details about any of the endings; you’ll have to find them out for yourself!

The Score
It’s time for the score. What did I think of it? What will you think of it? It’s time to find out. I give three scores based upon 3 different people’s opinions of the movie: My own, the average person, and the veteran cinema-goer.

For the average person, this move is a 65/100. The score may seem kind of low for the praise I’m going to give it, but really, this was a pretty great movie. It had tons of hilarious actors and scenarios, as well as a cool setting, props, and decent presentation overall. However, there is somethings in the story aspect it lacks. It surely expands on the story, presented on the back of the games cardboard box, where the entire concept for the film came from, but luckily that doesn’t weigh down on it too much. It may not have left a lasting impression, but it was definitely entertaining, and I think that at the very least deserves a score of Below Average, but still it was not that bad overall.

For the veteran cinema-goer, this movie deserves a 58/100. Not much lower than the previous score, but rank wise, those two points make a difference. As a veteran cinema-goer, you’ll no doubt find some of the jokes drag, and some odd choices made by the actors and prop masters that may make you second-guess the validity of this movie. For you, definitely see it, but this picture is definitely just a Basic experience.

For me, I’m a bit more appreciative of this movie, and that’s why my score for it, is a 65/100. Once again, not much higher than the average person’s rating, but in general, I just like it more. I’m not sure what it is, but the right combinations of varying elements just make this movie fun to watch for me. At times it gets a bit sloppy, but that’s OK. Ultimately, this movie is good, but still Below Average, even in my eyes.

Thanks for reading. This is my first movie review, so I’m still trying to figure out the structure of how I’ll do this type of review. Be sure to leave a comment, or a like, if you enjoyed. Thanks everyone, I’ll see you at the end of the day for a new edition of: Levengood Today.

You can check out clues Wikipedia page here, and buy it here, on Amazon.