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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Jacob Stolworthy

Holmes & Watson: Will Ferrell and John C Reilly comedy is prompting cinema walkouts

New comedy Holmes & Watson is said to be so bad that it’s prompting walkouts from cinemagoers.

The Sony film – which unites Step Brothers stars Will Ferrell and John C Reilly – was released on Christmas Day having not been screened to critics in advance.

Following its release, reviews began to surface online, the negativity of which leading to the film receiving zero per cent on Rotten Tomatoes after 24 hours. It now sits at four per cent.

It seems the public are agreeing with the critics. Numerous messages posted to Twitter reveal people have been forced to leave the cinema, with some even asking for their money back.

Holmes and Watson was the worst f***ing movie of all time,” one user wrote, adding: “First movie I’ve ever walked out on.”

Another added: “Holmes and Watson possibly the worse film I’ve seen. Walked out the cinema.”

One Twitter user branded the Etan Cohen film “the worst piece of trash movie I have ever seen in my entire life” with another urging members of the public to “run” away from the film.

Holmes and Watson – an adult spoof of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories – co-stars Kelly Macdonald, Hugh Laurie, Pam Ferris and Ralph Fiennes, who plays Moriarty.

You can see a selection of these tweets below.

Reviews have branded the “abysmally unfunny” film “career lows” for both Ferrell and Reilly, the latter of whom is winning rave reviews for his portrayal of Oliver Hardy in forthcoming biopic Stan & Ollie

"You can tell just why the cinema manager there didn’t do more to get it shown," The Independent wrote, after critic Geoffrey Macnab revealed that the film's first London screening was cancelled "on the grounds that the projector wasn’t working properly".

While the Los Angeles Times considered the film “a well-meaning misfire”, IndieWire wondered how “so many funny people have been squeezed into such an unfunny movie”.

“[It’s] a movie that isn’t nearly smart enough to recognise how stupid it should have been,” the site’s review read.

You can read our verdict on Holmes & Watson here.

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