November 22, 2012

Clue…the original movie based on a board game.

We’re back on track with family movie night and after scrolling through Netflix for half an hour, we switched to Amazon Prime, looking for Beastmaster, after suspecting that Conan the Destroyer might be a bit too violent. But before we found Beastmaster, we found Clue.

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I remember my mom taking my sister and I to see Clue in the theater, so I was a little older than my son is now. I had also played Clue before seeing the film, while I’m pretty sure he has never laid eyes on the game…so the significance is totally lost on him. He kept saying, “This is a weird movie.” But he WAS laughing…although the laughing didn’t really start until about 30 minutes in. I will totally BLOW HIS MIND when I find Clue (the board game) and make him play. He will totally think that the game is based on the movie and I will have to explain that the game has been around since my mom was a kid and that the game came before the movie. I am looking forward to the confused look on his face and I am 100% sure he will argue with me…actually, as I typed that last sentence out, my husband is in the kitchen, explaining to my son how to play Clue. Now, it’s close to midnight and my son is trying to talk my husband into going to Target to buy the board game. Then he asked if we could go tomorrow (Thanksgiving) and my husband tried to say that they’ll be closed and my son argued (correctly) that they’ll be open. I’m staying in the living room and keeping my mouth shut. NO FUCKING WAY I am dealing with that Black Friday bullshit, not even for a board game…

Although the entire cast is hilarious, Tim Curry makes the movie. This isn’t his #1 role (Rocky Horror)…or even #2 (Pennywise), but I’d say it’s his #3 role. (#4 is Rooster and #5 is Legend. Yes, I am a total movie dork that has ranked Tim Curry’s performances.)

For the life of me, I can’t remember which ending I saw at the theater. For some reason, I seem to remember seeing all of the endings, but it’s likely that my memory is blurred by the hundreds of times I have seen the movie since…my son was really amused by the multiple endings. when it was over. we asked what he thought and all he said was, “It was pretty cool.” I guess that’s a glowing recommendation from a 7 year old.

Year – 1985
Rating – PG
Runtime – 94 minutes
Genre – Board Game Adaptation
Director(s) – Jonathan Lynn
Writer(s) – John Landis, Jonathan Lynn
Actor(s) – Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean
BOB Rating – Three BOBs
Favorite Quote – "And monkey's brains, though popular in Cantonese cuisine, are not often to be found in Washington D.C." - Wadsworth (Tim Curry)