To me, this movie is perfection.

How sad is this?

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Tim Curry at his absolute best! A genuine ensemble cast, twists and turns galore superb comedy/mystery caper with a great ending. My go to film when I'm feeling down.

Another in my occasional series reappraising films after a couple of decades having not seen it, and alas "Clue" is disaster that not only hasn't stood the test of time, but makes me wonder why I couldn't see it all those years ago. Based on the board game; the film stars Tim Curry as Waddington, the Butler of Mr Boddy. Who gathers several of his masters Blackmail associates together ostensibly to help them understand that they are all in this together and to go to the police. However, when Mr Body comes home and discovers the group, the plans go awry and one of the guests murders him. As the guests attempt to determine which one of them is a murderer, and further bodies start to pile up, hilarity ensures.Except it doesn't. . There are a few weak puns. There are some jokes about a homosexual character that really haven't aged well but mostly there's just lots of running up and down, which I think the makers have confused with humour. It's tiresome both mentally and physically. It doesn't even hold the interest as a murder mystery, as there are no genuine clues that you can gather towards any of the three conclusions. Just stilted dialogue and forced performancesTim Curry is trying his best, I accept, but really wasn't given much to work with. There are some really talented supporting cast members too but all are undone by a witless underbaked script of backstory and nonsense.

Deaths, which I believe occurred in the order I list them: Mr Boddy, a guest (Lee Ving), but not one of the initial six who sat to dinner. Apparently it takes two attempts on his life to successfully do him in.The cook, Mrs Ho (played by Kellye Nakahara who portrayed nurses with three different names on M*A*S*H), with a knife in her back, found in the reefer in the kitchen.Stranded Motorist (Jeffrey Kramer) is killed in the lounge.Police Officer -billed as The Cop- (Bill Henderson) in the library.Singing Telegram Girl (Jane Wiedlin) is shot immediately outside the front door, with her only spoken dialog "Da da, da dun dun dun . . . I am your singing telegram girl . . ." Yvette the Maid (Colleen Camp) is found dead in the billiard room, choked with a hangman's rope.Three different endings were used: the first making Miss Scarlet the murderer; the second blames Mrs Peacock; while the third places responsibility with multiple characters, with Plum killing Boddy, Peacock killing the cook, Mustard killing the motorist, White killing Yvette the Maid, and Scarlet killing The Cop, while Green is accused of shooting the telegram girl. After this, Green is forced to shoot Butler Wadsworth, and reveals himself as an FBI agent planted in the house as part of an investigation. A forth ending exists, but the director insisted it be abandoned because it "wasn't very good."

CLUE is one in a spate of 1970s/1980s comedies that mercilessly spoofed the old dark house murder mystery genre popular in the 1930s. It shares much in common with the all-star MURDER BY DEATH, for example. However, I think CLUE has the edge when it comes to entertainment, as this film's always been a favourite of mine ever since I was a kid. It has a manic, madcap energy going on that makes it an often delight to watch.Much of the humour and quirkiness comes from the presence of Tim Curry playing the butler in the story. Curry takes centre stage in the story and runs away with part, reminding me of Lee Evans with his sweaty, running-about-a-lot performance. It's my personal favourite performance of his, and it takes some beating. Thankfully, an ensemble cast of seasoned professionals don't disappoint either. Michael McKean is the stand-offish Mr. Green, Martin Mull the blustering Colonel Mustard, and Eileen Brennan the eccentric Mrs. Peacock. Colleen Camp has an eye-poppingly voluptuous turn as the French maid but my personal favourite of the ladies is Lesley Ann Warren as femme fatale Miss Scarlet, whose dress seems to have some magical anti-gravity device.CLUE tells a fast-paced story in which the gags come thick and fast and rarely disappoint. The level of ghoulish humour is second to none and certainly superior to that seen in contemporary fare like HIGH SPIRITS or HAUNTED HONEYMOON. I also liked the way that the film has multiple shot endings which gives it an odd and unique feel. Films based on board games are few and far between and rarely successful (BATTLESHIP anyone?) but this one's the exception to that rule.