Let the stupid fun begin!

There's a lot of bad going on right now. But that thing that's going to happen in a couple of weeks is definitely not a part of it. It's our Christmas gift.

Holmes and Watson, starring Will Farrell and John C. Reilly, is stirring the Sherlockian pot a bit, as was demonstrated by a recent trip to Facebook-land, which is one big comment section. I love the original thoughts from creative, bright folks, but hate the long chains of repetitively dull comments that follow. And, boy, was Holmes and Watson getting repetitively dull comments.

"So stupid!"

"I'm not seeing it."

"Why does Hollywood produce trash movies like this?"

a.) Yes, that's kind of the point.

b.) Then your review will be a little worthless, won't it?

c.) They make money, because people see them. Duh.

And anyone that love, love, loves Elementary but pooh-poohs Holmes and Watson can bite my sassy Sherlockian ass right now. But I also apologize for having said that, because I know neurodiversity can produce some interesting combos, valid for certain situations and not others. Like biting my . . . oh, stop! (Insert second apology here.)

Anyway, like I tweeted on Twitter (but not on Facebook, because frankly, Facebook frightens me like mobs with torches do), parody is subversive. And Holmes and Watson, with a Holmes AND a Watson both as stupid as Nigel Bruce, is definitely subversive against the high-IQ traditional image of Holmes (and now Watson, since we're done with Nigel Bruce). Wait, was Nigel Bruce subversive parody . . . of a certain type of British fellow . . . ooooohhhhhh, he waaaasssssss.

Just as Will Farrell has long been a parody of a certain type of arrogant American male in most of his movies, a skill he's now bringing to a British icon. He's always garnered a big love/hate split in reactions, because stupid in comedy isn't to everyone's tastes. And neither is slapstick. Smacking Queen Victoria in the head with a box camera could be seen as violence against women, and if one is especially sensitive in that area, this is not your movie. But Queen Vickie isn't just a woman, she's the ruler of an empire, a symbol of both power and propriety. Smacking her in the head or fawning "I love you" in her direction is subversive as hell, and that's where the fun starts.

My dear old Sherlockian neighbor, back in the Seinfeld days, would say how proud he was never to have watched an episode of Seinfeld. Proud. Years later, when it was on a 6:30 syndicated nightly rotation, he was watching it religiously and going on about how funny all those gags were that the rest of us got years before. I'm not telling this to say that folks who go see Holmes and Watson are going to necessarily find they enjoy it, just that they might want to go to make sure they can talk about it knowledgeably afterwards. Proclaiming things from a place of ignorance is a something we can seeing hurting our country real-time right now. Don't be that person.

It's okay not to like things. Especially annoying bloggers who will start poking you in the ribs once they realize that you don't, and they're feeling especially merry about something.

Because Holmes and Watson really looks like it's going to make for a very merry Christmas for some of us.

Hee hee hee.