How good is the movie "Holmes and Watson?" (November 2019 edition!)

At some point this afternoon, I was pondering how I was going to drag myself to the end of an overlong, over-dull workday. Things were just not looking good. Only trivial tasks left, feeling unmotivated, too much leftover Halloween candy sitting nearby . . . a horrible combo. And then something wonderful happened.

This week's episode of The Final Podblem showed up on my iPhone. And, as promised, the boys were varying from their steady diet of Doylean Canon for the very first time to do an episode on a movie. And what movie, you ask? Well, only the best Sherlock Holmes movie in the mental multiiverse we call Sherlock Peoria. You know the one:

Holmes and Watson. The best Sherlock Holmes movie in theaters in 2019.

A great podcast covering a great movie? My day was turning around. Better still, they were actually doing a 97 minute podcast about a movie that is only 90 minutes long! Nothing left on the movie review floor! What could go wrong?

SPOILER ALERT! NOTHING!

While I love their takes on Canon, getting Nick and Casey to go on about Holmes and Watson, the movie I saw six times while it was in theaters, and multiple times after that? This was the best!

And here's the best part: They thought it was a bad movie!

Yes, from square one they agree with so many folks that Holmes and Watson was a bad movie. And yet, they appreciate so many moments of the movie, so many components of the movie, so many aspects of the movie, performances by John C. Reilly and Lauren Lapkus (who gets the "Huxtable" award for this episode for her portrayal of the feral Millie), and the sheer visual beauty of it, that they aren't even hating on it for not making them laugh as much as they thought it should.

They celebrate its left field humor, come up with at different end to the donkey-kiss scene that would have worked ("mass child fight scene"), and actually tie Watson's taking out Brawn Strohman with a chair to his attempt to hit Charles Augustus Milverton with a chair in Canon. They definitely paid attention.

And here's the thing of it: They might say they're glad there won't be a sequel and that they don't think anyone should watch this, but I still came away from the podcast feeling like they kind of liked it. I kind of think they didn't. They imply time and again, that maybe they didn't. But like the best podcasts, they're very thoughtful in walking through the movie and are more positive than negative, even on a movie they might not like. But I am the sort of Holmes and Watson fanatic that will believe you really liked it even if you show the slightest positive reaction.

But The Final Podblem has a good time with Holmes and Watson, which is a key to podcasting, as so many of the larger fish in the podcast pond demonstrate all the time, be it How Did This Get Made?, My Favorite Murder, or a host of others. There's always a touch of comedy, but it's the feeling that the people behind the microphones are actually enjoying what they're doing that is the true charm. And I think Nick and Casey pulled it off with this one.

Good episode, at a good moment for some podcast fun. Looking forward to them taking on other Holmes movies in the future, and no longer quite as concerned that they're going to give up Holmes completely after sixty episodes. There is just so much of him out there.

And just because I have to say it: Holmes and Watson, the movie that's so good, even a podcast by two guys who might not have liked it comes up roses! (Hmm, I know Christmas Day is full of stuff already, but I might have to celebrate the one year anniversary of the movie's release.)

P.S. Hope I didn't just negate a positive review by demonstrating that I might be mad as a hatter. But regular readers of this blog are used to that.