Clue (1985) Critic Reviews

Clue the movie, not the board game, isn't so much a drama as it is a marketing gimmick. Presumably, Paramount Pictures believed that an audience was clamoring to see actors play one-dimensional figures from a game. [13 Dec 1985, p.57]Read the full review

Lots of sight gags and one-liners are attempted, but few of them succeed. The cast is talented but stranded in weak material.Read the full review

Inspired by the Parker Brothers board game of the same name, Clue is more frenetic than funny, more strained than suspenseful or scary. In fact, it's not the least bit scary or suspenseful but instead quickly grows tedious. The more you struggle to keep track of the constantly multiplying plot developments, the harder it gets to care who did it. [13 Dec 1985, p.6]Read the full review

Unlike the game, Clue doesn't take murder seriously. Writer-director Jonathan Lynn has made a campy non-thriller rather than laying down the mystery and then having fun with it; the comedy kills the plot.Read the full review

there is so little genuine wit to be found in ''Clue.'' The film does have a speedy pace, but that could hardly be confused with Mr. Hawks's madcap humor; instead, it involves a lot of running around through secret passages, and some slapstick routines involving dead bodies. The actors are meant to function as an ensemble, but that merely means that they often repeat the same line simultaneously.Read the full review