This one is for my friend Lindsay. It’s been forever since I saw Clue. I’m pretty sure I brought it home one weekend on videotape. I know I enjoyed it, but watching it now, you realize this one is really something special.

With a trio of different endings, the film guaranteed that it would be talked about. And who would have thought that a movie based on a board game would actually be this damned entertaining?

The cast is stacked. Led by Tim Curry as the Butler, there is also Micheal McKean (who looks like he’s channeling his inner Rick Moranis), Lesley Ann Warren, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan, and Martin Mull.

They all take the roles of the characters from the game. They’ve all been summoned to a remote mansion and revealed that they are all being blackmailed by the same person, Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving – who gives a terrible performance – sorry). So it shouldn’t be a surprise that he ends up dead. But who did it, and with what instrument of death?

The group cannot leave the mansion, and they need to figure out who is responsible for the murder before the cops arrive.

Filled with great dialogue, wonderful gags, and enjoyable comedic performances by icons. It’s wonderfully funny, and skewers the mystery genre while also, surprisingly, honoring the board game on which it is based.

It’s just so much fun.

I may argue that this may be one of my favorite performances by Tim Curry, he’s just so on-point, and plays it just right. In fact the entire cast seems to be in on the joke, and still playing it as straight as they can.

The details and nods to the game, the colors of cars, the design of the rooms, tiles, weapons, secret passages, they all give little nods to the boardgame. And it definitely shows that with the right attention to detail, and desire to have fun, board games (and perhaps video games) can be adapted successfully.

Like some of the best movies of the 80s, this one has gained a level of cult status that belies the fact that it didn’t do as well as it should have at the box office. But now, it is definitely beloved. And how can it not be? A fantastic cast, a well-executed idea, and a real sense of fun, all of which is argued by the always incredible Tim Curry.

I can’t recommend this one enough, it’s a perfect movie for an evening in. They don’t make films like this anymore.

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