Six people are invited to a house party by someone who is blackmailing them all. Each person is assigned a name in order to protect their real identity: there's Mrs. Peacock, Mrs. White, Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, and Mr. Green. As each of them arrives, they're greeted by Wadsworth, the butler. The house has two other staff members, a cook and a maid. The last person to arrive is Mr. Boddy, the man blackmailing all the guests.

Shortly after his arrival, Mr. Boddy is killed. The evening snowballs as more people are found dead, and the clock's ticking because the police will soon be arriving. Can the guests figure out who the murderer is?

I could have sworn I'd reviewed this ages ago, but I guess not. Anyway, this was a rewatch, and it was delightful, possibly my all-time favorite "movie based on a game." It starts off pretty slow, because it takes so long for all of the guests to arrive and the goal to be laid out, and everyone's awkward.

There are a few jokes to help set the mood, but things don't truly pick up until after the first murder, as the whole cast becomes suspicious of one another while at the same time being unable to leave. Other seemingly random characters arrive who invite further chaos, because in reality they're all connected to at least one of the guests.

It's bananas, and great fun. Everything become so ridiculous so quickly, and it's all helped along by well-delivered and witty dialogue filled with wordplay.

The DVD version I watched included a couple viewing options, one in which one of the three endings would be used at random and one with all three endings. In my opinion, the most satisfying way to do it is to just watch all three endings - only one of them makes an effort to tie everything together, after all.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Takes a long while to really get going, but once it's done doing set-up, the film becomes a delight, especially so in its conclusion(s). My only regret is that the fourth ending known from the novelization didn't make it to the screen, as it sounds by far the best of all of them. ( )

A dinner party murder mystery.

It's poorly made in a lot of respects, but watching it is just a good time. They just don't make this sort of movie anymore. Lots of silliness and vaudeville-style gags - kind of like a muppet movie, minus the characters and singing.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: D
Dialog: A
Pacing: A
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: C

Enjoyment: A plus

GPA: 2.9/4 ( )