Plot a la Netflix:
Millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) invites the five most brilliant private eyes to a dinner that turns into a murder investigation with a million-dollar prize going to the one who solves the case. The all-star cast (working with an Oscar-nominated script by Neil Simon) includes Peter Falk, James Coco, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith and Eileen Brennan, all playing characters based on famous literary detectives.
...and by "based on famous literary detectives" they really mean obviously ripped-off spoofs! It is so funny if you are familiar with a few detectives enough to get the jokes. The detectives are James Coco as Milo Perrier (Agatha Christy's Hercule Poirot), Peter Falk as Sam Diamond (Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade), Else Lanchester as Jessica Marbles (Agatha Christy's Miss Marple), David Niven and Maggie Smith as Dick and Dora Charleston (Nick and Nora from The Thin Man), and Peter Sellers as Sidney Wang (Inspector Charlie Chan, complete with #3 son!). All the stereotype jokes are there, all the accents and caricatures and plot devices. It was super funny.
Overall, it is like the Clue movie, the same wit and face-paced dialogue. I can't say much more about the movie because the jokes aren't really funny when read because you miss delivery and accents. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this to anyone who has a passing knowledge of the detectives to be able to understand the inside jokes.
My Rating: 5 of 5! Highly enjoyable.
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