THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS starts out with a familiar plot: evil brother wants to have goofy brother committed so he can steal the family fortune. Goofy brother (Scott) believes he is Sherlock Holmes, so a psychiatrist (Woodard) is brought in to certify him for the asylum. Both actors deliver engaging, nuanced performances.
It turns out that "Holmes" has a lot more savvy and insight than a crazy person should. He turns the table on the doctor (whose name, appropriately, is Watson) and starts to dissect her personality and problems. All this takes place while he's hunting around NYC to find "Moriarty," his arch-nemesis.
This film could have gone in many interesting directions, and occasionally you think it's about to. There are some funny scenes, and some tender scenes, but what starts out to be a climax ends up as a fizzle, with one of those ambiguous endings that 70s directors loved so much. You start to think that Holmes's quirky clues might actually turn out to solve some important problem, but they just hit a dead end. And, no surprise, that's what happened to this movie at the box office.
It turns out that "Holmes" has a lot more savvy and insight than a crazy person should. He turns the table on the doctor (whose name, appropriately, is Watson) and starts to dissect her personality and problems. All this takes place while he's hunting around NYC to find "Moriarty," his arch-nemesis.
This film could have gone in many interesting directions, and occasionally you think it's about to. There are some funny scenes, and some tender scenes, but what starts out to be a climax ends up as a fizzle, with one of those ambiguous endings that 70s directors loved so much. You start to think that Holmes's quirky clues might actually turn out to solve some important problem, but they just hit a dead end. And, no surprise, that's what happened to this movie at the box office.