Film · Prime Video · 1985

Clue

A farce about corruption. Clever, adult, and not impressed by the guests.

Everyone in the house has a public face and a private leverage. The comedy is the speed of the doors. The moral, under the slapstick, is that blackmail is a kind of government and the people in it have already agreed to live there. The multiple endings are a stunt. The consistent fact is that nobody in the dining room is clean except the staff they keep suspecting.

Fun for adults who like a board game. Do not look here for a model of wit that a child should copy. The wit is panic.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

The eight

Industry
4/10
A staff that actually runs the house while the guests scheme.
Household
2/10
Marriages are the blackmail material.
Piety
2/10
None.
Courage
3/10
They mostly accuse. Few of them are brave.
Republic
5/10
Blackmail as a private government. The film thinks it is sordid, which is correct.
Temperance
4/10
Lust and panic run the evening.
Truth
6/10
Everyone is lying. The plot is the unpacking.
Stewardship
3/10
Nothing is handed on but a punchline.

Live historicallyIf someone gathers you to share a secret guilt, leave before the lights go out.

Film · Prime Video · 2002

Chicago

The satire is sharp. The numbers make the murder glamorous, which is the accusation and the temptation. Adults.

Roxie wants the stage more than she wants to be good, and the film does not lie about that want. Billy Flynn sells a jury the way he would sell a ticket. The merry murderesses are a chorus of women the city would rather watch than judge. That is a true picture of a public. It is also a picture so pleasurable that the public in your living room may join it.

Watch it for the cynicism, with adults who can hear the cynicism. If the room starts rooting for the acquittal as a happy ending, stop the disk and say the dull fact. She did it. The dance was the defense.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

The eight

Industry
5/10
Show business as the real labor, and it is corrupt.
Household
2/10
Marriage is a prop.
Piety
2/10
The spotlight is the god.
Courage
4/10
Nerve in the service of a lie.
Republic
4/10
A court that wants a show.
Temperance
2/10
Appetite for fame.
Truth
7/10
It tells the truth that the crowd would rather be entertained than just.
Stewardship
3/10
The risk is that you leave humming.

Live historicallyDo not confuse applause with absolution.