A Tale of Two Movies

"Sherlock Holmes" was a glorious romp.  Plenty of action, excellent production values, and two actors who played their parts and played off each other to perfection.  Robert Downey Jnr's Holmes was larger than life - demanding, difficult, brilliant and a superb fighter as well as thinker.  Jude Law's Watson was the perfect partner and foil to Holmes' excesses.  The baddies were bad, the setting was just as it should be for Victorian England, everything was explained at the end - a very satisfying experience.

"Old Dogs", starring Robin Williams and John Travolta, should have been great fun too.  But it tried too hard.  The writing was not very funny so the actors tried to make up for it by over-the-top expressions and reactions.  The story line is thin.  Robin Williams' character finds out he is the father of 7 year old twins.  Mayhem ensues.  At the same time he and his business partner (John Travolta) are trying to land a major PR account.  Of course (spoiler alert!) there is a happy ending (surprise!).  A disappointing movie, although the audience that watched it with me laughed uproariously throughout, so maybe it was just me....