Sherlock Jr. is about a movie projectionist that dreams about being a detective, literally. Keaton stars in this slapstick comedy, playing a good-intentioned man that has bad luck. Keaton is trying to win the affection of a girl and is doing well until a pocket watch is stolen her father, and Keaton gets wrongly blamed for it. He goes back to his job, he falls asleep. In his dream he is Sherlock Jr. a very good detective, solving a case of missing jewelry. At the end of his dream he catches the crook, and wakes up back in the projection room to find that the girl is waiting for him. Turns out she did some investigation of her own and found out what really happened, discovering that Keaton was not the thief, she went to apologize.
Buster Keaton plays a loveable and naive man that is too nice for his own good. At the beginning of the film he finds a dollar, but is kind enough to return them to a woman that comes looking for them (after asking for a description of the dollar). He is also kind enough to give an old lady a dollar, when she also arrives looking for a dollar. Keaton changes personality, however, once he starts dreaming. As Sherlock Jr. Keaton is confident, and he is respected by everyone.
The movie has a very interesting concept: to have his dream be inside a movie. The technology was also impressive for its time. I especially liked when his dream self gets up from his body, what gets me is when he gets the hat. As a concept it was great, but at some point it seems that they lost themselves in what they could do and forgot about the plot. When he goes to sit in the garden, and the background changes to a street, then mountains and it keeps on changing before ending in the garden again. That entire scene does nothing to advance the plot, it’s only there because they could do it. The comedy bits are timeless, and charming; I laughed several times throughout. There are some parts that I thought seemed to drag on e.g. when he is riding the bike on the handlebars, but other than that the pacing is pretty good.
Although the movie is more than 80 years old, it is still a very enjoyable film. I don’t know what others might find funny, but to me somebody picking up a sticky paper and not being able to get rid of it is excellent comedy.
MOVIE SCORE:
- 7/10
- A (O.W.L.)
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