History Film / WithoutAClue

* {{Flanderization}}: Averted and inverted with respect to Dr. Watson. In Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is an intelligent and competent man who lacks Holmes' genius. In many film and TV adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories, this difference in ability is inflated to the point where Watson is portrayed as a fat, bumbling idiot and a comic foil to Holmes. This movie inverts the trope with a brilliant Watson and a pathetically ridiculous "Holmes".

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Kinkaid is able to locate Moriarty's base of operations in an abandoned theater from the number "234" printed on Giles' banknotes. However, he doesn't realize that this is the street address, he assumes that it refers to chapter and verse in the Bible, and just by coincidence, the name of the theater's last play matches the passage from the Book of Psalms.

* KnifeNut: Sebastian's preferred weapons are switchblades and throwing knives.

* RealityEnsues: When Watson is gone and presumed dead, Kincaid as "Holmes" decides to take detective work seriously by piecing together the clues available. The best his powers of deduction can come up with is concluding that Moriarty's real name is "Arty Morty." Somewhat averted later in that he does find Moriarty's whereabouts from clues left on half-printed banknotes.

* {{Flanderization}}: Averted and inverted with respect to Dr. Watson. In Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is an intelligent and competent man who lacks Holmes' genius. In many film and TV adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is portrayed as a fat, bumbling idiot and a foil to Holmes. This movie inverts the trope with a brilliant Watson and a pathetically ridiculous "Holmes".

* {{Flanderization}}: Averted and inverted with respect to Dr. Watson. In Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is an intelligent and competent man who lacks Holmes' genius. Many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is portrayed as a fat, bumbling idiot and a foil to Holmes. This movie inverts the trope with a brilliant Watson and a pathetically ridiculous "Holmes".

* Flanderization: Averted and inverted. In Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is an intelligent and competent man who lacks Holmes' genius. Many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is portrayed as a fat, bumbling idiot and a foil to Holmes. This movie inverts the trope with a brilliant Watson and a pathetically ridiculous "Holmes".

* AttractiveBentGender: [[spoiler:Lestrade is shown exchanging flirtatious comments with the real Leslie Giles, unaware that 'she' is just a female impersonator.

* BatDeduction: A mysterious number is given, and Sherlock Holmes uses a few long and complicated leaps of logic to deduce that it means a specific warehouse. [[spoiler:At the end Holmes and Watson explain to the person who left the clue how they figured it out, and then the victim reveals that the number was simply the address of the warehouse he was being held at.]]

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Lestrade and his men try nobly at the end, but end up failing miserably and having to dive for cover when the fake Leslie pulls a gun on them.]]

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Kincaid, after falling onto the barge containing the villains' counterfeit money, pours alcohol from a lamp and threatens that there will be "an impromptu roasting" unless they surrender... without realizing that if he sets it ablaze, ''he'll'' catch fire, too. {{Lampshaded}} by Moriarty.

* FakeUltimateHero: Reginald is just pretending to be a great detective.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Finally fed up with Kincaid's antics, Watson fires him and offers his services to the police. However, he discovers that he's done such a great job building up Holmes as the brilliant detective and himself as just the sidekick that no one will take him seriously and he needs Kincaid to make the act work.

* RailingKill: Sebastian sabotages the balcony railing of Holmes' hotel room, causing it to break when Holmes leans on it. Subverted in that he survives the attempt.

* SecretKeeper: Mrs. Hudson and the Baker Street Irregulars know that SherlockHolmes is just an actor and Dr. Watson is the real detective. Watson also tells his editor eventually, letting the audience hear the background. The only person who's figured it out on their own seems to be [[spoiler: Professor Moriarty]].
* SherlockScan: Played with in so many ways. Even Reginald pulls one off, leading to the right conclusion if not the intended deduction.

* NoNameGiven: [[spoiler: Lysette Anthony's character masquerades as Leslie Giles for most of the movie, but her real name is never revealed. The credits list her simply as Fake Leslie.]]

%%* DiagonalCut

* HypercompetentSidekick: Sherlock Holmes is actually an incompetent stooge that fronts for Watson, the true detective.

-->'''Holmes:''' The Shadow of Death. The gripping drama was the last play presented at the Orpheum. It closed after only one night, but not without garnering some praise. Harris in the Daily Telegram said, 'In an otherwise dismal evening, Reginald Kincaid provided some welcome laughs.'
-->'''Wiggins:''' 'Welcome laughs'? You said it was a gripping drama!
-->'''Holmes:''' Well that doesn't matter now, does it?

-->'''Holmes:''' "I have a Bible! It's at my bedside." [gets it out from under the leg of his bed that it was keeping from wobbling]

-->'''Reginald Kincaid:''' The Shadow of Death. The gripping drama was the last play presented at the Orpheum. It closed after only one night, but not without garnering some praise. Harris in the Daily Telegram said, 'In an otherwise dismal evening, Reginald Kincaid provided some welcome laughs.'

-->'''Reginald Kincaid:''' Well that doesn't matter now, does it?

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Kincaid, after falling onto the barge containing the villains' counterfeit money, pours alcohol from a lamp and threatens that there will be "an impromptu roasting" unless they surrender... without realizing that if he sets it ablaze, ''he'll'' catch fire, too. {{Lamepshaded}} by Moriarty.

* TheDragon: Sebastian.

''Without a Clue'' is a 1988 comedy film, the premise of which is that Dr. Watson (Creator/BenKingsley) created the fictional character Sherlock Holmes so that he could solve crimes incognito. His published case journals were so popular that he was obliged to hire an out-of-work actor, Reginald Kincaid (Creator/MichaelCaine), to play Holmes. However, Kincaid turned out to be a bumbling, gambling, womanizing drunkard who gladly took all the undeserved credit for solving crimes, and now their relationship is a very rocky one. Watson is just about ready to ditch Kincaid and strike it out on his own, but no-one will believe that Dr. Watson, the archetypical sidekick, is really a GreatDetective, so the two have to get along for long enough to solve one last big case.