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Parents' Guide to

Mr. Holmes

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Smart, literate, low-key drama about memory and stories.

Movie PG 2015 104 minutes
Mr. Holmes Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 14+

Good movie but NOT for kids- Common Sense Media got this one wrong!

Common Sense got this review totally wrong. Suicide is a major theme in this movie. The "woman who gets hit by a train" actually stands in front of it to kill herself. The poison was purchased by her to either kill her husband or herself. We find out eventually that it was to kill herself. She forges a check to get money to buy her own headstone from a stonemason prior to killing herself. This was a deeply intense and tragic movie with a heavy sadness about it. It was a great movie and very beautiful, but for adults and older teens. I ended up having to explain suicide to my 10 year old because of this and she was very disturbed by the suicide scene. I can't believe common sense media didn't point this major plot line out. I feel as though their reviews are completely unreliable. Also surprised this movie isnt rated PG 13 due to the level of tragedy and violence between the talk/suspicion of murder plotting, the suicide and the Hiroshima scenes.

This title has:

Too much violence
age 10+

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (6 ):

After two Twilight movies, director Bill Condon returns to the territory of his best movie, Gods and Monsters, with this thoughtful, low-key drama about the mysteries of memory and storytelling. Mr. Holmes may disappoint some viewers by not actually being a Sherlock Holmes mystery (nor is it an explosive adventure like Guy Ritche's Sherlock Holmes), but it's a great movie, a brilliant rumination on the delicate nature of human memory and the way we need to tell stories, not just for entertainment, but to live.

Screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher (working from Mitch Cullin's novel) constructs an elaborate series of meditative flashbacks, dreams, and memories. It's deep and complex, and Condon makes it all seem quietly simple. Nothing seems concrete or certain, yet everything is connected, from the use of glass and bees, books, and movies, to young Roger's inability to remember stories from his early years. The fine performances by Condon regulars McKellen and Linney top it off. (Fun fact: The grown-up star of 1985's Young Sherlock Holmes, Nicholas Rowe, appears as a screen version of Holmes in a movie house.)

Movie Details

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