The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother

Gene Wilder made his directing debut here with a genre farce that, like Young Frankenstein, shows respect and real affection for the material being burlesqued, not just anything-goes yucks. Though gags are uneven -- a horse-carriage fight scene using a giant fake hand vs. giant fake shoe is hilarious; a reference to the classic short story "The Lady or the Tiger?" is merely odd -- and the plot just sort of turns into confetti after a while, there's a consistent sense of fun throughout. Despite a few naughty bits, teens should jam to the infectious, let's-put-on-a-show enthusiasm (occasionally the cast bursts into a loony dance number, the "Kangaroo Hop"), not to mention the built-in empathy factor for younger brothers everywhere. Deductive logic, an essential part of the Sherlock stories, is strangely absent in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. Yet one hardly notices.