A perfect whodunit and surprisingly faithful adaptation

Whodunits are back in vogue. 2025 alone included the third Rian Johnson Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the fifth season of the meta mystery Only Murders in the Building, and Chris Columbus’ adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club. At the same time, game and toy adaptations continue to be big business, with a Vin Diesel film based on Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots in the works along with multiple projects inspired by Catan following the huge success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in 2023 and numerous Lego films. Video game adaptations dominate the box office and every streaming service.

Jonathan Lynn’s Clue, which celebrates its 40th anniversary on Dec. 13, sits at the intersection of both trends. The first major film based on a game, Clue bombed at the box office but has become a timeless cult hit because Lynn draws on much older genre tropes and storytelling traditions.

Anthony E. Pratt’s Cluedo, called Clue in North America, was first released in 1949. Inspired by murder mystery parlor games and the works of Agatha Christie. It tasks players with navigating a mansion and collecting clues as they race to solve a murder. Lynn’s film integrates all the core elements of the game — the possible murder weapons, the characters, the rooms of the manor, and the secret passages that connect them — along with its major influences, while splicing in the silliness and multiple endings of interactive whodunit plays like Shear Madness. The result is a loving tribute to the genre that’s surprisingly faithful to its cardboard source material.

On a dark and stormy night, six strangers gather for dinner at a New England mansion at the invitation of the butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry). They’re each given pseudonyms to protect their anonymity, though it quickly becomes clear they’re all connected by the blackmailer Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). When Boddy turns up dead, the strangers have to figure out who among them is a killer before the police show up. The film is set in 1954, adding a vein of McCarthy Era paranoia along with a historical distance that strips Clue of any of the contemporary references that can make a film show its age.

Image: Paramount/The Everett Collection

Clue is a farce in the vein of The Naked Gun or Airplane!, combining Abbott and Costello-style wordplay and physical humor as it pokes fun at murder mystery tropes. Curry is the undisputed star of the show, but the film is packed with great comedic talent. Christopher Lloyd is the lecherous Professor Plum, frequent Mel Brooks collaborator Madeline Kahn is the man-eating widow Mrs. White, and Golden Globe-winner Eileen Brennan plays the flighty, corrupt senator’s wife Mrs. Peacock. Michael McKean (Best in Show, Better Call Saul) plays the straight man as the closeted homesexual Mr. Green, but also delivers one of the funniest lines of the film to close out the best of its three endings.

Johnson demonstrates in Wake Up Dead Man that there’s a thin line between murder mystery and horror, and Lynn really leans into that connection. As the bodies literally pile up, Clue turns into a haunted house story while the suspects explore its many dark rooms and try to figure out who they can trust. But the tension is always punctuated by absurdism. Characters cram into hallways shoulder to shoulder to avoid leaving their backs exposed and awkwardly try to deal with multiple interlopers. The film is absolutely packed with rapid-fire gags. If a pun makes you groan rather than laugh, it’ll be followed up by something wild like Wadsworth responding to screaming behind a locked door by trying to break it down and bouncing right off.

Image: Paramount/The Everett Collection

The parlor scene is always the highlight of a whodunit, and Clue doesn’t disappoint. Rather than commanding the room as he lays out the evidence to his captive audience, Wadsworth leads a manic procession throughout the house, summarizing not just the key moments in the mystery but even some of the film’s gags. Theatrical audiences for Clue saw one of three possible endings but they play one after another in the digital versions. The zaniness just builds as Curry repeats some jokes while delivering a rapid succession of different hilarious punchlines.

The murder mystery has been a popular genre for nearly 150 years, making its tropes oddly comforting and open to parody despite the dark premise. Being tied to a classic board game adds to Clue’s nostalgic quality without making the film feel like it’s designed to actually sell anything, and the multiple endings mean you have to just enjoy the ride rather than puzzling things out before the big reveal. Four decades after its release, Clue remains a must watch for whodunit fans who love to be kept guessing.