Critic: 'Gay Sherlock Holmes won't work'

Rex Features

Film critic Michael Medved has claimed that a gay version of Sherlock Holmes will not be "appealing" to cinema audiences.

Director Guy Ritchie reportedly wrote the characters of Holmes and his sidekick Watson as gay in his remake of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle detective story.

Star Robert Downey Jr recently explained that he and co-star Jude Law (Watson) share "circumstantial homosexuality" in the upcoming film.

However, Medved said that the actors are playing up the angle for the sake of generating controversy, the New York Post reports.

He told the newspaper: "There's not a seething, bubbling hunger to see straight stars impersonating homosexuals. I think they're just trying to generate controversy."

He added: "They know that making Holmes and Watson homosexual will take away two-thirds of their box office. Who is going to want to see Downey Jr and Law make out?

"I don't think it would be appealing to women. Straight men don't want to see it."

Sherlock Holmes will open in cinemas on December 26.