We at The A.V. Club are committed to providing pop culture commentary, so who are we to judge the popular CinemaSins video series for doing the same? Good thing we have the YouTube channel Shesellssheshells to do it for us instead. The channel’s new 19-minute video called “Everything Wrong With ‘Everything Wrong With Sherlock Holmes,’” breaks down some of CinemaSins most frustrating habits—from pretending to present film criticism while really just offering dumb jokes to ignoring a scene’s context in order to present a certain moment as a “sin.”
CinemaSins’ original “Everything Wrong With Sherlock Holmes in 13 Minutes Or Less” video tallies 125 “sins” in that 2009 film. And a surprisingly large number of those point to the consistent characterization of Sherlock, Watson, and Mary as movie flaws (for instance, at one point the CinemaSins videos argues it’s illogical that Sherlock is conducting dangerous experiments alone in his apartment, which is basically Sherlock’s raison d’être when he’s not on a case). So the Shesellssheshells video comes up with its own 64 counterpoints that defend Sherlock Holmes and refute CinemaSins’ claims. Creators Bob and Rachel are pretty merciless in their condemnation of CinemaSins, clearly working through some long-held frustrations and ultimately concluding the guys behind CinemaSins must simultaneously watch and not watch the films they critique.
For what it’s worth, CinemaSins has previously “skewered” themselves in a video called “Everything Wrong With CinemaSins In 3 Minutes Or Less.” But since that video is more like a statement of purpose, it likely won’t satisfying CinemaSins’ most vocal detractors in the way this Shesellssheshells critique does. For our part, we’re probably going to keep linking to both CinemaSins videos and videos making fun of CinemaSins. Just consider us Switzerland in the Great Pop Culture Snark Battle of 2016.