Fri 6 Sep 2019
A TV Movie Review by Mike Tooney: MURDER MYSTERY (2019).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[9] Comments
MURDER MYSTERY. Netflix, 2019. Running time: 97 minutes. Cast: Adam Sandler (Nick Spitz), Jennifer Aniston (Audrey Spitz), Luke Evans (Charles Cavendish), Terence Stamp (Malcolm Quince), Gemma Arterton (Grace Ballard), David Walliams (Tobey Quince), Dany Boon (Inspector de la Croix). Producers: 19 of them. Writer: James Vanderbilt. Director: Kyle Newacheck.
It probably looked good on paper, but this production is a misfire from the get-go. You know that right away when the most capable actor on screen (Terence Stamp) gets “murdered” five minutes after he shows up.
We can appreciate the fact that it’s an attempt to recapture the screen chemistry of Nick and Nora or Mr. and Mrs. North, but it just doesn’t work with these two leads. We found ourselves sitting there urging potty-mouthed “comedian” Adam Sandler to do something worthwhile (“If you can’t be coherent, at least make us laugh.”), but the moment never came. We found Jennifer Aniston’s character far more engaging, but it’s nowhere near enough to save this mess.
If you’ve got an hour and a half to kill and you don’t give a rat’s navel how you do it, then this may be the movie for you. To be frank, we think Murder Mystery could possibly be the nail in the coffin for romantic comedy mysteries for some time to come. If there are plans for a follow-up to this one, our advice is “Don’t even try it!”
September 6th, 2019 at 3:30 pm
“Producers: 19 of them”
There are so many producers on today’s films, that the Oscar people are reportedly stumped at how to handle them.
I love the Mr. and Mrs. North books. A team with talent could make them sparkle on screen.
Thank you for an interesting review!
September 6th, 2019 at 4:00 pm
“An Adam Sadler Movie” is the deathknell right there.
September 6th, 2019 at 6:12 pm
We watched it for ten or fifteen minutes. It was ten or fifteen minutes we can never get back. Mike is far braver than we, although he has spent 97 minutes he can never get back.
September 6th, 2019 at 8:56 pm
About fifteen minutes before I bailed uttering expletives under my breath. I do disagree with the review to the extent I found Anniston’s cheap shrew just as annoying as Sandler. No one to root for, stupid plot, bad acting, tired tired waste of everyone’s time.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:35 pm
I’m late getting to comment, and probably now too late. I was going to ask those of you who have seen this what it was that needed fixing the most. That is to say, if you were asked to come in at the beginning of the planning stages, what would have needed changing the most?
It sounds now as though the answer would have been, scrap the whole thing and burn the script.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:45 pm
In reply to Mike Grost in Comment #1, there is a great post by Mark Evanier on his blog about what it takes to get credit as some kind of producer on a movie or TV series:
https://www.newsfromme.com/2019/09/05/ask-me-producer-credits/
But to sum it up, the answer is not much.
September 7th, 2019 at 1:27 am
Sorry to come in late and come off as argumentative, but I think Sadler is excellent in SPANGLISH, and even better–particularly moving and effective–.in Paul Thomas Anderson’s PUNCH DRUNK LOVE.
Most of his movies admittedly are crap and he’s not good in them. But there’s something more there in SPANGLISH and PUNCH DRUNK LOVE.
September 7th, 2019 at 7:49 pm
Sandler and especially Anniston have been good elsewhere, just not here or in any of the Netflix films Sandler has done so far. I think Steve nailed it, this one should have been scratched in development and maybe rethought with someone actually funny who had read a mystery involved.
September 9th, 2019 at 3:37 pm
The chance of my ever turning on this movie for five minutes is zero.
Sandler’s career success is more inexplicable to me than Donald Trump’s election.