Director: Chris Columbus
Writers: Katy Brand, Suzanne Heathcote
Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley
Synopsis: Four irrepressible retirees spend their time solving cold case murders for fun, but their casual sleuthing takes a thrilling turn when they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hands.
As Netflix is getting ready to premiere Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery at several fall festivals, just in time for Awards season, the streamer seems to have found a niche in viewers who enjoy watching crime comedies focused on a group of characters solving a murder. That’s why it feels natural that they would eventually end up adapting Richard Osman’s best-selling franchise, The Thursday Murder Club, a fun murder-mystery novel focusing on retirees who have a Thursday club focused on unsolved cases, set about solving the real-life murder of one of the owners of the retirement home they live in.
The group is comprised of individuals who each had particular skills that proved useful in solving cases before they retired. Former spy Elizabeth Best (Helen Mirren) leads the group, with union leader Ron Ritchie (Pierce Brosnan), psychiatrist Ibrahim Atif (Ben Kingsley), and recently retired nurse Joyce Meadowcroft (Celia Imrie) rounding out the club. The four enjoy their company inside Cooper’s Chase, which is more than a mere retirement home for them. It is an active community of retirees who are always there for each other, no matter what, even if co-owner Ian Ventham (David Tennant) wants to destroy the home and turn it into a luxury apartment complex.
However, his business partner, Tony Curran (Geoff Bell), vehemently opposes Ventham’s plan and prepares to fight against him. That is, until he is bludgeoned to death shortly after an altercation with Ventham. Of course, he becomes the primary suspect. However as the Thursday Murder Club uncovers more clues leading to Curran’s murder, they realize that something far more sinister is lurking behind the shadows waiting to be revealed that will turn this seemingly simple case into something no one could ever expect.
On paper, the idea sounds fun, and Columbus is undoubtedly a capable enough filmmaker who will bring this star-studded ensemble film to life. After all, his ensemble pictures, including Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone, and the two Harry Potter films he directed, are among the highest-rated of his career. Yet, the filmmaker seems to be on autopilot, creating a visually and thematically dull murder-mystery that offers only sporadic surprises, while the rest of the picture is fairly pedestrian. If it weren’t for its cast seemingly having a good time, I would’ve checked out of Cooper’s Chase long ago.
Mirren, Brosnan (who were both excellent in Guy Ritchie’s MobLand, and so was Geoff Bell, by the way), Kingsley, and Imrie hold the glue together, alongside Naomi Ackie, whose resume this year continues to impress with a hugely entertaining turn as police officer Donna De Freitas, who helps the club find information on Curran’s murder that they don’t have in their possession. It’s because of them that we ultimately crawl to a particularly telegraphed ending, even if the screenplay by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote never gives us a compelling reason to care about anyone on screen.
Worse yet, Don Burgess’ cinematography is as flat as most direct-to-streaming offerings, which is a true shame, considering the bevy of visually inventive movies he’s helped bring to life. Real cinemaheads will notice his collaborations with James Wan first, before discussing his longstanding partnership with Robert Zemeckis, especially given how horrid Here looked, while Wan’s filmography is visually unimpeachable. Sadly, the photography in The Thursday Murder Club is far too clean (especially its black-and-white cold open, which recalls the worst instincts of post-digital Zemeckis) to titillate imagination, even during sequences of high-spirited tension.
While these moments are sparse, there’s definitely a succession of thrills in its back half, where a mysterious third owner of Cooper’s Chase is revealed to Elizabeth. The cameo from a veteran actor is certainly welcomed and creates a disquieting sense of tension. However, it arrives way too late when the feeling of surprise has been completely evaporated and the movie reaches to a clumsy denouement without much attachment to anything occurring on screen. When one stops to think for a bit and parse what Columbus stages, none of it makes much sense, and is terribly underdeveloped, as many characters shift motivations or disappear entirely from the picture until a big reveal brings them back to the fold.
Although this section is rather unremarkable, nothing prepares for how distastefully staged its final scene is, giving a rather sour note to end another forgettable piece of “content” on. If it weren’t for its lively cast of characters giving life to this otherwise dour caper, The Thursday Murder Club could potentially be passed off as a Hallmark Original rather than the serious adaptation of a bestselling novel it wants to be. Now, only Rian Johnson can save Netflix from the dreary, anti-art slump the streamer has been producing for some time, despite having pedigreed talent attached to its projects. Will he be able to do it? Here’s hoping…
