Murder Mystery Review: Mediocre at Best!

Adam Sandler’s newest venture, Murder Mystery, is a comedy with a dark angle courtesy the eponymous murder mystery. Unfortunately, the film is neither a good comedy and the mystery part of the story is as bland as can be. Adam Sandler’s collaboration with Netflix has produced some really atrocious movies (The Ridiculous 6 and The Do-Over come to mind). To be fair Murder Mystery is not as bad as the some of Adam Sandler’s movies. It’s just a tedious watch because the actors and the screenplay writers seemed to have created this movie on autopilot without putting in any real effort.

Also Read: Netflix’s ‘The Perfection’ Review

This movie stars Sandler and Aniston as Nick and Audrey Spitz who meet Charles Cavendish (Luke Evans), a wealthy Englishman while on their way to a European vacation. Cavendish invites the two for a cruise on his family’s yacht where they meet a motley cast of characters. The vacation takes a dark turn when Charles’ uncle Malcolm Quince is killed on the boat and everyone is a suspect.

Without revealing too much of the plot, it is obvious that the scriptwriters were heavily influenced by Agatha Christie’s works and especially the classic Murder on the Orient Express. However, they falter with the execution because the story and its twists lack the punch that is the staple of a good mystery. Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are adequate in their roles but not memorable enough to make you want to re-watch this movie.

Fans of both are aware of their potential to light up the screen, but they don’t do so here. Even their chemistry is like the rest of this film – mediocre. Luke Evans delivers a good performance as Charles Cavendish as he exudes the charm and refinement that his character needed. The rest of the cast is unfortunately too one-dimensional to even register as fully fleshed characters (Adeel Akhtar as a “hip” Indian Maharajah is the worst offender).

As a fan of the genre, I hoped Murder Mystery would deliver a fun twist on the typical plot of a whodunit movie – unfortunately, this film fails on that account. If you are looking to kill a few hours or are a fan of Adam Sandler’s other work on Netflix – this movie might make a decent one time watch but it is mediocre at best.

Rating – 2/5 | Grade – C

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