MURDER MYSTERY: As Generic As The Title

I suppose I should be elated that Murder Mystery doesn’t take the predictable stumble down the offensive stairs that befalls most Happy Madison productions. The raunchiness is low, the sexism less rampant, and the racism reduced to smaller observations than massive overtones. In its place, however, is a very simplistic mixture of mystery and comedy that seems as though it were plucked from the 1990s.

A Mystery Most Mundane

We’re introduced to Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as a couple with their marriage on the rocks. Sandler plays Nick Spitz, a cheapskate cop who hasn’t quite passed his detective exam, while Aniston plays Audrey Spitz, a hairdresser who feels her husband isn’t romantic enough and decides to lose herself in her murder-mystery novels. In a quick act of redeeming his marriage, Nick books a last-minute trip to Europe.

This is right up Audrey’s alley, but even more appealing is that she and her husband are quickly thrown into a plot of a feuding rich family. While en route they meet Charles Cavendish (Luke Evans), a gracious enough viscount who not only allows Audrey into first class with him but also invites the couple to his yacht upon landing. Nick would be jealous if it weren’t for the yacht housing his favorite femme fatale actress, Grace Ballard (Gemma Arterton), known for her B-movie roles.

For someone as ingrained into the mystery genre, it takes Audrey a bit of time to realize she’s been thrust into the middle of a murder plot. She may have seen it coming the way the yacht party slowly assembles all the suspects and boils a plot of murder for money, but she’s most likely too amazed by the decadence to question most of it. It’s a bit of a shame considering this type of comedy is at its best when poking fun at the genre it’s locked within.

One of the best scenes features Nick trying to patiently explain how the suspects shouldn’t tamper with a crime scene, including the touching of the body and the removing of the murder weapon from the wound, while they do all of this. Another brilliant bit finds the couple attacked in the library with Audrey noting this is just like that book Death in a Library, to which Nick responds, “What happened in that book?”

But these ribbings of the murder mystery genre are sadly few and far between. Most of the film favors the tones of either playing itself straight as a standard mystery investigation or going for the goofily bland bumblings of Nick and Audrey stumbling through every scene. Though forgettable, Sandler is thankfully subdued enough to never put on an accent or ever come off too obnoxious, despite playing an obnoxious character who makes the most dreary of commentary Audrey’s books. Aniston is thankfully on the same page as well considering both characters are pushed into chaotic scenes where they could’ve spun off the rails and thankfully brake hard to not overreact too much to shootouts and car chases.

When the film does embrace the allure of the mystery, cliche as it may be at times, the characters are at least engaged enough to find the killer without resorting to raunch or dopey twists. The suspects assembled are all passively pleasing for fulfilling certain roles of stuffy celebrities and partying bad boys. Terence Stamp, in particular, makes the perfect elderly father that looks down on his bratty children for how they use his wealth. But I never really embraced the thrill of Sandler and Aniston having an ah-ha moment, mostly because the mystery they’re solving is too routine with simple characters that this feels more like a party game than anything else.

Conclusion: Murder Mystery

The best that can be said of Murder Mystery is that it’s a mildly amusing experience that won’t offend but will most certainly evaporate from the mind soon after. There’s a bit of a throwback aspect to the tale of a crumbling couple rekindling their marriage over mystery, but it’s only a pale reminder of why a lot of those ho-hum duo pictures of yesteryear have been forgotten. For what could’ve been a brilliant satire on the very nature of procedural murder mysteries only makes a few passive comments before the comedic talents step back and let the by-the-numbers adventure proceed.

What did you think of Murder Mystery? 

Murder Mystery is now streaming on Netflix.