MURDER MYSTERY REVIEW
Starring: Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston
Directed By: Kyle Newacheck (Game Over, Man! – Netflix)
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
Adam Sandler’s sixth feature film for Netflix reunites him with his “Just Go With It” co-star from 2011, Jennifer Aniston.The two play a married couple celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.To say the magic is gone would be an understatement.Sandler plays a police officer who has failed his detective’s exam several times, but lies to his wife and tells her he is a detective.What sounds horrible, is actually just a white lie.It’s kind of cute.Aniston plays a hairdresser who spends her free time reading murder mystery novels like from Agatha Christie and authors like that.
The two somehow wind up in Italy together on a big expensive yacht with a billionaire’s family, and the patriarch gets whacked.The two go on to attempt to solve the crime.This movie actually succeeds at something that Men in Black failed to do.The goal of Men in Black: International is to make you feel like you’re watching an old Men in Black movie, like you’re watching something familiar, that you’re comfortable with.It didn’t feel like that at all, it felt cold and felt like a waste of money.Murder Mystery feels familiar, you sort of know what’s going to happen, you know the major plot points before you hit play.That doesn’t make it bad by any stretch of the imagination.
Adam Sandler has a bad history.His audience grew up and he didn’t.The only problem with that is you need a new audience to find you when the old one leaves.That didn’t necessarily happen.The last Sandler movie I liked even a little bit was Grown Ups.That was nearly a decade ago.So he goes and makes movies for Netflix, and people watch them, Netflix makes money and no one really remembers the movies after they see them.His project for Netflix last year, “The Week Of” did end up as my least favorite movie of last year.
Now, I recap all of Adam Sandler’s history to tell you this.Murder Mystery isn’t bad.It’s pretty perfect for what it is.A Netflix Original Movie.You sit down and you watch it.You feel like you’re watching a movie that matters because it has actors you’ve heard of in lavish locations.You can get up and go to the bathroom during it.Do you need to hit pause?No, not really.You’ll be fine.You can fold the laundry during it.You can mess around on your phone while watching it.It’s enough fun to hold your interest, I was fairly satisfied afterwards.You don’t feel cheated because you got a babysitter, paid for two tickets, bought snacks, and then got a mediocre movie.With Murder Mystery you’re really out anything.
Jen and Adam have pretty good chemistry, the casting of the other characters is really well done.The Macguffins that move the plot along are pretty typical, but the fun of this movie is in the scenes that don’t matter.There’s a running gag about Claritin and Allegra that works really nicely.Some of the extra lines Sandler throws in get the biggest laughs.Aniston, as always, owns any screen she appears on.Always captivating to watch.And she’s funny.
I’ll be honest with each and every one of you.I kept waiting for this movie to devolve into a dumb piece of type casting.Like a room full of monkeys wrote the script for this or something.That never happened.Not every movie is going to win Best Picture.Not every movie wants to.Some movies just want to be fun escapes and you can absolutely turn Murder Mystery on and feel like you didn’t waste your time.
If Adam Sandler needs Jennifer Aniston to keep him afloat, they should team up for every movie.It was nice to be reminded that Adam can still do this.I’ll honestly say this is, BY FAR, his best work for Netflix.I think it might be his best movie since Spanglish in 04, maybe Anger Management in 03.I was pleasantly surprised.So if you’ve dug more Adam Sandler movies than I have in the past 15 years you’ll definitely enjoy this one.It isn’t gut bustingly funny.It isn’t revolutionary.The plot is secondary, you already know who did it.But the bar has been so low for good comedies, let alone good Adam Sandler movies.I’m chalking Murder Mystery up as a win.
On a scale of "See It/Stream It/Skip It" -- Stream It – Worth your time in the right circumstance.Boring, rainy day.Turn this on, get some chores done around the house.You’ll probably like it.
If you liked Just Go With It, 50 First Dates, or Murder on the Orient Express you might like Murder Mystery on Netflix.
2.5 out of 5 for Murder Mystery.An improvement for Sandler.Hot Take: I wouldn’t mind a sequel to this.The same characters travel again and solve a different case.