Directed by: Chris Columbus
Written by: Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote
Run Time: 1 hour 58 mins
After securing the sequel rights to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (2019), it seems Netflix has acquired quite the taste for murder. Not content with Johnson’s highly regarded whodunits alone, the streamer has since released two of Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery comedies and limited series like The Perfect Couple (2024) and The Residence (2025). Evidently eager to keep murder on the streaming menu for as long as possible then, their latest effort has seen them team up with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment for The Thursday Murder Club, the much-anticipated adaptation of Richard Osman’s bestselling novel.
Set in a luxury English retirement village, The Thursday Murder Club follows four of the elderly residents who meet each week to investigate various different cold cases. However, when someone connected to their community is murdered, the club must pull together all their resources in order to solve their first ever live murder case, and despite the obvious tragedy, they couldn’t be happier about it.
With murder mysteries being in such rude health, there’s a certain expectation that comes with any new whodunit – one that’s perhaps worth lowering for The Thursday Murder Club. As despite the impressive and luxurious Coopers Chase in which the film is set – in reality the grand Englefield House in Berkshire – it is, after all still a retirement community, and both the pace of the film and the intrigue of the mystery reflect this slower way of life. Think more Sunday night ITV drama, rather than prestige detective series – but the film knows this, and its own references to a number of niche British reality shows only solidifies this further, doing so in comically self-aware fashion.
Miraculously though, it somehow avoids most of the tired tropes that films with older characters so often indulge in, instead offering a core group of characters who are both thoroughly capable, and most crucially, very charming. Leading the club is Helen Mirren as Elizabeth, an intelligent and observant woman with a mysterious career history that comes in quite handy when solving crimes. Pierce Brosnan – who’s perhaps still a few years off retirement community age – plays Ron, a former and celebrated trade unionist. The group’s resident psychiatrist, Ibrahim is portrayed by Ben Kingsley. While the club’s newest member, retired nurse and keen baker Joan, is brought to life by Celia Imrie.
With casting as good as this, it’s no mystery why the characters become such good company then. Mirren confidently leads as Elizabeth, inquisitively driving the investigation forward, with the others attentively following behind. Whereas Brosnan’s Ron is rather playful, maybe more concerned with eating cake than catching killers. And even if he feels a little out of place in this sleepy setting, the titular club and the film itself are all the better for having him. Kingsley is a little more unassuming as Ibrahim, but there’s a comforting quality to his presence and he exhibits his character’s intelligence convincingly. It’s Imrie who steals the show though, as her amusing line readings and shrewd comedic timing make Joan’s sincere interjections the cherry on top of this casting cake.
Elsewhere the supporting cast consists of a who’s who of British acting alumni including David Tennant, Richard E. Grant and Tom Ellis, among several others. None of their characters really pull the spotlight away from the core four, but they pad out the story adequately and offer some different personalities for the main group to bounce off. If anything the whodunit could have benefitted from a few more viable suspects, as when it comes to catching the killer there’s not enough players on the board to sufficiently sway suspicions.
The screenplay, of course based on Osman’s novel, certainly doesn’t cater much to murder mystery aficionados, as the case is constructed in such a way that condenses speculation rather than encourages it. Clumsily scattered breadcrumbs become impossible to miss, while other, heavily signposted plot details point audiences too decisively in one direction, at times patronisingly so. This means that when the dots are finally connected – the film’s at least twenty minutes too long – the finished picture doesn’t quite have the same impact you might hope for.
Nonetheless, while admittedly delivering an underwhelming climax to its killer conundrum, what audiences will likely have worked out long before the final reveal is that The Thursday Murder Club has far more to offer by way of its characters’ charisma than any potential complexities to its case. Whodunit, well who cares? Because when you’ve got Celia Imrie on standby with another freshly baked cake and a witty one-liner at the ready, that’s what’s really worth waiting for.
Star Rating: ★ ★ ★
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