In the lively retiree community of Coopers Chase, seniors fill their days with activities. The manor offers archery, art classes, yoga, and even has llamas. However, one group is different from the others: they solve cold cases. Enter The Thursday Murder Club: a tight-knit group who work to solve murders each week. However, when a murder happens on their doorstep, the case is no longer distant and figurative. Everyone is a suspect, even members of their own club.
Based on the 2020 novel of the same title, I feel compelled to mention that this is a Netflix movie. With some notable exceptions (like Glass Onion and All Quiet on the Western Front), that’s usually a moniker that doesn’t bode well for a movie’s quality. That being said, I went into this movie not expecting much and came out pretty satisfied as a result.
The Thursday Murder Club is nothing like Glass Onion. Nothing about it feels particularly twisty like a well-constructed detective story, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. The Thursday Murder Club is all vibes-based, and it works as a cozy fun little mystery. It feels more like watching a weaker season of Only Murders In The Building: a bit hokey, but still enjoyable. Sure, most of the twists are pretty obvious but the charm of its characters and setting hold the story afloat throughout. I didn’t read the book, but this movie has all the marks of an adaptation that had to reduce drawn-out cerebral scenes down to five-minute sequences. It still works, but a lot of reveals fall more flat than they should.
The cast is really where this movie shines, and it’s easy to see why. The main ensemble consists of Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, and Pierce Brosnan. They are having a ball together, but Brosnan in particular is really hamming it up as former trade unionist Ron. The writing isn’t anything special, but I found the characters believable enough, and more than one scene really got a laugh out of me. Another standout is David Tennant as slimy landlord Ian Ventham, and he’s giving a full-throated performance that brings even more levity to the mix.
Is this a good movie? Not really, but it’s not horrible either. In terms of most straight-to-Netflix shlock, I think it’s perfectly decent. The whole story ties up neatly at the end, and the star-studded cast get to move on to better and brighter things. There’s certainly the potential for a sequel (as the book series has many entries), but the ending didn’t seem to hint at one. I’d welcome it though, as it’s a feel-good movie in a way that isn’t patronizing or unwatchable, and that’s hard to come by. If nothing else, it’s something to watch while you’re patiently waiting for Wake Up Dead Man.
