NOTE: This article is a no-spoiler review of Netflix’s movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in Murder Mystery. It’s now streaming on the Netflix website.
After the film adaptation of an adaptation of another adaptation in 2011 entitled, Just Go With It, Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler is back, this time for a mystery-comedy. It follows the story of Nick Plitz played by Adam Sandler, a textbook example of insecure husbands and Audrey played by Jennifer Aniston as a wife who runs a salon where she complains that her husband barely even tries in life.
The married couple goes to a European vacation where their married couple problems were shaken by a billionaire, Charles Cavendish played by Luke Evans who invited them in an exclusive, family-only reunion in a yacht. Soon, the couple finds themselves intertwined in an Agatha Christie-like murder mystery as one of the people aboard dies.
You can say that the movie is a hodgepodge of callbacks and throwbacks. I especially like that Aniston’s character here is a woman who likes to read crime and mystery novels when travelling. Thus, Agatha Christie’s novels and the pivotal scenes in it were referenced many times.
Adding to the mixture is how there’s a similarity of plot devices with Aniston and Sandler’s 2011 film where the duo also went to Hawaii for a trip. But what I like with Murder Mystery is that it actually has very funny scenes that will take you back in the crime comedy movies of early 2000s.
Another redeeming factor of Murder Mystery is its excellent choice of cast that is supposed to be profiled as suspects of murder. The supporting cast were diverse and interesting enough to get you to care about them while also deciphering who the killer was.
It does make sense that Jennifer Aniston’s character is very relatable on a personal level as she hilariously tries to solve a high-profile murder based on how Agatha Christie plots the murder in her novels. But hey, watch the movie and don’t be too quick to judge, yeah? Christie is not really a bad reference if you also want to learn more about character study.
Most importantly, Aniston and Sandler’s moments when they’re not getting themselves too immersed in their couple problems are really the strength of the film. Somehow, watching a husband play tough while also making it obvious he needs and loves her wife is played very well by Sandler. On the other hand, it doesn’t get old to watch Aniston’s comedic timing that she definitely mastered throughout her career.
At the end of the movie, you realized it made you doubt, then it made you laugh a bit then as you approach the cliché climax and solving the conflict, you realized that it’s the perfect movie if you just don’t want to analyze if it’s good or bad.
Rating: 2.89 STARS of 5 STARS
Recommended To: The people who missed crime comedies so much.
