Film Review: “The Thursday Murder Club” — Geriatric Bloodhounds
By Sarah Osman
Considering the chaotic state the world is in, there is something to be said for this kind of film — a nice little movie that supplies a welcome pick-me-up
The Thursday Murder Club, directed by Chris Columbus. Streaming on Netflix
The Thursday Murder Club (L to R) Helen Mirren, Sir Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, and Celia Imrie. Photo: Giles Keyte / Netflix
For lack of a better term, The Thursday Murder Club is, as my stepmother would describe it, a nice movie. There are plenty of murders, but we never see them on-screen. What we do see is senior citizens solving mysteries in a beautiful English manor while eating delicious cakes. Bumbling police officers struggle to comprehend what’s going on, with the exception of the young whippersnapper. And all the homicidal doings are generally tied up in a nice bow at the end. It’s the ideal movie for families wondering what to watch at Thanksgiving — once everyone has dropped into a food coma.
Whether or not the film captures the spirit of the novel it’s based on is unclear. I have not read Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, part of a series that has now sold over a million copies. Some critics claim the film version falls short; the movie has been called lame, flimsy, and obvious. I’ll treat The Thursday Murder Club as a stand-alone film and leave it up to fans of the books to judge how well it captures the spirit of the novel.
The story follows three friends living in an idyllic English retirement home as they try to solve unsolvable mysteries. For Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), and Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley), knitting circles are so passé; mulling over grisly murder photos is a lot more fun. The three are later joined by new resident Joyce (Celia Imrie), who, as a former nurse, is not fazed by disturbing murder photos. And, as an added bonus, she also likes to bake! The four are soon given an instance of real skullduggery to solve when one of the co-owners of the retirement home is mysteriously murdered. On top of that, the other co-owner, played by David Tennant, announces that he wants to tear down their home and turn it into flats. It’s up to the quartet to solve the mystery and save their home — with enough time left for afternoon tea and cake.
On the positive side, The Thursday Murder Club is a gorgeous film. At times, I wished I were old enough to live at the sprawling chateau and wander over the emerald hills. It’s a shame that the film wasn’t released in theaters because such splendid cinematography deserves to be seen on the big screen. And, while the crux of the plot deals with solving a murder, The Thursday Murder Club doesn’t shy away from the realities of aging. Elizabeth’s husband is struggling with dementia; Joyce feels ignored by her daughter. That said, the film also serves up an idealized version of aging. The retirement home where the residents live is akin to an adult version of Hogwarts (minus the battles with Voldemort). They eat delicious food, take archery classes, and, as Ibrahim describes it, can stay in their apartment when they want to be alone and go outside when they want to be with people. I am not sure if this is true in the novel, but this may be the source of some of the complaints about the film. No wonder the residents want to fight so hard for this place; who wouldn’t want to live in an old people’s paradise? One or two things to harshen their cozy reality could have been added, like the food not being so great (they are in England after all).
It should not be surprising that the accomplished leads offer wonderful performances. Mirren has a delightful glint in her eye, while Brosnan has fun playing a goofy dad, a role he hasn’t had many opportunities to take a crack at. Brosnan hasn’t had this much fun since Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
An Agatha Christie whodunit without the bite, The Thursday Murder Club is content to be a cheery little romp. It’s not about a quartet of dotty detectives soured by the tawdriness of the world or overwhelmed by the misery of getting older. Considering the chaotic state the world is in, there is something to be said for this kind of film — a nice little movie that supplies a welcome pick-me-up.
Sarah Mina Osman is based in Los Angeles. In addition to The Arts Fuse, her writing can be found in The Huffington Post, Success Magazine, Matador Network, HelloGiggles, Business Insider, and WatchMojo. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is working on her first novel. She has a deep appreciation for sloths and tacos. You can keep up with her on Instagram @SarahMinaOsman and at Bluesky @sarahminaosman.bsky.social.
Tagged: "The Thursday Murder Club", Celia Imrie, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan
I loved it and hope there are more.
This movie makes the audience think. We try to put the clues together and solve the problem at the same time as the actors.
I have read all the books in the series and the movie was perfect! Perfect cast, perfect setting! A great read and a great, fun movie!
I must have seen a different movie.
I thought The Thursday Murder Club was a crashing bore, flat, and predictable, the hi-jinx even strained at times – and I’m a big fan of the real Agatha Christie movies. The David Suchet Poirot series on Brit Box is a real period masterpiece, and if you want to talk about gorgeous photography, sets and costumes, they offer a masterful study of the art deco period, down to the last tiny details.
But what was most distressing was that I remember Helen Mirren, one of the great actors of all time, in the National Theatre’s original NTLive Phaedra. It was a performance of such nuanced emotional complexity that you felt you were witnessing one of life’s truly divine moments. Even her character in Prime Suspect was a masterpiece of complexity. To see her reduced to such predictable flim flam in TTMC made me so sad. And ditto for Ben Kingsley.
As to the picture of aging in a setting of historic grandeur, again, I am a major fan of English country house architecture, despite its often sordid provenance. But when we are currently faced with a massive aging population, coupled with an even more massive dearth of affordable services and living options, and with continued threats of further cuts, to offer such a fantasy of aging seems tone deaf, even cruel. And yet to characterizing a more realistic picture as being “soured by the tawdriness of the world or overwhelmed by the misery of getting older” is also an inaccurate characterization. The real battle is not between a group of well-to-do elders fighting to defend their extravagantly privileged setting; it’s between greedy developers and NIMBY neighbors fighting to preserve their status quo at the expense of affordable living options for our fast vanishing middle class.
Growing old is nothing if not nuanced, and surely there is something interesting and even humorous to explore between the two extremes. A genuine laugh in hard times is more than welcome, and there is still a place for beauty and even luxury in a troubled world, but I didn’t find it in an unchallenging denial of our current reality.
100% agree!