Murder Mystery

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Murder Mystery is a new Netflix film starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as a bumbling married couple that find themselves accidentally drawn into a murder plot when a billionaire played by Luke Evans invites them to spend the weekend on his yacht. I had reached a point where I had begun to write Sandler off. So, let me just say that Murder Mystery was one hell of a surprise for me. Considering the fact that practically every single one of his Netlfix comedies has sucked up until this point, I really wasn’t expecting much. But, this was one of the first movies he’s done in a while that legitimately made me laugh, and that I don’t really feel ashamed to admit it made me laugh. OK, the laughs weren’t belly laughs so much as a series of chuckles and snickers throughout. But, it’s better than nothing. I also legitimately found myself invested in the actual mystery, legitimately trying to guess who the killer was. The characters all feel appropriate for the film they are in. Most of these are kind of quirky and weird (as well as being genuinely bad people). I also have to admit that this film actually plays with some of the tropes of murder mysteries in ways I didn’t see coming, and I kind of love that. The cast all seems to be genuinely invested in this film (yes, even Adam Sandler for the first time in a while). Do I believe this film is going to be ranked alongside some of Sandler’s classics like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore? No. I also don’t think it quite ranks alongside murder mystery comedies like Clue and Murder By Death. I do give Murder Mystery something of a soft recommendation, mostly because it’s the first Sander film I have seen a while that I thought was genuinely funny, and I can’t really argue with that. 

7 / 10