Murder Mystery (film)

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Murder Mystery
Murder Mystery (film).png
Official release poster
Directed byKyle Newacheck
Written byJames Vanderbilt
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAmir Mokri
Edited byTom Costain
Music byRupert Gregson-Williams[1]
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14) (United States)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Murder Mystery is a 2019 American comedy mystery film directed by Kyle Newacheck and written by James Vanderbilt. The film stars Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, and Luke Evans, and follows a married couple who are caught up in a murder investigation on a billionaire's yacht. It was released on June 14, 2019, by Netflix.[2] It received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel was released by Netflix on March 31, 2023.

Plot[edit]

Nick Spitz is an NYPD officer married to Audrey, a hairdresser. She wants to visit Europe, as he had promised at their wedding, but thinks they never will. After their 15th-anniversary dinner, Audrey confronts Nick, who lies that he has in fact booked the trip, and they set off to Europe.

On the plane, Audrey meets billionaire Charles Cavendish, who invites them to join him on his family yacht for a party celebrating his elderly uncle's wedding to Charles's former fiancée. Seeing how crowded and unpleasant their originally planned bus tour would be, Nick agrees.

Aboard the yacht, Nick and Audrey meet Cavendish's ex-fiancée Suzi Nakamura, Quince's son Tobey, actress Grace Ballard, Colonel Ulenga, his bodyguard Sergei, Maharajah Vikram, race car driver Juan Carlos, and later that night their host Malcolm Quince, Cavendish's uncle, arrives. Quince announces that Suzi will be his sole heir, believing the others only feign interest in him for his money. Before he can sign his new will, the lights go out and when they are back on, they find Quince stabbed with a ceremonial dagger through his heart.

Nick, who has lied to Audrey about recently becoming a detective, orders the room locked, and the guests return to their rooms. Later that night, Tobey is found dead from apparent suicide. Upon arriving in Monte Carlo, everyone is questioned by Inspector Delacroix, who believes that "the Americans" committed the murders.

At the Monaco Grand Prix, Nick and Audrey question the guests. That night, Sergei summons them to his room and reveals Quince had married the Colonel's fiancée while he was in a coma after saving Quince's life, which ended with her dying while giving birth. The couple hide when someone knocks, and come out to find Sergei has been shot. They climb out the window and edge along the ledge.

In the process, they see the Colonel flossing his teeth vigorously and Maharajah and Grace kissing in his room, seemingly ruling them out as suspects. While fleeing, they see on the news that Delacroix has issued a warrant for their arrest. Audrey is furious to learn from the broadcast that Nick is not actually a detective and that he lied about booking the trip in advance, and she leaves with Cavendish.

All of them move to Lake Como, where Uncle Quince had a luxury villa: there Nick finds Suzi moving suspiciously on the street. He follows her to a library where he finds Audrey, who reveals Cavendish is also there. They realize Cavendish and Suzi are still in love and perhaps the murderers planning to split the inheritance. The couple are forced to flee from a hidden gunman and run into Carlos. They soon are confronted by Suzi, who is killed by a masked person with a blow dart. Nick and Carlos try to chase the killer but fail. Nick and Audrey go to Quince's mansion to confront Cavendish, but find him dead by poison.

The couple summons Delacroix and the remaining guests, who all have alibis. Nick and Audrey deduce that Grace is the murderer; she convinced Tobey to kill his father, before killing him and has been picking off the other heirs. Grace reveals that she is actually Quince and the Colonel wife's child but due to Quince's sexism, he disowned her and pretended that she is dead. She states that his money truly belongs to her, though she denies being the killer. However, Audrey proves her guilt (she was hiding a cut Nick gave her as the masked killer under a hat) and is shot by Nick in the arm while trying to escape.

While celebrating, Nick and Audrey realise Grace's alibi still stands after Vikram points out Grace and him were having sex during the time Sergei was killed so there must be another conspirator who could have killed Sergei. Nick realize Carlos is the second murderer after realizing that Carlos deliberately tripped him during the chase to catch Suzi, who was avenging his father who had lost both of his legs because of Quince. Holding Delacroix hostage, he leads Nick and Audrey in a car chase, but they force them to crash and rescue Delacroix. Carlos holds them all at gunpoint, but is killed by Nick and Audrey's chaotic tour bus they never boarded.

Delacroix thanks the couple and offers to help get Nick promoted to detective back home. Nick and Audrey continue their vacation aboard the fabled Orient Express courtesy of Interpol.

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

In June 2012, it was reported that Charlize Theron had signed on to star in Murder Mystery, a mystery-comedy then set to be directed by John Madden, from James Vanderbilt's screenplay. Before the announcement, the project had been set up at Walt Disney Studios with Kevin McDonald set to direct.[3] In April 2013, it was reported that Colin Firth, Adam Sandler and Emily Blunt had joined the cast - although, representatives for Firth and Blunt denied that they were boarding the film.[4] In September 2013, it was reported that both Theron and Madden had left the project and that Anne Fletcher was now set to direct for TWC-Dimension; Theron eventually received an executive producer credit on the film, along with her studio, Denver and Delilah Productions, listed in the film.[5]

In March 2018, it was announced that Sandler and Jennifer Aniston had signed to star, reuniting them after Just Go with It, their 2011 film. Kyle Newacheck directed, still with Vanderbilt's script, and the film premiered on Netflix as part of Sandler's distribution deal.[6] In June 2018, it was announced that Luke Evans, Gemma Arterton, David Walliams, Erik Griffin, John Kani, Shioli Kutsuna, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Adeel Akhtar, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Dany Boon and Terence Stamp had joined the cast.[7][8][9]

Principal photography on the film began on June 14, 2018 in Montréal.[8][10] In late July 2018, filming began in Italy at locations including Santa Margherita Ligure, Lake Como,[11] and Milan (where most of the scenes set in Monaco were actually shot) also using vehicles and uniforms of the Carabinieri.[12]

Release[edit]

The film was digitally released worldwide on June 14, 2019.[13]

On June 18, 2019, Netflix reported that 30.9 million households watched the film in the first 72 hours, the biggest opening weekend for a film in the company's history.[14] In July 2019, Netflix reported that the film was viewed by 73 million households in its first four weeks of release, based on a viewing metric of at least 70% of the film watched, making it Sandler's most successful film on the streaming platform.[15] Viewership numbers were adjusted up to 83 million accounts worldwide based on Netflix's new metric of at least 2 minutes of the film watched, making it the fifth most-watched original film on Netflix.[16] Updated hourly figures state the movie was watched for 169.59 million hours in the first 28 days of release.[17]

Reception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 45% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Murder Mystery reunites Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler for a lightweight comedy that's content to settle for merely mediocre."[18] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 38 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[19]

Amy Nicholson of Variety wrote: "Murder Mystery feels as shamelessly gaudy as paste jewelry — a trinket for nights that aspire to nothing more exotic than a pizza — but Aniston sparkles like the real deal."[20] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter called it "A tale as generic, and as dull, as its title."[21]

Accolades[edit]

Association Year Category Recipient Results Ref.
People's Choice Awards 2019 Favorite Comedic Movie Murder Mystery Nominated [22]
Favorite Male Movie Star Adam Sandler Nominated
Favorite Female Movie Star Jennifer Aniston Won
Favorite Comedy Movie Star Adam Sandler Nominated
Teen Choice Awards 2019 Choice Summer Movie Murder Mystery Nominated [23]
Choice Summer Movie Actor Adam Sandler Nominated
Choice Summer Movie Actress Jennifer Aniston Nominated

Sequel[edit]

Main article: Murder Mystery 2

In October 2019, it was announced that a sequel is in development with Sandler and Aniston reprising their roles.[24] In August 2021, Jeremy Garelick was hired as director and to rewrite the script, with filming of the sequel to take place in Paris and in the Caribbean.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Rupert Gregson-Williams Scoring Netflix Movie 'Murder Mystery'". Film Music Reporter. May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  2. ^ "MURDER MYSTERY will launch globally on Netflix in June 2019". Filmoria.co.uk. 23 April 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  3. ^ Charlize Theron in Talks to Star in 'Murder Mystery' for 'Marigold Hotel' Director
  4. ^ Cannes: Colin Firth, Adam Sandler, Emily Blunt to Join Charlize Theron in 'Murder Mystery'?
  5. ^ Anne Fletcher Directing 'Murder Mystery' for TWC-Dimension
  6. ^ Kroll, Justin (March 29, 2018). "Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston Reunite for Netflix 'Murder Mystery'". Variety. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  7. ^ Hipes, Patrick (June 7, 2018). "Luke Evans Is The Man In Netflix Comedy 'Murder Mystery'". Deadline. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  8. ^ a b Kit, Borys (June 14, 2018). "Luis Gerardo Mendez Joins Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston in 'Murder Mystery' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  9. ^ Galuppo, Mia (June 25, 2018). "Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton Join Netflix Comedy 'Murder Mystery'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  10. ^ "L'acteur britannique Luke Evans à Montréal | TVA Nouvelles" (in French). Tvanouvelles.ca. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  11. ^ Hemmert, Kylie (July 26, 2018). "Sandler and Aniston's Netflix Movie Murder Mystery Begins Filming". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  12. ^ Bettoni, Sara (27 August 2018). "Jennifer Aniston a Milano per le riprese del suo film "Murder Mystery" Foto". Corriere della Sera (in Italian).
  13. ^ "Virtually every movie coming out this summer". Los Angeles Times. April 25, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  14. ^ "Netflix Reveals Record-Breaking Stats for Sandler-Aniston 'Murder Mystery' Flick". Variety. June 18, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  15. ^ Patrick Hipes (July 17, 2019). "Netflix Reveals Viewer Data For 'Our Planet', 'Dead To Me', 'Always Be My Maybe', More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  16. ^ Shaw, Lucas (2020-07-15). "These Are Netflix's 10 Most Popular Original Movies". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  17. ^ Moore, Kasey (2023-02-09). "Most Watched Series & Movies on Netflix (Hours Watched)". What's on Netflix. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  18. ^ "Murder Mystery (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  19. ^ "Murder Mystery reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  20. ^ Nicholson, Amy (14 June 2019). "Film Review: 'Murder Mystery'". Variety.
  21. ^ John DeFore (2019). "'Murder Mystery': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  22. ^ Evans, Greg (2019-09-04). "E! People's Choice Awards Finalists Announced; Voting Open Through Oct. 18 – Complete List". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  23. ^ "Teen Choice Awards 2019: See the full list of winners and nominees". EW.com. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  24. ^ Kit, Borys (October 11, 2019). "'Murder Mystery' Sequel in the Works at Netflix (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  25. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (August 17, 2021). "Jeremy Garelick To Direct Netflix 'Murder Mystery' Sequel; Jennifer Aniston & Adam Sandler Circling". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 17, 2021.

External links[edit]

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