Movie review: The Thursday Murder Club
Cecilia Fountain
Directed by Chris Columbus and originally written by Richard Osman

A murder mystery that takes place in a retirement home. This movie, originally adapted from a 2020 murder mystery novel, was brought to life by Netflix. Streaming on Netflix, the story follows a group of retired people who gather for lunch every Thursday and solve cold murder cases. When the foursome group of retirees find themselves in a real murder case, the movie does a great job of keeping every character development thoughtful and precise.
Specifically, the leader of the group, Elizabeth (played by Helen Mirren), has a great mysterious “CIA agent, Prosana.” This gives the movie a great edge. The director of the film even stated to Netflix, “This is the finest cast I’ve worked with since Potter. They’re just so incredibly well-prepared, and it’s because they do everything. They do theater, they do television, they do film, and they’ve developed those sorts of muscles.” The movie also gives a great balance of not only mystery, but also humor. The humor keeps the story light, and the mystery keeps you engaged, a perfect combination.

Overall, it is a good movie, but it does have a few flaws. Even with the actors’ great work, the plot does veer off into a lot of different directions. It all comes together in the end, but the connection to each story can get confusing, and it seems like it pulls things out of thin air. For example, at the end of the movie, the murderer of the cold case they were solving (before the real one started) turned out to be Elizabeth’s best friend’s husband. This does help pull together another murder, but it makes it feel like the movie just pulled something random so that the movie could end in time.

Besides these few flaws, Netflix did a good job of bringing this book to life. The actors are great and balance each other perfectly, so if you have a spare 2 hours, I would recommend watching The Thursday Murder Club.

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/thursday-murder-club-cast-release-date-plot
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12001534/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_thursday_murder_club