The Reel Review
Four British pensioners at a high-end retirement home put their hobby of investigating unsolved murders to use in real time when one of the owners of their facility turns up dead. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie star in this crime mystery adapted from the first of Richard Osman’s best-selling crime novels.
The Thursday Murder Club is a light, feel good spin on the more complicated book series, with gorgeous cinematography and a winsome cast of heavy-hitters. Mirren and Brosnan, in particular, are standouts as a respective former high-ranking MI6 spy and trade union leader. With a sumptuous setting right out of Downton Abbey, the story is a twisty affair that, like any fun whodunit, comes together in the final act.
While fans of the more serious book series may have issue with the film’s breezy vibe, director Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Alone) intentionally goes for a simplified tone that is one part Murder She Wrote and one part The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. With Naomi Ackie (Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody) as the young police officer secretly working with the group, the story refreshingly steers clear of being overly sentimental and doesn’t shy away from more somber topics like loneliness, dementia, hospice care and assisted suicide. The otherwise lighthearted crime mystery is a fun film about teamwork for all ages.
REEL FACTS
• In addition to being a crime novelist, 6′ 7″ Richard Osman is a movie producer, television game show creator and on-air presenter. His wife Ingrid Oliver (Doctor Who) plays Joyce’s adult daughter, hedge fund manager Joanna, in the film.
• Englefield Estate and Gaddesden Place served as the respective exteriors and interiors of the luxurious, modern-day Downton Abbey-esque retirement home.
• It was Ben Kingsley who came up with the eulogy in the finale.
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