Director: jeremy garelick
Writer: james vanderbilt
stars: Adam Sandler Jennifer Aniston Mark Strong
Synopsis: Full-time detectives Nick and Audrey are struggling to get their private detective agency off the ground. They find themselves at the center of an international kidnapping when his friend Maharaja is kidnapped at his own lavish wedding.
Four years ago, murder mystery Surf the Netflix streaming waters with the “Saniston” crew, establishing one of the dullest comedies in recent memory. Every time highly respected and likable megastars pulled a prank, they all flopped. Never before has he longed for a Rob Schneider cameo to give a sitcom some much-needed life, and that’s saying something. The tedious riffs and the homage of Clue It was a waste of everyone’s time and talent. While murder mystery 2 changes course, shifting more to an action couple comedy as date night, some much-needed improvements are made. However, he sees fewer risks being taken and a result that he easily sees coming from a mile away.
the binge Jeremy Garelick is now behind the camera as he works on another script for scream VI write James Vanderbilt. The story begins a few years later when Audrey and Nick Spitz (Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler) run a floundering private investigation agency. Sure, some couples may find that working together is a path to strengthening a marriage with deeper bonds with shared interests. However, the Spitz are getting on each other’s nerves. Including the ex-New York City cop who botched an investigation for an insecure spouse (Anni Mumolo) into her alleged cheating husband (Tony Goldwyn). As? By munching some salty snacks into his transmitter-equipped ears in spite of his wife munching on a couple of shrimp cocktails.
The Spitzes then receive a much-needed invitation to The Maharajah’s (Adeel Akhtar) wedding to his new wife, Claudette (Mélanie Laurent). They look around their dilapidated business and decide to make this trip a honeymoon they never had. That is until the Maharaja is taken and a fifty million dollar ransom is placed on his head. Who is behind this latest version of Happy Madison’s Clue? The promised gold digger? The jealous sister, Saira (the big sick Kuhoo Verma)? His old friend of his, Colonel Ulenga (John Kani)? Countess Sekou (Jodie-Turner Smith)? Or the international movie star who has had more than 10,000 lovers, Francisco (Enrique Arce)? While he can put his money into which he probably has a couple dozen paternity suits, the Spitz need the help of a Special Air Service officer. His name is Miller (Mark Strong), a renowned hostage crisis expert who wrote a book on the subject. He goes in (or rather nothing) to help Nick and Audrey with his incompetence.
That murder mystery 2 does well is mix a handful of comedy and action sequences. I’m not sure if Sandler has picked up a fake gun since 1996. Bulletproof, but he is not out of place here. The scenes here have good energy and fold into some nice moments of dark or irreverent humor. Another nice change here is research. The original had most of the suspects in the same room. As the story progresses, the suspects are separated from left to right at various locations. Now, not all the jokes land, and Vanderbilt’s humor leans towards the two stars who rhythmically in Saturday night live The nonsense of the Weekend Update. Sometimes it works, like Danny Boon’s inappropriate Inspector Delacroix and Jillian Bell’s homage to Sleepless in Seattle Annie Reed. Other moments, like Turner-Smith Countess Sekou, are repetitive, boring, and one-note.
Plus, if you’re a fan of these kinds of movies, you’ll immediately spot the main villain (or one of them, in this case), which is almost always based on role size and name recognition. Not to mention, the initial beard that the script uses you’ve seen thousands of times before. You have the second cliché with a flimsy explanation for another shadowy baddie. None of this adds to the suspense that the action comedy tries to generate. However, I’m sure no one has that expectation going into this sequel in the first place.
Obviously, if you’re a movie buff, murder mystery 2 it’s a clichéd mix of buddy and action comedy tropes. And honestly, the movie has them in droves. (Including the classic out-of-shape star basically kicking a trained mercenary in the shin, and the villain proceeding to do a 360-degree turn as if his leg had been blown off.) However, Sandler, Aniston and company get a good laugh and enough goodwill to lure the casual movie buff over the finish line. There’s enough fun and effort here to give the undeserved sequel a mild recommendation for anyone who enjoys the stars of the film and the genre. This is a date night movie, plain and simple, and an improvement on the original.
Grade: C-
