MURDER MYSTERY (2019)

MURDER MYSTERY isn't a remake of MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, despite having the same title and concept (when a couple gets tied into a crime, the wife convinces the husband to try to solve it through her knowledge of detective fiction, and eventually everything makes their marriage stronger). While I didn't like that movie very much, this one does things worse. This time, the husband (NICK SPITZ) is a cop. Why would his wife (AUDREY SPITZ) need to push him into doing his job? Sure, he's not officially assigned to the case, but does he not have an urge for justice? Also, in the other movie, the victim was said to have died of a heart attack. The wife thought it was a lie, but her husband at first thought she was imagining things. He ignored her theories and was constantly making sarcastic remarks. Here, the protagonists are in the same room as the victim when he's stabbed (though the lights are out). It's a fact that he's been assassinated, so NICK having the same nonchalant and quippy attitude doesn't make sense. If anything, he comes off as a douche. The movie can't decide if it wants to be a parody with actors playing it straight and lines that reference the tropes, or, a goofy comedy with actors mugging and moments too ridiculous to happen in real life. Apparently, not touching a dead body and the murder weapon (especially if you're a suspect) isn't common knowledge. No, no. Only a cop would have the expertise to know that. Did we need to see NICK & AUDREY getting on a plane, meeting a billionaire, being invited to a yacht party, getting off the plane and getting on the yacht? You'd think that script writer James Vanderbilt would learn from Agatha Christie (considering the references to her works) on how to trim the fat and get to the point faster. Hell, the movie's title appears on screen during the most random moment possible. Adam Sandler once admitted that he chooses certain locations for his movies as an excuse to have a vacation. This is the rare case where the foreign setting is relevant to the plot. He doesn't sleepwalk through the movie as much as usual (partly because he's told to ad-lib (or at least it feels that way), which arguably requires more concentration and energy), but that's not saying much. Jennifer Aniston's performance is OK, and they both have good chemistry.

3/10
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