By George & Josh Bate
The Thursday Murder Club became the “fastest selling adult crime debut” in recorded history when it was published in 2020. The debut novel from English television presenter Richard Osman quickly won over readers all around the world with its delightful and twisty mystery, cozy atmosphere, and lovable collective of geriatric amateur sleuths. Months prior to its publication, the book’s global rights were purchased by Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin Entertainment, speaking to the cinematic appeal of the novel, and Netflix acquired distribution rights soon after. Five years later, The Thursday Murder Club movie arrives on the hit streaming service and, as is the case with many film adaptations of beloved books, falls short of the charm and ingenuity of its source material, despite making for a breezy, engaging, and atmospheric murder mystery nonetheless.
The Thursday Murder Club takes place at the luxurious retirement village Cooper’s Chase in England. At Cooper’s Chase, a group of residents – Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Roy (Pierce Brosnan), and Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) – are members of a club that investigates cold cases for fun and, after welcoming new member Joyce (Celia Imrie), find themselves in the middle of active murder investigation that puts their beloved retirement village in jeopardy.
Like the novel on which it is based, The Thursday Murder Club draws inspiration from Agatha Christie whodunnits, in particular those featuring Miss Marple. There’s a murder to solve, whose very nature is at odds with the calm and picturesque English countryside setting. There’s an elderly sleuth (or sleuths) attempting to solve the murder, despite the protests of the local police. There’s a host of suspects, motives, clues, red herrings, and more along the way. There’s a levity or lightness to the tone, rather than being another somber mystery story. And there’s a resolution to the mystery that wraps all the loose ends up nicely. In this sense, director Chris Columbus follows author Richard Osman in not attempting to reinvent the murder mystery genre, but, rather, offer a satisfying throwback to Christie’s beloved stories. Although murder mysteries like The Thursday Murder Club often take shape in modern British television, they seldom make their way to being globally released feature films, a trend Rian Johnson reversed with the success of Knives Out and its sequel Glass Onion. Those who enjoyed Johnson’s films, or the Christie novels of which they were heavily inspired by, will likely find themselves having fun with The Thursday Murder Club.
Columbus’ film faithfully recreates Osman’s novel, for the most part. The story unfolds almost identically as the novel with few, if any, significant omissions to the narrative. Where the film diverges from its source material is its translation of the investigation itself, a mystery that is depicted as more intricate and interesting in the novel than it is in the movie. In part, this is due to the restructuring of a 400 page novel, carefully written as 115 short chapters, into a two-hour movie, which inherently leads to brisker pacing and, in turn, less time to linger in the intrigue of the mystery. The truncation of the story in this manner also results in some leaps in logic that weren’t as evident in the book, most evident in the form of sizable and unrealistic assumptions characters make to reach certain conclusions. As a result, the payoffs of the ultimate reveals prove less satisfying. The sheer entertainment elicited from a well-told story and well-crafted characters translates from book to screen, but the winding mystery of suspects, interviews, and clues is left somewhat hollow.
Arguably the most compelling element of Osman’s novel were the four elderly detectives at the heart of the story, a core component the new Netflix film successfully replicates. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie are perfectly cast as the four members of the Thursday Murder Club, each playing beautifully into the light-hearted, yet high-stakes, tone. It is refreshing to see a film of this size and likely popularity focus on people older than 70, a demographic not given nearly enough attention in cinema and television. Unlike many portrayals of older adults, The Thursday Murder Club doesn’t patronize the elderly nor does it shy away from the harsh realities of aging. Instead, the film, like the novel, tells a hopeful tale of how life doesn’t stop once you hit older adulthood, that older people can use younger people’s ageism and underestimation to their advantage, and that, sometimes, we don’t become our truest, most genuine selves until we are older. Casting actors of Mirren, Brosnan, Kingsley, and Imrie’s caliber ensures that the four leads of the film are not only likable and easy to root for, but that this commentary surrounding older adulthood and aging works as well as it does.
However, a disproportionate focus on Mirren’s Elizabeth character leaves Brosnan and Kingsley woefully underused and renders The Thursday Murder Club movie less of an ensemble than Osman’s novel. For those familiar with the source material, Osman largely tells the story through the eyes of Joyce, the new member of the club. And although the film begins in this manner and hints that Joyce will be the audience’s point-of-view, it quickly pivots focus to Mirren and firmly positions her as the lead from then on. This focus on Mirren is so evident that a more apt title for the film may have been ‘Elizabeth and the Thursday Murder Club,’ which is unfortunate given how phenomenal Brosnan and Kinglsey are with their more limited roles. The two iconic actors share great chemistry with one another, the former playing a more streetwise London ex-trade unionist and the latter playing a sophisticated, well-spoken former therapist, but neither is given the screentime they deserve. Even more egregious is the extent to which Celia Imrie’s Joyce is sidelined. A critical character in the novel, Joyce is reduced here to a background player, who merely tags along for the ride and offers a few points of humor, rather than contribute meaningfully to the story.
VERDICT: 7/10
The Thursday Murder Club adapts Richard Osman’s beloved whodunnit novel into a cozy, breezy, light-hearted, and engaging murder mystery, albeit one that falls short of its source material. Rather than reinvent the murder mystery genre, director Chris Columbus’ film adheres closely to the tenets of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories with a breezy movie full of murder, suspects, clues, and red herrings. Although commonplace in British television, this kind of old-fashioned murder mystery is seldom seen in big, globally released feature films anymore, which makes the movie a refreshing watch, even if it is not doing anything particularly novel. Also refreshing is the focus on a cast of elderly characters, who are handled gracefully by a script, story, and performances that don’t patronize older adults, but, rather, offer hope that life doesn’t end when you hit older adulthood and that, sometimes, our best years come later than we expect. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie are perfectly cast as the titular sleuths, although a disproportionate focus on Mirren as the lead character, rather than an ensemble piece like the novel, renders the excellent Brosnan and Kinglsey woefully underused. Meanwhile, the murder mystery itself, especially when compared to the intricate plotting of the novel, feels somewhat hollow as truncating the 400 page book into a two-hour film loses some of the mystery’s intrigue and there are leaps of logic that make the payoffs of the ultimate reveals less satisfying. Those seeking a light-hearted, throwback whodunit with likable characters, an engaging mystery, and a cozy atmosphere will come away satisfied with The Thursday Murder Club. However, a better time may be had if you read the book by Richard Osman.