So when Nick and Audrey laugh in disbelief at being at the same party as a maharajah, it feels completely relatable. The trappings of, say, Murder on the Orient Express are fantastic to the everyday reader (or viewer), but laughably fancy and out of the realm of imagination on a realistic level. It’s fairly cut and dry - he’s the schlub, she’s the shrew - but the storyline (actually benefits from having to share space, as the expected bickering is automatically made less of a priority in favor of watching them work together. He’s been lying to her about being promoted to detective, and only books the Europe trip he’d promised her when they got married years ago when she yells at him for forgetting their anniversary. There’s the murder mystery, and then there’s the marriage comedy that Nick and Audrey are playing out. Naturally, however, the Spitzes’ vantage point means that there are effectively two movies smashed into one. They might as well be breaking the fourth wall, though Vanderbilt’s script mercifully stops just short of using that particular storytelling device. As the cherry on top of the cake, Audrey is obsessed with mystery novels, and Nick is a police sergeant, so they can quip about and marvel at the unfolding case as if they weren’t participants but audience members. The chaos that ensues is an Agatha Christie murder mystery with two audience surrogates along for the ride. Everybody else on the boat is somehow related to Quince, and the fact that the Spitzes aren’t makes them the prime suspects. The specifics vault the story into the realm of comedy: Nick and Audrey are taking an extremely belated honeymoon, and are the sole American tourists aboard the yacht upon which Quince is murdered, having been invited aboard by the dashing, mysterious Charles Cavendish (Luke Evans). Billionaire Malcolm Quince (Terence Stamp) is dead, and it’s down to Nick (Sandler) and Audrey Spitz (Jennifer Aniston) to figure out who did it. And his name still subsumes everything around it hence Murder Mystery, directed by Kyle Newacheck, written by James Vanderbilt, and streaming on Netflix now, is “an Adam Sandler movie.” It’s no Punch-Drunk Love, but it’s on the better end of the spectrum when it comes to Sandler’s streaming selections.Īs suggested by its title, Murder Mystery centers on a murder mystery. As lukewarm as his current reputation is - there’s no denying stinkers like, say, Jack and Jill or The Ridiculous 6 - he’s got films like Punch-Drunk Love and, more recently, The Meyerowitz Stories on his résumé. Follow our lead.A confession: I like Adam Sandler.
Finding the missing link to your perfect movie night is elementary, dear reader.
#NEW MURDER MOVIE ON NETFLIX TV#
So why not follow those footsteps to the TV and investigate Netflix’s mystery movies? We’ve already covered you when it comes to the best picks to get you started. By the end, you’ll either find yourself dumbfounded by the truth, clinging to the edge of a cliff-hanger, or high-fiving yourself for “calling it” from the start.
After all, there are few things more satisfying than trying to keep a step ahead of a story.Īnd what better genre is there than the mystery genre when it comes to flexing those mental gymnastics? With guaranteed suspense and addictive bread crumb trail storylines, mystery movies highlight one of these greatest storytelling techniques in film: leaving something for the imagination. Of course, there are other times when we want to put a little leg work into our watch. And there’s no shame in turning to the screen to clear your head. Sometimes all we want out of our movie viewing experience is a feel good, low-maintenance boost of serotonin for 90 minutes straight.