The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

It isn't often a film has a cast as wonderful as this. The rest of my review may sound a bit critical so I want to say first off how much I enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club, and that is entirely due to just how wonderful watching all these actors together was. Mirren, Brosnan, Kingsley, Imrie, Pryce, Grant... legends everyone. Ackie and Tennant are some of my favourite working actors right now. It was impossible for me not to have a fun time with all of these talents gathered together. 

Having said that The Thursday Murder Club suffers from best-seller-itis symptoms. Like a lot of popular fiction it is designed to hit all the typical plot points in the most mundane and accessible ways to be generally pleasing over being actually interesting or intellectually challenging. It doesn't help that it is directed by the ultimate paint-by-numbers director working in Hollywood. There is no flare or mystery to this mystery. 

*Slight Spoilers* Also the mystery best-seller genre is rife with stories that are woven to be a series of red herrings with an unlikely twist revealing who'd you'd least expect. So the trick is to simply expect the least expected no matter how convoluted the path to getting there needs to be. The Thursday Murder Club is a primary example of this problem. The fact that resolution is centred around likeable characters we are sympathetic to feels less inventive and more formulaic. 

Yet, as I said in the beginning. I enjoyed it immensely anyway, despite all its flaws. While a film like this had the potential to be very rewatchable, its extreme blandness likely lessons the fun of any subsequent viewings. However would I be excited if they announced a seuqel with this cast coming back? You bet your sweet bippy I would. 

The Thursday Murder Club

Starring: Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, Johnathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Richard E Grant, Tom Ellis

Director: Chris Columbus

Writers: Katy Brand, Suzanne Heathcote