Murder Mystery 2 review
Murder Mystery 2 doesn’t pack the same surprises as its predecessor.
There’s not as much novelty in seeing Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler banter back and forth as married private investigators, but it proves nearly as entertaining and fun.
After successfully cracking their last case, Nick and Audrey are struggling to make their private eye firm successful.
With their cases drying out, it’s the perfect time for an impromptu vacation when their pal The Maharajah (Adeel Ahktar, Enola Holmes) invites them to his private island for his wedding.
The island is breathtaking and the wedding set pieces are gloriously lavish with opulence to spare. Naturally, the idyllic life can’t last long for Audrey and Nick as Maharajah gets kidnapped on the eve of his wedding.
Convinced the kidnapper had an accomplice within the bridal party, Nick and Audrey round up the viable suspects.
First is the bride Claudette (Mélanie Laurent, Now You See Me); the Maharajah’s sister, Saira (Kuhoo Verma); his ex, The Countess (Jodie Turner-Smith, Without Remorse) and her aid/mimic, Imani (Zurin Villanueva) and board member/former football star Francisco (Enrique Arci).
For a touch of familiarity, John Kani (Black Panther) and Danny Boon reprise their roles as Col. Ulenga and Inspector Delacroix. While they’re not suspects they prove to be the only reliable allies Nick and Audrey can count on.
They might not get the chance to crack this case as Maharajah’s company calls in expert hostage negotiator Miller (Mark Strong, Cruella), who takes offense at the amateurs bumbling around his case.
Whether Miller likes it, Nick and Audrey find themselves right in the mix of the negotiations and as usual, the body count starts rising as the suspect list gets increasingly smaller.
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Aniston and Sandler have terrific comedic chemistry. They play off each other well with an easy back and forth to slide in and out of the spotlight.
The supporting cast is fine though they don’t get all that much to do. That’s a little disappointing as Turner-Smith provides a distinguished, stuffy sense of grace that warranted more screen time.
Screenwriter James Vanderbilt (Scream VI) doesn’t do too much to develop the new characters beyond setting up viable motives for them wanting to kidnap the Maharajah.
This also hurts with some of the characters being one-note like Francisco being obsessed with sleeping with Audrey and Imani just repeating everything The Countess does. Running gags with characters that are just the gag isn’t nearly as funny.
Kani and Boon benefit from their time in the first film and already having their characters established.
At least putting the burden on Sandler and Aniston isn’t a bad strategy since they’re more than capable of carrying the film.
Director Jeremy Garelick (The Binge) skews slightly more to action comedy than bumbling slapstick with action elements.
It’s kind of a hard sell to buy into Sandler as a brawling action hero though the running gag of Nick being a terrible shot remains good for laughs.
There’s some decent twists and surprising developments. Vanderbilt makes sure that logic checks with the reveal of the kidnapper and there’s a cliffhanger suggesting a third installment is imminent. If it’s at the same level as the first two, another case with Aniston and Sandler sounds like a can’t miss caper.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Photo Credit: Netflix