As one sun sets, another also rises. With Downton Abbey nearing its grand finale, Anglophiles have become worried what will replace that sensation. Enter Netflix, so ready to submit their entry they came in a couple weeks early. The Thursday Murder Club will be everything your grandma and/or Netflix binger wants: a bit of crime, a bit of Helen Mirren/Pierce Brosnan, and if the streamer is lucky, a multi-film arc that will have you more excited to visit the retirement home at least one month a year.
At Coopers Chase, the Rolls Royce of retirement homes, is where The Thursday Murder Club (TMC) meets. It’s currently a trio: secretly knowing Elizabeth Best (Helen Mirren), former union leader Ron Ritchie (Pierce Brosnan), and retired psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif (Ben Kingsley). Their latest case is taken from their recently hospiced former TMC member Penny Gray; in order to solve it, the group needs to expand. Luckily, Joyce (Celia Imrie) a retired nurse, has just moved into Coopers…and eager to try something new with her life after her husband’s passing.
Even though he’s American, Chris Columbus knows a thing or two about world building in beautiful British estates. Turns out, he’s just as great for the octogenarians as he is for the kiddos. Englefield House is Coopers Chase, and Columbus makes that property look beautiful, inside and out. Our introduction to the venue is this sweeping likely drone shot showing the vast landscape we’re about to play in. From there, we’re seated at this ornate table inside a more ornate gathering room with the TMC. Columbus makes sure to use Englefield as well as beautiful Beaconsfield early and often, building out the greater town as the scope of the felonies increases. With the setting delivered to the audience, we now enter with Joyce into this fascinating, glorious place she’s chosen to live her last years. It’s adorably British, with even the bad guys like David Tennant’s Ian Ventham more laughable and devious than scary; hell, even the murders as expected have no blood or have happened decades ago, meaning we’re more on a history hunt than we are in some crime cesspool, where cops like PC Donna De Freitas (Naomi Ackie) can just divulge information to the TMC with no repercussions other than the case getting solved. That light, playful tone serves The Thursday Murder Club well, twisting just enough to keep the audience engaged so they don’t want the bathroom/phone break they’ll usually take on Streamer Saturdays.
All Chris Columbus needs is a couple great leads to build the story around. Well, since the UK actors have been dominating the movie industry for a while now, that was like shooting fish in a barrel. Helen Mirren is the rock on which the TMC resides. Our regal thespian can play roles like this on autopilot if she wanted, but she really has fun with Elizabeth Best, dangling pieces of her past like little easter eggs for the other characters/the audience to enjoy, all with a wink and a smile. Pierce Brosnan is not quite Mirren’s foil, but more a fun sidekick, giving for this crowd at least a little rambunctious zeal to the proceedings. Ben Kingsley happily settles for quiet weirdo, likely to have more to do in follow up movies. Celia Imrie has to be the audience surrogate, but one who makes cakes, so that’s delicious I guess; hopefully she gets to be weird in the next one. The supporting players/suspects are where the movie’s secret sauce lies though. David Tennant is wonderfully over the top as the worst kind of unapologetic scum, ready and willing to look like a fool for everyone’s amusement. Naomi Ackie hopefully sticks around to be the Simon Pegg vs TMC’s Nick Frost in the next Hot Fuzz like caper, no nonsense but a bit daffy too. Even sweet aging Jonathan Pryce is happy to come by and play for a few minutes.
Despite the ominous name, The Thursday Murder Club is all good vibes. Anyone watching should have a blast, regardless of age. Though I would like to see this run through the retirement community like the prunes they ate for lunch. Maybe merge this with Columbus’s other films soon? Get Daniel Radcliffe and Macaulay Culkin in here as possible suspects in the next one? KEVIN!!!!