Director: Chris Columbus
Writers: Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote (screenplay); Richard Osman (based on the novel by)
Release Date: 28th August 2025
Hot Rating: 💥💥
Synopsis: Four retirees at a quiet retirement village — ex-spy Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), former union activist Ron (Pierce Brosnan), ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) and retired nurse Joyce (Celia Imrie) — spend their days solving cold cases for fun as the self-styled 'Thursday Murder Club'. Their hobby turns unexpectedly real when a real murder occurs on their own doorstep.
Review: Richard Osman's novel was a charming, cosy hit, but Chris Columbus's adaptation is kitsch in every sense of the word "naff". Where the book earned its warmth through specificity, the film settles for a sterile, artificial retelling of Osman's cutesy detective premise, content to coast on formula rather than character. It's a shame, because the cast is not the problem: Mirren, Kingsley, Brosnan and Imrie are all game, but the film lugs these heavyweight actors in as though their presence alone can paper over the paint-by-numbers aesthetics and flat direction beneath them. The result is a disappointing, largely forgettable whodunit that never earns the cosy-crime comparisons it so clearly wants, nor the starry cast it was lucky enough to assemble.
Image: YouTube
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