“Murder Mystery is a thrilling comedy that stars the Sand-Man and Jennifer Aniston.”
Adam Sandler is taking to Netflix like a fish to water these days. You won’t be seeing his latest comedic films in theaters, but rather straight to Netflix. Coming off the heels of his excellent stand-up special (also exclusively on Netflix), Sandler’s next vehicle is Murder Mystery, a thrilling comedy that stars the Sand-Man and Jennifer Aniston. The two play a married couple who want to spice up their life as they head to Europe for a vacation, where you guessed it, a murder mystery ensues. Think Murder on the Orient Express, but with Sandler in Europe. The film works best when Sandler and Aniston are having those all too-real relationship discussions where you always don’t see eye-to-eye. I was laughing out loud and relating quite a bit. Other than those sequences and dialogue, it’s silly business as usual.
Sandler plays a cop who is trying to become a detective, while his wife (Aniston) is a hair-dresser at a posh salon who loves crime novels. They haven’t gone on a vacation in years and she always has wanted to journey to Europe since Sandler promised her on their wedding night. On their flight, they meet this wealthy man (Luke Evans), who invites them to vacation on his family’s yacht and see the sights in luxury. Of course they accept, but they get much more than they bargain for.
Once on the yacht, Evans’ family is called in by their patriarch to be ridiculed and told they will not be receiving his $70 billion fortune, to which the lights go out for a split second and someone ends up dead. In the following scenes, more people on the boat turn up as corpses as well, which leads to Sandler and Aniston trying to survive and solve the mystery. It’s sully, but charming. Again, the best sequences are when Aniston and Sandler are bickering, because it all rings true.
Director Kyle Newacheck (creator of Workaholics) does a serviceable job with the comedy and small action moments in chase scenes, but there isn’t that special spark to any of it. All of this you’ve seen before, but with Aniston and Sandler’s charisma, you’ll feel satisfied with a viewing. If this is the direction Sandler is going, count me in.