The Thursday Murder Club Review: Contrived but Delightful (Bring on TMC 2!)
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram) Click here for audio version
Some might think 4 out of 5 stars is too generous for ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, but others might find it thoroughly entertaining despite its contrived and convenient twists. So… bite me. Or relax a little and dream about biting into all the delicious cakes, which get bigger cameos in the film than some of the secondary characters.
Based on the bestselling book of the same name by Richard Osman, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ is set in a luxurious retirement society called ‘Cooper’s Chase’, where pensioners Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), and Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) gather every Thursday to solve cold cases. They make new resident Joyce (Celia Imrie) a honorary member, since she is a former nurse and would bring them some much needed medical expertise. And when Tony Curran (Geoff Bell) the co-owner of ‘Cooper’s Chase’ is found murdered in his home, the club gets excited to crack an active case.
The sheer excitement with which Joyce rushes to call an emergency meeting of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, to inform them of Tony’s murder is hilariously delightful. The gang cleverly ropes in the help of Donna de Freitas (Naomi Ackie), a new cop in town, bored of menial duties. Elizabeth and Joyce promise to get Donna on the investigating team, if she provides them with updates on the Tony Curran case in exchange. Ron and Ibrahim set in motion a comical scheme to convince DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) Chris Hudson played by Daniel Mays, to get Donna onboard his team.
Of course, like any good murder mystery, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ offers up multiple suspects, chief among them Ian Ventham (David Tennant), the co-owner of Cooper’s Chase, who was locked in a dispute with the now dead Tony Curran over turning the retirement village into a more commercial venture. Ron’s celebrity son Jason Ritchie (Tom Ellis) and Ian’s employee Bodgan (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) seem a little suspicious too.
A significant sub-plot thus is about the fate of Cooper’s Chase, the beautiful sprawling property, that’s home to the club and many other pensioners, who absolutely love the place – it’s scenic, ornate, with all kinds of comforts, including swimming pools, art classes, and emotional support llamas (yes, those cute camel-like creatures). Still, the greatest comfort Cooper’s Chase offers isn’t the pools or classes, but the bonds and community spirit its residents share.
Helen Mirren is fantastic as the unsaid leader of the pack, always on her feet, assertive, calculative, and almost Sherlock like in her deduction skills. However, it’s Celia Imrie as newcomer Joyce who quickly became my favorite character. It might have something to do with the sumptuous cakes she is always baking or the fact that she goes to a ‘protest’ rally with coffee. I mean if I could apply to be Joyce’s best-friend, I would. Who doesn’t want a friend that’s always baking cakes and getting you coffee?!
Think of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ as part of the new “cozy murder mystery” wave: safe, soft, fun, and maybe too polite for die-hard true-crime nutters (like me). But it’s easy on the eyes, full of charm, and if you can forgive a few wild coincidences that magically solves a decades-old cold case, it’s a pretty convincing package.
Rating: 8 on 10. Watch ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ on Netflix.
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