The Thursday Murder Club review: Starry cast makes this the Avengers of ageing sleuths

The Thursday Murder Club is a movie mystery that’s perfect for armchair detectives who like their crime cozy and their comedy broad.

Published in September 2020, The Thursday Murder Club was TV presenter Richard Osman’s debut novel, and it quickly became a sensation.

The book flew off shelves, sequels followed – as did an acclaimed radio adaptation – and now the movie version has arrived courtesy of Netflix.

Home Alone helmer Chris Columbus directs, while the cast is filled with the best pensioners money can buy; a cavalcade of stars clearly having a ball bringing Osman’s weird and wonderful characters to life.

What’s The Thursday Murder Club about?

The Thursday Murder Club is set in a beautiful retirement community called Cooper’s Chase, where the sun always shines, and there’s everything a retiree could want, from support llamas, archery classes, and a jigsaw room, to life drawing lessons that feature hot men with their tops off.

It’s idyllic and quaint beyond belief, but every Thursday, a group of residents commandeer said jigsaw room, and investigate cold cases from the past.

They start with an unsolved 1973 mystery concerning “the woman in white who fell out of a window.” But then murder rears its head in the present, via a fresh mystery involving dodgy businessmen and even dodgier gangsters, as well as the ownership of Cooper’s Chase itself.

So using age and experience to their advantage – plus a healthy dose of cunning, and less healthy slices of cake – the Thursday Murder Club set about solving the case and saving their home.

Who is in the club?

Each member of the Thursday Murder Club possesses a different and very specific set of skills, making them a bit like the Avengers of elderly sleuths, or a geriatric Justice League.

Helen Mirren is Elizabeth, the group’s leader, who very possibly worked as a government spy. Ben Kingsley is Ibrahim, a former psychiatrist who is usually the smartest person in the room. While Pierce Brosnan is Ron, a retired trade union leader who’s as tough as nails.

They’re an investigative trio at the start of the movie, and our way into the story is through Celia Imrie’s Joyce, a former nurse who is new to Cooper’s Chase, and whom the club brings onboard for her medical expertise.

Brosnan’s dodgy cockney accent aside – the second time he’s offended our ears following the MobLand debacle – the Thursday Murder Club is cast well, and make a winning team when working together.

But it’s Mirren who delivers the standout performance, not when she’s barking orders at her crew or the local constabulary, but rather when Elizabeth is with husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce), who suffers from dementia. Played to perfection by the pair, their touching scenes are both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Mays bring the biggest laughs

But while there are sad moments spread throughout the movie, they’re outnumbered by some big laughs.

Accent notwithstanding, Brosnan gets some of the biggest, most notably when he’s glimpsed exercising with old dears in the pool, but also when scruffy Ron is fooling the coppers, or smart Ron is giving them a dressing down in his wedding suit.

Other highlights including a cracking Queen Elizabeth II gag, a funny sequence involving the drinking of gin on a bus, and a shocker concerning the aforementioned life drawing that needs to be seen to be believed.

The movie also mines mirth from local coppers being outthought and outwitted by the TMC, with Daniel Mays hilarious as the increasingly confused and frustrated DCI Hughes.

Is The Thursday Murder Club good?

The Thursday Murder Clubs is a solid murder-mystery that keeps you guessing until the final few reels, while Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcoate’s tight script ensures that the 118 minute run-time flies by.

There’s the odd contrivance, involving a dictaphone, bunches of flowers, and an awkward boxing pose. While it gets a little heavy-handed at times, through literal blood on a character’s hands, and a sexism sub-plot that feels tacked on.

But the jokes come thick and fast, while the movie’s best scenes happen in the quieter periods, when touching on more serious themes of loneliness, ill health, and the indignities of old age.

They’re fleeting moments, handled with sensitivity by Columbus and his cast, and they might just leave you with something in your eye when the credits roll.

The Thursday Murder Club score: 4/5

The Thursday Murder Club is twee beyond belief, but it’s also a faithful adaptation of Richard Osman’s novel; one that delivers the requisite murder and mystery, as well as laughter and the odd tear.