There’s a fortune at loose and Adam Sandler is on the case — in fiction and reality. A decade ago, “Murder Mystery,” a caffeinated comedy that stars Sandler and Jennifer Aniston a…
) pins the assassination on Sandler and Aniston’s Nick and Audrey Spitz, a cop and a hairdresser on their first overseas vacation, for no rationale but to kick the plot into gear. “Are you saying that your theory is that the two of us conned our way onto a stranger’s boat at the last minute to commit premeditated murder that benefits us in no way?” asks Audrey, a mystery novel obsessive., the gendarme is implying exactly that.
Director Kyle Newacheck’s bright and simple film is gambling on his leads’ star power. Meanwhile his ensemble cast competes over who can appear most guilty. Former Bond girl Arterton is a delightful bodice-heaving vamp while the mustachioed Evans has been honing his egotistical Euro-villains since the “Fast and the Furious” franchise. Evans has gotten so good at playing mannered crooks that whenever he appears onscreen, there’s a Smell-O-Vision waft of cologne and vermouth.
Of course, every Adam Sandler comedy abides by a trope as hoary as “the butler did it.” At some point in the shenanigans, Sandler’s schlub has gotta get a chance to prove he’s the bravest boy in the world. As Sandler’s career has congealed, so have his characters. Nick Spitz buys Audrey a $50 gift card for their 10-year anniversary and wears cargo shorts to a black-tie dinner.
Yet, what’s most out-of-whack in this onscreen relationship is that Aniston is giving a genuine performance. Her bored wife is idealistic, naive and awkward, the kind of aspirant who dresses up for a cross-Atlantic flight but balks at paying $9 for ear plugs. She’s overjoyed to drink spritzes with a viscount, and the audience swoons for her, even though her first encounter with Evans is the peak of the film’s erotic thrills.
” feels as shamelessly gaudy as paste jewelry — a trinket for nights that aspire to nothing more exotic than a pizza — but Aniston sparkles like the real deal.Reviewed online, June 11, 2019. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 97 MIN.: A Netflix release and presentation of a Happy Madison Prods., Endgame Entertainment, Vinson Films production. Producers: Allen Covert, Beau Flynn, Adam Sandler, James D. Stern, James Vanderbilt, Tripp Vinson. Executive producers: Barry Bernardi, A.J.
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