It’s difficult to figure out what The Thursday Murder Club (2025) is actually trying to be. On paper, the setup suggests a witty, modern spin on the classic whodunit—something in the vein of Clue, Knives Out, or an Agatha Christie mystery. In execution, though, it’s a surprisingly flat and meandering adaptation that never delivers the intrigue, tension, or even the breezy fun that the genre thrives on. Instead of feeling like an event film, Chris Columbus’ direction leaves it playing more like a disposable mid-week Netflix watch than the foundation of a new mystery franchise.
The star-studded ensemble is clearly meant to be the hook. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, and Ben Kingsley play a quartet of retirees who fill their spare time by investigating unsolved murder cases—until a suspicious death at their own retirement community drops them into a live investigation. Each character is written with a professional background that supposedly makes them useful to the case—Kingsley as a former psychiatrist, Imrie as a nurse, Brosnan as a union leader, Mirren as a retired MI6 agent—but the film rarely capitalizes on these details. Instead of sharpening the mystery or heightening the group dynamic, they mostly come across like half-formed quirks in search of a better screenplay.
Columbus, who once excelled at balancing tone in crowd-pleasers like Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films, never finds the right rhythm here. The film isn’t serious enough to work as a straight mystery, and it isn’t playful or campy enough to land as parody. What’s left is something oddly inert, reminding me more of other disappointing streaming-first titles like Happy Gilmore 2 or Another Simple Favor, projects that coast on nostalgia and familiar faces rather than offering new energy or inventiveness.
There are flashes where you can imagine a better version of this story, especially when the leads get to play off one another. But too often they feel siloed, each acting in their own movie rather than collaborating in a way that builds chemistry or momentum. For a story that should thrive on camaraderie and wit, the lack of spark between the central four is particularly damaging.
READ MORE MOVIE REVIEWS: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Eddington, Ballerina
Given that The Thursday Murder Club is adapted from a popular series of books with multiple sequels, it’s not hard to imagine Netflix pushing ahead with more installments. And perhaps with sharper writing, more dynamic set pieces, and stronger ensemble interplay, future films could course-correct. But as a franchise starter, this first outing feels disappointingly thin. Instead of delivering a clever and charming mystery with heavyweight stars, Netflix has rolled out another direct-to-streamer effort that looks and feels like it was built to be background noise.
Score: 4/10
The Thursday Murder Club (2025)
- Cast: Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Richard E. Grant, Tom Ellis
- Director: Chris Columbus
- Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Runtime: 118 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: August 28, 2025
- Movies Like The Thursday Murder Club: A Haunting in Venice, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Amsterdam, More Movies Like The Thursday Murder Club
Where to Watch The Thursday Murder Club (2025)
See all options for The Thursday Murder Club (2025)
