We Watched The Thursday Murder Club (And You Should Too)

We watched The Thursday Murder Club this week. A group of retirees who meet weekly to discuss cold cases get a real mystery when a part owner of their retirement community is murdered. This movie is cozy, charming, and funny.

Based on the book by Richard Osman, the movie focuses on the main murders, but leaves some of the side plots and red herrings behind.  This streamlines the movie, but if you read the book you will miss some of the sweetness of the love stories left on the page. If you are a reader, we recommend reading the book first. If you are not a reader, you don’t need the book to understand what is going on. This is for cozy mystery fans, not action lovers.

Helen Mirren leads the cast as Elizabeth, the former spy that has been around investigations before. Ben Kingsley is Ibrahim, retired psychiatrist, who at times is a little too particular and exacting. While this might sound like a complaint, it made him seem like a real person. Pierce Brosnan plays Ron, a union activist. We expected a union activist to be larger and rougher. Celia Imrie as Joyce was a pleasant surprise as we were less familiar with this British actress. She brings humor and optimism (and plenty of cakes) to the character. Overall, the casting was good, but we did have a few arguments over Ron and Tom Ellis (who plays Ron’s son).

Join us this week at Chapter One Scene One as we breakdown the movie (spoilers included) and what areas we thought worked, missed the mark, and who we might have recast. 

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