What is the line between parody and sincerity? Can both work in harmony or do they cancel each other out? In the first Murder Mysteryit was mainly the chemistry of Adam Sandler And Jennifer Aniston like the Spitzs who ensured that a balance was struck. They could playfully riff on the commonly used rules of the whodunit just as they would then embrace a few. The primary draw was just about them being a couple way over their heads, pulling crazy antics while trying to solve a murder. While this could very well get annoying if he tried to get too cute, he never felt cloyingly sweet or forced when he let his leads take the wheel. The movie wasn't anything special in any way, with many attempts at gags turning out to be incredibly false, though the culmination of a ridiculous reveal and an absurd car chase helped make up for the missteps. If only that had been the end.
The strangest thing that should be known right out of the gate Murder mystery 2 is that it's not actually about a murder at all. There's a murder that gets everything going, but that's just a cover for a kidnapping that will become the driving force of this sequel. At the center of it all once again is the bumbling duo of Nick (Sandler) and Audrey (Aniston) who are struggling since the events of the last film. Delusional that they had a talent for solving mysteries, they each quit their jobs to become private investigators together. Surprise surprise, they are actually terrible at it and the work is starting to put a strain on their marriage. So when they get an invite from their old friend Vikram AKA The Maharajah (Adel Akhtar) to come to a private island wedding, they decide to go to relax. Wouldn't you know, that's not in the cards for our duo and conflict soon crashes the party. Almost immediately, Vikram is kidnapped on a sudden death boat used to distract the wedding goers. Seeing an opportunity to redeem themselves and make some money, Nick and Audrey set out to find out who's behind it all as their friend's life hangs in the balance.
Once again we are introduced to a cast of characters, some new and some old, all of whom could be a suspect looking for wealthy Vikram's money. There is his wife-to-be Claudette (Mélanie Laurent), his former betrothed Countess Sekou (Jodie Turner Smith), his sister Saira (Kuhoo Verma), his friend Francisco (Enrique Arce), and the returning Colonel Ulenga (John Kani). Complicating matters further is the arrival of Mark StrongColonel Miller, a world-renowned hostage negotiator and author who initially takes over the case. However, due to some reservations and a strange insistence from the kidnappers, the Spitzs remain an integral part of the investigation. One thing leads to another and they will be on the run, this time in Paris, like suspects trying to prove their innocence themselves. If this again sounds like a big part of the first movie, a trap that many sequels fall into, then it is. Other than one standout sequence involving a botched ransom transfer and a gloriously frenzied bus ride across town, little is new or new to Murder mystery 2.
Much of this, of course, is the whole point of the experience. The bread and butter of these films is about cycling through the genre's well-known tropes. There's even a point where Nick and Audrey specifically call one out just before it then happens. The difference is that this time it's more of a spy thriller than a real whodunit. Even if it ultimately follows the same general path to piece together who is responsible, the playful sensibility of the former is sadly lacking here. Aside from a silly sequence at the beginning that involves repeatedly barricading a door that then has to be removed as each suspect enters to announce a suspicion, much of the movie feels like it's just going through the motions. This is where the aforementioned line between parody and sincerity blurs.
As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to connect to an experience that fluctuates between tones and diminishes both. When the movie fools itself with aggressively straightforward and shallow jokes, it's hard to take the actual mystery that seriously. Then when it shifts to the case itself, with the characters trying to get to the bottom of everything, the humor feels like it stems largely from Sandler and Aniston's chemistry. This might keep things together for a while as both effectively bounce off each other, but it's soon revealed that the movie is just a recycling of jokes that the first movie already did better. Take the moment when the duo get behind the wheel of a nice car and Nick once again forgets that the driver is on the other side. It's a throwback to when this happened in the first movie, but without the absurd suspense that followed. Instead of chuckling, it just makes for a reference that only draws attention to how inferior this is to the already imperfect first outing.
The climax of it all, which takes place on the Eiffel Tower, lacks the unbridled weirdness of the closing car chase that ended the first. Further, where the original was better at integrating the practical with its visual effects, this one isn't. In many key shots, it strains credulity that one of the people is actually standing where the film would have us believe them to be. This could be forgiven if it really let loose and the reveal of who was behind it actually caught us off guard. Without giving anything away, the main villain is one you can see coming from a mile away. While there may be movies where the answer is simple gets right to the point and can be all the more effective because of it, like the recent ones Knives out continued, this is not one of them. That the awkwardness of the characters extends into the film itself Murder mystery 2 a sequel that is not only inferior in construction, but also fails to take advantage of the talented leading duo with nowhere to go.
Judgement: C-
Murder mystery 2 now streaming on Netflix.
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