Adam Sandler is, arguably, one of the greatest comedic actors of all time, and Jennifer Aniston is one of the most known actresses of all time. Audiences have seen the two team up before in the romantic comedy Just Go With It, where the two were electric and had great chemistry.
However, the latest team-up for the duo, Murder Mystery, released via Netflix, is a lazy, forgettable comedy where Aniston and Sandler do no work whatsoever but simply play themselves.
The film is a breezy, destination comedy that features an American couple whose marriage is failing that is finally taking their honeymoon to Europe after 15 years of marriage. There, they end up unlikely guests to a wealthy family’s dinner party on a yacht, and during the dinner party, the patriarch is murdered, leaving everyone as a suspect. The film sort of keeps you guessing, but a lot of the plot is fairly obvious. It’s clear, though, Murder Mystery is written to be a lighter film without much depth and act as an easy summer comedy.
Aniston and Sandler are great actors, but this film may be their laziest performances to date. Aniston plays herself — like she does in a lot of films — and Sandler throws out his classic one liners like they’re going out of style, except this time, they actually are. The two had great chemistry in Just Go With It, but this film has all of the constant banter without any of the wit. It feels like the film, which is meant to be a somewhat self-aware comedic play on murder mysteries, is simply lacking any true depth from any aspect.
The film starts off ridiculously slow, only to pick up after about an hour with 25 minutes left. All of the scenes with any meaning toward the film took too long to go anywhere, and it seemed like once there is finally closure, they keep adding more and more layers to the ending, making it a lot to take in, in such a short amount of time.
The only redeemable quality of the film is its sense of self-awareness. The only way to look at Murder Mystery through a serious lens is if you believe it’s just an extremely self-aware comedy, and even so, it’s not farcical enough to lean that far on the self-awareness aspect.
Overall, the film is definitely one to skip or maybe turn on in the background while doing some more important. The actors give lazy performances, the plot isn’t meaningful and it’s just a lighter comedy to use as a time waster. If you’re looking to watch a funny Sandler comedy, try checking out his other team up with Aniston, Just Go With It, or any of his other many films, because this one is just dissatisfying.
