When is elderly people solving crimes not trendy? Now imagine some of the greatest British elders doing so in a film directed by Chris Columbus (the first two Harry Potter films, the Home Alone movies, Mrs. Doubtfire) and produced by Amblin, and you have The Thursday Murder Club, a surprisingly spry, funny, somewhat broad adaptation of Richard Osman’s novel of the same name.
In the film, a small group of retirees living in a palatial retirement community get together every Thursday to discuss cold cases filtered to them by one of their members who was a former police officer, though he has since left the group due to failing health. But the remaining members—Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), and Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) have taken on a case that requires a medical expert, so they recruit a new arrival to the facility, Joyce (Celia Imrie), who was once a nurse, into their ranks.
But the movie isn’t really about this older murder; it’s about a group of shady real estate developers trying to shut down the retirement community to build luxury flats and a couple of murders that may or may not be connected to that. Feeling their activity is in peril, the club turns their attention to a fresh case with the reluctant help of female officer Donna de Freitas (Naomi Ackie), who they manage to get onto the murder investigation with partner/boss DCI Chris Hudson (Daniel Mays).
One of the shady owners of the estate, Tony Curran (Geoff Bell), has a mother staying at the facility, so the club feels he’ll never sell his shares of the real business to his particularly nasty partner, Ian Ventham (David Tennant), or a mysterious third partner, played by Richard E. Grant. But there are many suspects when Curran turns up dead and it turns out his share of the facility goes to Ventham. There are clues, red herrings, and backstories for each of the club members, including frequent visits by Ron’s superstar athlete son Jason (Tom Ellis), who unexpectedly turns out to be a suspect as well. There are also hints at more exciting younger lives for all of the characters, especially Elizabeth, who clearly had a covert MI6 job in a previous life.
Some of their casual sleuthing involves unnecessarily elaborate schemes to gather information that seem to solely take advantage of the caliber of actor this film has attracted and make them look silly in the name of humor, with mixed results. Still, it’s because of said high-profile actors, even in smaller roles, that The Thursday Murder Club is worth watching at all. The jokes don’t always land, and the logic of the various mysteries doesn’t always line up (nor are there enough clues given to the audience to make it possible for us to play along with the whodunits), but watching the four club members interact and become prime examples of people who are growing old but not giving up living is a joy. This one isn’t just for the grandparents to enjoy.
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
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