By Randal C. Hill
Are you looking for a film that’s quirky and can be enjoyed at home? If so, Netflix’s “The Thursday Murder Club” may be just the ticket.
The story’s setting is Cooper’s Chase, an upscale English retirement community where seniors relax, play bridge, read, and gossip. But one particular foursome meets in secret every Thursday to work on cold murder cases that the local Kent police haven’t been able to solve.
It’s frivolous fun for the would-be sleuths until they are suddenly thrust into a real homicide case when a property developer is killed. “Now we’ve got a real case to solve!” enthuses one as the Miss Marple-style romp begins.
“The Thursday Murder Club” is the brainchild of Richard Osman, an English entertainer whose story is drawn from his 2020 best-selling book of the same name.
Osman found inspiration while visiting his mother’s retirement community. “I spoke to residents and listened to some of the things they’d done in their careers… and I thought, ‘I bet if there was a murder, this lot would solve it—or commit it’.”
The terrific cast includes Helen Mirren as ex-spy Elizabeth Best; Pierce Brosnan as Ron Ritchie, a retired union leader; Ben Kingsley as former psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif; and Celia Imrie takes on the role of ex-nurse Joyce Meadowcraft.
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This Netflix special presentation is directed by Chris Columbus (“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”). “Mystery fans will be very happy,” he promises. “…[F]our elderly people who are living in a retirement community… are facing their own demise, yet at the same time they are obsessed with studying cold cases. I fell in love thematically with that.”
The fun begins August 28.
