Murder Mystery 2’: A lackluster and unamusing sequel

In the original "Murder Mystery", a couple (Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler) solved a crime and became heroes by sheer luck.

Four years on, inspired by their accidental victory, they become private investigators but the duo is not as good at solving mysteries as they claim to be. This time, there is a hostage that goes awry, followed by extremely boring and predictable plot twists.

The writers tried too hard to blend in Indian wedding traditions but it was not properly laced throughout the film. The costumes were gorgeous and the locations were beautiful, but those were not enough to be the saving grace of the movie.

The CGI and editing budget was squandered on wild animals wearing diapers or unexciting car chases. It was painful to watch comedy actors like Aniston and Sandler deliver poorly timed jokes with horrible punch lines. The banter between their characters will end up making you roll your eyes, instead of making you laugh out loud. Their previous movie was far better than this one.

Read more

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston return to screen with ‘Murder Mystery 2’

Some of the characters from the first movie returned in this sequel, but none of them had an interesting enough persona to leave an impression.

All of them together could not strike the perfect balance between passive-aggressiveness and genuine camaraderie. Poor decision-making and incredulous motivations from various characters—just to move the plot forward—made it even more unbearable to watch. I don't think we need more suspense stories that necessitate the kidnapping of a wealthy man. Regardless, there were infinitely better ways to go about this tired concept. I sorely wish that this movie had been, in some demonstrative way, informed by the experiences and insights of hostage situations and kidnappers with ulterior motives.

While the premise wasn't bad, the execution was appalling. The movie casts suspicion on many characters but it doesn't necessarily make you question everything because there are low stakes and there are not enough clues. It didn't keep me on my toes or provoke me to speculate and doubt everyone or jump between theories.

I was still hoping that the movie would end on a high note but I simply wasn't blown away. The movie completely murdered the idea of being a mystery thriller.

Overall, the plot felt like it was just the first idea in a brainstorm session and nobody bothered to edit. Also, it relied on too many stereotypes for character development but didn't explore anything new. This is not a mystery that will make your head scratch. In fact, if you doze off for even a few minutes, you won't miss much.