“The Thursday Murder Club” out now on Netflix

At death’s door perhaps…it’s like a third-rate repeat of Miss Fisher during the pledge week drive.

Yes! I’m going to give her a fair shake tonight.

I’ve seen a third rate Miss Fisher’s and it’s called The Good Ship Murders.

I thought it had potential

Are time outs on DL the equivalent of a pledge week drive? Just as annoying….

The Marlow Murder Club is much better. A similar kind of premise.

Who did you offend r4?

I’m the offended one!

Watched it tonight.

Was OK. I read the first three or four books, which (of course) enjoyed a much better pacing. Some of the actors felt incredibly miscast, especially Pierce Brosnan as Ron.

Helen Mirren and Celia Mirren are great, of course.

All in all an absolute “straight to television” film and the Brits doing their ‘quintessentially British’ schtick, which can feel a bit worn-out at times.

Helen played both Mirrens.!

Pierce Brosnan is such a daddy now.

They couldn’t find any black boomer actors with gray hair?

[quote]Was OK. I read the first three or four books, which (of course) enjoyed a much better pacing. Some of the actors felt incredibly miscast, especially Pierce Brosnan as Ron.

Yeah, in the books Ron was a gruff, barrel-chested guy who used to be a bit of a brawler and still wears football shirts. Brosnan is an interesting choice when the character is basically an older Stephen Graham.

Was Pierce wearing a fake belly? It looked like it.

Wow, what a disappointment.

It has entertainment value, I guess. Certainly the retirement home digs were more splendid than anything I imagined from the books. And the four principals are good, Mirren perfect casting, Brosnan not so much, he’s physically wrong for it, but did nicely anyway.

But the books are FUNNY. Laugh out loud funny sometimes, with gag lines and drolleries coming fast and loose. On every songle page. This did nothing to try to duplicate the humorous tone of the books, let alone the way author Osman veers suddenly from a laugh to something that actually moves you. This was too heavily literal and just not funny enough. Kaybe Joyce shpuld have narrated the way she does in the books.

And there is a crucial change from the book that disappointed me, a character is arrested who goes on to be a major supporting character in the rest of the books — a corner they unnecessarily painted themselves into, though I wasn’t wild about the actor they cast in that part. Too bad because he’s a great character in the book.

If anyone who never read any of the books looked at this to divine why the books are so popular, you must be mystified. This had none of the singular charm and cleverness of the novels. Don’t judge them by this epic fail.

Seldom do I feel the bulk of the reviews on DL are accurate, but I think we got this one right. The books are both hilarious and moving, with characters who are interesting and full of surprises. This film is generally well-cast, and has excellent production values -but it is a pale imitation of the novel. Amusing in places, and even poignant from time to time, bit in a pastel rather than full-color way... And the way one of the characters was treated in the end was inexcusable. There was nothing wrong with how the ending was handled in the book, and it would have taken no extra time or effort to end the film that way. It struck me that they were half-heartedly hoping it would be enough of a success to make a sequel, but had no confidence that all the cast would still be around to film it!

I liked it. I think Chris Columbus is very good at turning a novel into something close to what you were imagining when you read it. Brosnan was unusual casting for Ron but I was surprised how well it worked, and the others were perfect casting. The novels are really just cosy crime, as was the movie. I dissent that they are hilarious on every page. I've read all of them twice and they are humorous, but only gently and not all the time.

Much of the comedy in the books comes from hearing Joyce's voice directly. It would have been improved by having her voiceover guiding us through the action (a la Julie Andrews in Bridgerton), with some of her comic wittering included. In the books she appears an ordinary little old lady, and her competence is hidden beneath her quite sincere prattle about which supermarket is preferable and whether Joanna will ever find the right man. The movie Joanna certainly did--that's Richard Osman's wife.

I liked it quite a bit more than most of you. Celia Imrie held her own with the Big Three and made the perfect Joyce. And Pierce Brosnan made his casting as Ron make more sense. (God, to have that hair and that body at that age.) I wasn't familiar with the actress who played DC Donna De Freitas but she was excellent also.

There are tones in the books that would be hard to capture in a screenplay: Joyce's narration, and Osman's dry witty asides. But as an adaptation goes, I thought it quite good. Once you accept that Coopers Chase, an old folks' home, is nicer than the five-star resorts on The White Lotus, and that ordinary people would be able to afford it, it's quite enjoyable.

And the "what the fuck" joke may have been cheap, but I belly laughed.

The Old's Murder Club

Gandhi, Remington Steele, The Queen, and Claudia Bing solve murders.

R18, don’t quit your day job.

I enjoyed it a lot.

I haven't seen the screen adaptation of the TTMC... not a big interest in it. Perhaps I've read too many of these British "cozy" mysteries over the years... when I read TTMC, it struck me as a novel written for TV. I enjoyed it, but didn't find much originality. The TV series was there on the page; the characters from the British secret service or somewhat secret service (esp the women who drive the narrative), put out to pasture too soon, still sharp mentally but wasting away in retirement, desperate to fill time and voila! murder... something to do/solve, then have tea or a glass of wine with the surviving friends.

For me, the TV series (not a novel first) The Bletchley Circle played with the storyline in a much more interesting way.

Anthony Horowitz writes this way as well. I really enjoyed the first Magpie Murders, but again, felt like all of it was not really for the page, but the inevitable multi-part series (which was really, really we-done) which his wife would executive produce.

La Mirren is constantly working. A true actor’s actor.

[quote]Once you accept that Coopers Chase, an old folks' home, is nicer than the five-star resorts on The White Lotus, and that ordinary people would be able to afford it

They are not meant to be ordinary people, they're meant to be wealthy or have wealthy children. I can't remember how Ron got there, but Elizabeth and Ibrahim both had extremely well-paid jobs. Joyce has led an ordinary life, but her place is paid for by Joanna, who runs a hedge fund, after Joyce is widowed.

Coopers Chase in the books is based on the retirement village where Osman's mother lives. It's impressive, but not as grand as the heritage house used in the movie, which I agree was gorgeous.

Ron landed there thanks to his famous son, no?

Mirren always comes across as cool. She’s like Judi Dench now. Those grand dames who don’t give a fuck and do what they like.

Helen Mirren should be doing the Murder, She Wrote film.

Funny little easter egg when Mirren's character went "incognito" with scarf and big glasses and her husband said "You look just like the Queen".

And she did.

[quote] But the books are FUNNY. Laugh out loud funny sometimes, with gag lines and drolleries coming fast and loose.

I do so enjoy a good drollery!

A solid B+. It wasn’t Gosford Park or one of the best Poirot episodes, but that’s fine.

I hope they continue.

It was more enjoyable than all the new dreck out in theaters right now. It was a cute story, well-acted, and visually stunning.

The books were fun although I think Osman has run out of steam on them. I had to stop listening to the audio book of the last one because it was genuinely describing elder abuse which seemed out of character and was distressing.

Can't agree more with r14 - what a disappointment!

I love the books and felt this was horribly misconceived by the (American!) director.

Grotesquely crass cinematography and production design with everything unrealistically and insanely colorful and sunny and overly grand like they were afraid to make the home too depressing and melancholy. The 4 actors are well cast but badly directed. Helen is simply too sharply groomed and invulnerable so it comes as no surprise she worked for M16. Pierce tries hard but is too clownish and Ben is simply too dull. Celia is fine, I guess. But their apartments are all too opulent and have none of the transient downsizing that elder years are about.

I found it a chore to sit through but was grateful they didn't try to stretch it out over 6 episodes. Still looking forward to the next book though....

And Bogdan! My favorite secondary character from the book.....totally miscast. The actor should be burly and so capably and effortlessly sexy, not that wimp.

I adore Pierce brosnan and love Ben Kingsley, but I was asleep by the 3rd episode.

episode, r36?

Unlike most people on this thread, I haven’t yet read any of the Osman novels and was hoping for a fresh film. All I found was a basic riff on cliches and lazy story-telling, where the actors seemed to be phoning in commonplaces and obvious performances. Production values were definitely high, but it all just seemed like expensive, glossy pablum.

R37, shit it's a movie and not a series? Man I really wasn't paying attention.

R5- Actually there's NO club better than the Mortimer Club

I gave it an hour, but it was just too slow.

Pierce Brosnan is the standout of the main cast. His charisma saves the movie. Mirren is just phoning it in. I forgot that Ben Kingsley was even in the movie most of the time. Celia is a delight, and she makes me hungry for tea and cake.

What the movie really needed was Margaret Rutherford in the Mirren role. She would have brought the humor from the book to the movie.

The real stars were the supporting players--Tom, Henry, Naomi, Jonathan, David and Daniel. They did all the heavy lifting.

I know he’s dead, but I pictured someone like Ray Stevenson in the role of Bogdan. Somebody big, tall and sexy. Leave it to a straight male director to fuck up that casting.