Murder Mystery 2

Sequels are a relatively new thing for Adam Sandler. Throughout his 30-plus years in film, the Sandman has much preferred reunions over rehashes. In other words, he’d far rather employ familiar faces from his Happy Madison crew in original project after original project than revisit some character he’s already played before. It wasn’t until the release of Grown Ups 2 (2013) a decade ago that Sandler even attempted a follow-up. Now, in 2023, he’s bagged four of them to date. Murder Mystery 2 is the latest of the bunch, bringing Sandler and Jennifer Aniston back together for their third outing as an on-screen pair and their second as hapless detectives. Sure, one could dismiss it as streaming-service IP mining. In fairness, however, the sleuth subgenre really lends itself to the long-running series format: Poirot, Miss Marple, Sherlock, Nancy Drew … and Nick and Audrey Spitz.

Four years after the events of the first film — which saw the married couple thrust into an ugly whodunnit while vacationing in beautiful Italy, narrowly eluding a villain’s dastardly plot to frame them for a billionaire’s gruesome assassination — Nick (Sandler) and Audrey (Aniston) are trying to make a name for themselves as private investigators. Both have quit their jobs to do this PI thing full time, but they’re having trouble replicating the success of their earlier European escapade. When a last-minute wedding invite from their old friend, the Maharajah (Adeel Akhtar), gives them a chance to escape their professional failures for a bit, they practically chomp at the bit. (They conveniently overlook what happened the last time they took a vacation — not to mention the last time they were around the prince.)

On arriving on the Maharajah’s private island, beyond all the glitz and glam of the high-profile sangeet ceremony, it’s evident something strange is afoot. Nick and Audrey meet the soon-to-be suspects in the hours leading up to the inevitable crime to come. There are bride Claudette (Mélanie Laurent), former fling Countess Sekou (Jodie Turner-Smith) and her lady-in-waiting Imani (Zurin Villanueva), sister Saira (Kuhoo Verma), bodyguard Col. Ulenga (John Kani), and businessman Francisco (Enrique Arce). They’re guests one second, and — after the Maharajah is kidnapped mid-ceremony — culprits the next. Though Nick and Audrey try their darnedest to solve the case, they can’t help but become prime suspects once legendary professional Connor Miller (Mark Strong) steps in. It’s the same basic setup as the first film, to be sure, but that can be chalked up to the obligations of the genre.

Viewers can approach this film in one of two ways: as a genuine crime adventure or as a straight-up spoof of one. On the surface, one would be inclined to lean toward the first reading. It certainly looks like the real deal, thanks in large part to cinematographer Bojan Bazelli. After working with the likes of Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Bill Duke, and Jennifer Lynch in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bazelli went on to build up a sturdy résumé full of distinctive digital cinematography. In recent years, he’s been a go-to for Gore Verbinski’s fascinatingly odd post-Pirates films, David Lowery’s live-action Disney remakes, and Michael Bay’s chaotically kinetic 6 Underground (2019), among others. Murder Mystery 2 is no exception to this trend, with one sequence involving a van and a money drop gone wrong standing out as particularly crafty. Don’t be fooled by Bazelli’s presence, however: The correct reading of this film is the second one.

In a similar vein to the Scary Movie franchise — albeit significantly less exaggerated in its satire — the Murder Mystery movies exist to lampoon the very genre they’re indebted to, a fact evidenced by the amusingly generic title. Sandler’s recent string of excellent dramatic work might have audiences searching for something more from the comedian’s latest, but that’s not the kind of target Murder Mystery 2 is aiming for. To put it another way: Screenwriter James Vanderbilt is sporting his Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023) hat, not the one he wore when he wrote Zodiac (2007). Serious Sandler is marvelous, but this is a Silly Sandler here for a good time, not a long time. At less than an hour and 20 minutes by the time the credits roll, this thing is already beginning to wrap itself up before fellow Netflix crime-comedy Glass Onion (2022) even gets past its expository first half.

With Murder Mystery 2, Aniston is now tied with Drew Barrymore in Sandler collabs. Both have co-starred in three Happy Madison comedies over the years. Although the latter’s efforts — or, at least the first two, The Wedding Singer (1998) and 50 First Dates (2004) — are more widely loved, these newer Sandler-Aniston works — Just Go with It (2010) and the two Murder Mystery films — have an easygoing, naturalistic chemistry to them that rivals the famed on-screen pairing of Sandler-Barrymore. Not to suggest that these oft-used female leads are doing comparable things, of course: Barrymore’s characters are bubbly and affable, while Aniston’s are armed with barbed wit. Nevertheless, Aniston and Sandler have a convincing rapport that makes their partnering consistently watchable. Whether they team up for a threequel or something else entirely — the pair have voiced their desire to do a drama next — fans will undoubtedly deem it worthy of a watch. After all, Adam and Jen are decidedly more competent a duo than their clumsy crime-solving counterparts.