Hello and welcome back to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. I’ve had a busy summer and have had the advantage of seeing lots of great wide-release theatrical releases over the last few months. So, it’s been a bit since I’ve been able to do a movie marathon. I’ve had a different week and had the chance to catch a couple of films at home, so I figured, why not pull one of these out again? So, without any more chatter, let’s see what I watched this week. Warning: Spoilers ahead!
The Thursday Murder Club
The first movie in the marathon is a pretty new movie. It just premiered on Netflix in late August. “The Thursday Murder Club” is directed by Chris Columbus and is based on the best-selling novel, written by Richard Osman. This movie takes place in an idyllic retirement village named Cooper’s Chase. It boasts an all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie.
It is full of charm and mystery, but the cast ultimately can not save it from itself. The four main stars love to meet once a week to try and solve cold cases, but things get turned up a notch when the owners of Cooper’s Chase both end up dead. The group goes from solving old crimes to trying to figure out this new one.
Like most films in this genre, it’s filled with coincidences that happen to fall in their laps and jumps around quite a bit. It does tie everything up together at the end, but it’s not quite enough to redeem itself. Honestly, the cast was the best part about this. Including the main crew, it also stars David Tennant, Jonathan Price, and Ricard E. Grant. All of them together make for some great interactions and some fun conversations that help move along the otherwise forgettable case they are on.
It’s guised as a fun whodunit, but it’s ultimately in the same lines as the countless other movies that have been coming out over the last few years, featuring a great cast of “older” actors/actresses and that form a group to do some task or adventure.
I don’t want to harp on it too much because it wasn’t terrible, just nothing new. However, I enjoyed the characters, and that alone will earn this a 5 out of 10. I am curious to see if they continue to go back to the books to make any sequels.
Friendship
The second movie in my marathon this week is a slightly older film, but still fairly new and entirely new for me to view. The release date looks to be May 23 of this year for the movie “Friendship”, but for me, it was a new release to watch on HBO Max. It was directed by Andrew DeYoung for his feature film debut.
I’m still trying to put into words how this movie made me feel. At times, it is hilarious, but dark; then other times, it is very unsettling and uncomfortable to watch. Tim Robinson plays Craig, a socially awkward marketing executive who meets his new neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd), and is instantly drawn to him. Austin is a charismatic weatherman, but he’s also in a band and collects all sorts of old artifacts.
What starts with quirky activities such as mushroom hunting, exploring underground tunnels, and attending Austin’s punk rock show gradually develops into a situation where Craig’s desire for connection becomes increasingly intense. Austin becomes distant as Craig’s clinginess and social blunders worsen. A failed group gathering, an excessive boxing match, and uncomfortable efforts to reconnect lead the story down a darker path.
Trying to use what he learned from Austin, Craig takes his son mushroom hunting, only to poison himself. Then he takes his wife down into the sewers, and she gets lost for almost a full day. As his life continues to spiral, the situations become more anxiety-ridden until you finally think he’s going to be ok.
But it ends with him breaking into Austin’s house with a gun and getting arrested. The whole thing is very funny, but also very sad at the same time. However, both of the main stars did a really good job here, and you can really believe the uncomfortableness (I don’t think that’s a real word, but I don’t care) that is taking place between him and almost everyone he interacts with.
In the end, I enjoyed it, but it was a bit much at times, and you really start to feel bad for Craig. However, I give this a 6 out of 10. I’m not a guy who demands happy endings in a movie, but I feel like this really could have used one… at least something in the middle.
Alright, that’s it for me this week and the mindless movie marathon. Now, it’s your turn. Have you seen either of these movies yet? If you have, what is your opinion of them and do you give them a higher rating than I did? Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are, and I will be back here next week with another mindless movie review of some sort.
Click here if you want to see my other mindless movie marathons.
