Murder Mystery 2 (Movie Review)

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

After a four-year hiatus—they’re baaack!! Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston return in Murder Mystery 2 as former police detective Nick and ex-hairdresser Audrey Spitz as  the husband and wife detective team from the original Murder Mystery. Also returning are billionaire Vikram “Maharajah” Govindan (Adeel Akhtar), one-eyed and now bodyguard Colonel Ulenga (John Kani) and French Inspector Delacroix (Dany Boon). Vikram has invited the Spitzes to his all-out Indian wedding on his private island where he will tie the knot with beautiful Claudette Joubert (Melanie Laurent). Also in attendance will be Vikram’s former fiancée Countess Sekou (Jodie Turner-Smith) and her attendant Imani (Zurin Villaneuva), his sister Saira (Kuhoo Verma), and his business partner, the notorious  playboy Francisco (Enrique Arce).

At the wedding dance, an elephant enters the premises ridden by a dead body that turns out to be Vikram’s bodyguard Mr. Lou (Myo Leong). Nick rushes outside, dodging a hail of bullets, in time to see a kidnapped Vikram being taken away in a boat. In the morning, MI6 hostage negotiator Connor Miller (Mark Strong) arrives with his team as Nick receives a call from the kidnapper. Nick is instructed to meet him at the Arc de Triomphe where Vikram will be exchanged for a ransom of  $70 million.

The scene shifts to Paris where Nick and Audrey are forced into a van by three kidnappers with Miller in hot pursuit. After the couple manages to kill these bad guys and crash the van into a bistro, Miller secures the briefcase with the ransom money and asks the Spitzes to meet him at La Madeleine. But as Miller enters his car, a bomb goes off and the briefcase falls into the hands of a hooded figure in a truck.

Nick and Audrey track down Inspector Delacroix at the Paris Opera. He lends them his tiny car to drive to a chateau where the truck was last tracked by Delacroix’s license-plate app. Another near-miss on their lives ensues and all of the remaining principals finally reassemble at the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. There the Spitzes will try to solve the mystery of Vikram’s kidnapping and get him returned unharmed so he can rejoin his new bride. As was the case in the earlier film, there are additional twists and turns, as well as death-defying high-wire fight sequences, and finale in which all will end well—or will it?

On the positive side, the Paris location scenery and the wedding party dance are visually stunning. But James Vanderbilt’s script is no improvement over his previous one as it struggles for laughs amidst the frequent, unsubtle sexual innuendoes between Sandler and Aniston. Their personal chemistry is also no better than it was in Murder Mystery 1 and  the best performances are turned in by the lecherous Enrique Arce, the amputee John Kani and the hiss-worthy villainess Jodie Turner-Smith. If you, like me, have seen the first Murder Mystery, then watching Sandler and Aniston leap through a fiery inferno or seeing a flaming helicopter crash and burn in the Seine River will probably not make this tedious hour and half any more exciting. This film is mainly aimed at Sandler-Aniston fans–of which there are plenty. While Murder Mystery 2 appears to be another paycheck film for its two leads—as was its predecessor—but will likely get a lot of watches for Netflix. As for me, it is eminently skippable, as will be the sequel hinted at by the literally dangling final scene.

Murder Mystery 2 is now available for viewing on Netflix

• Rating Certificate: PG-13 (Violence/bloody images, strong language, suggestive material and smoking)
• Studios & Distributors: Echo Films | Endgame Entertainment | Happy Madison Productions | Mythology Entertainment | Netflix
• Country: USA
• Language: English
• Run Time: 90 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1
• Director: Jeremy Garelick
• Written By: James Vanderbilt
• Release Date: 31 March 2023 (Netflix) | 24 March 2023 (Select Theaters)