THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB - Mark Reviews Movies

The Thursday Murder Club, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 27, 2025

The realms of books and movies have too many murder mysteries to count, so a writer has to do something special for a new entry in the genre to stand out in any way. Author Richard Osman did just that by inventing four detectives, a group of retirees passing the time at their retirement village outside a small English village by trying to solve old murder cases—and often new ones, too. The Thursday Murder Club is the movie adaptation of the first book in the author's ongoing series of novels, and it, unfortunately, doesn't do anything nearly as special as its source material.

To be sure, the premise of Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote's screenplay remains the same. At Cooper's Chase, the trio of Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), and Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) enlist the aid of newcomer Joyce (Celia Imrie) to look into a particularly puzzling cold case. In the process, the four find themselves embroiled in the investigation of a more immediate murder—and then another, before discovering that their comfortable little home might have been and remains a magnet for all kinds of killing.

The plot here isn't unique, and neither, technically, is the idea that a small town is home to secrets that are often swept under the rug. No, the novelty of Osman's books is in these characters, who are older but still capable, funny but not played as a joke, and not necessarily experts in solving crimes but competent—each in their own ways and especially when working together. Without a real sense of them, the only thing that would remain in this story would be its plotting, and director Chris Columbus' movie seems more interested in the twists and turns of its mystery than the unlikely quartet who set out to solve it.

It's not all lost, thankfully, because Columbus has assembled a nearly ideal cast to play those underutilized roles in what surely—and hopefully—will be the first step in establishing these characters in any subsequent movies. They're too engaging, as even their superficial portrayals here hint at, to be kept down for long, although the detective team's first adventure certainly does seem to try to keep them at a distance.

The leader of the Thursday Murder Club is Elizabeth, who previously worked a job in "foreign relations" that she won't specify. While the club is going over an old case that her dying friend and retired police detective kept in her apartment, Joyce walks in, sees a crime scene photo of a dead body, and doesn't flinch. Elizabeth thinks that, as well as her correct assumption that the new resident was a trauma nurse, makes Joyce a potential new addition to the team.

Shortly after, a dead body connected to the retirement village turns up. It's one of the owners of the place, and while his business partner Ian (David Tennant) seems like a prime suspect, the Thursday Murder Club wants to make sure, especially because Ian is set on tearing up the neighboring cemetery to transform it into luxury apartments and to turn the residence building into an event hall. The four are helped, with a bit of manipulation, by fresh-from-London police officer Donna (Naomi Ackie), who admires the club's tenacity, and long-time police detective Chris (Daniel Mays), whom Elizabeth pressures by literally turning up the heat in her apartment. Joyce is nicer by offering cake.

With the characters in place, Brand and Heathcote mainly go through the motions of the ensuing plot in a bit of a rush. It's fine enough, filled with a couple of surprises and a touch of moral complexity, but the more entertaining and worthwhile moments are the few that give us a sense of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim outside of hunting for clues and trying to figure out who killed each of the three corpses of murdered men that turn up by the end of the tale.

Predictably, Mirren is in her element as the no-nonsense head of the club, who has seen worse, as she puts it, than the severed fingers a notorious crime boss leaves behind of his victims. Elizabeth is also married to Stephen (Jonathan Pryce), who has dementia, and the glimpses of their relationship are moving, while also hinting at a softer side to Elizabeth.

As for the other three, they're almost shoved to the background here, as Ibrahim has little to do apart from taking notes and the widowed Joyce's excitement at having a new, unexpected activity is about the extent of her character. Brosnan has fun as Ron, a famous union leader known for stirring up trouble in his glory days. His character is showy enough, apparently, to break through the routine of the plotting, especially since he has a familial connection to one of the several suspects or red herrings here.

It's mostly odd to consider that anyone would read these books or even learn about the premise of them, only to take away the notion that the mystery plot itself is the primary thing that does or should matter. The Thursday Mystery Club, then, falls into the trap of so many formulaic mystery stories. The solution, of course, is right there in the novelty and personalities of its amateur detectives, and if there are sequels, we can mainly hope the filmmakers realize and take advantage of the obvious.

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