Mystery Movie Review - See How They Run

The tagline says: "The greatest murder ever staged" and is a comedy mystery.  I ran across this 2022 comedy mystery by accident, and what a happy little accident that was!  It is a murder of a cast member of Agatha Christie's Mousetrap play which has references to Christie and Richard Attenborough (the real actor who stared in Mousetrap when it debuted in 1952.)  I did a blog post about Mousetrap (read here) 

What it's about:

In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play (Agatha Christie's Mousetrap) come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and eager rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theater underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril.  Rated PG-13  1 hr 38 minutes

Cast:

Adrien Brody (The Pianist) as Leo Kopernick

David Oyelowo (Selma) as Mervyn Cocker-Norris

Sam Rockwell (Vice) as Inspector Stoppard

Saoirse Ronan (Little Women 2019, Mary Queen of Scots) as Constable Stalker

Director Tom George

Writer Mark Chappell

Rotten Tomatoes 74% and critics reviews:

"A light-hearted watch packed with charm and a stacked talented cast, we can forgive most of its mistakes because, yes, it is just that delightful."  The Digital Fix

"Whatever may not work about the film is redressed by Saoirse Ronan's impeccable work here, and whatever does is only amplified by her presence. Without her, it's a fun bit of Sunday afternoon fluff. With her, it's a total must-see." Ilan Preskobsky Channel24(South Africa)

"While it’s no masterpiece, it’s a solid, fun, flashy, meta whodunit with a deliriously enjoyable soundtrack from Daniel Pemberton." Marvelous Geeks Media

"See How They Run never portrays itself as a great film in a similar genre, it tells a fan fiction spoof story with conviction and never deviates from its common objective of providing wholesome entertainment."  The Times of India

"Rockwell doesn’t put all that much effort into his British accent — but it kinda works, and he’s the perfect straight man for Ronan’s endearingly clumsy machinations and self-deprecating dialogue. It all adds up to a smashingly good time." Chicago Sun-Times

Noteworthy awards or rankings:

-- BAFTA Awards: Nominated for 2023 Outstanding British Film of the Year

-- London Critics Circle Film Awards: Nominated for 2023 British/Irish Actor of the Year

-- International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA): Nominated for 2023 Best Original Score for a Comedy Film

Trivia:

-- The announcer heard on the radio when part of The Mousetrap is being performed in this film is the same recording used in the actual stage play. That recording was made by the late actor Deryck Guyler in 1952 and is still in use to this day. Also the viewer can briefly see the clock above the fireplace. This is the only surviving prop from the original opening night of the show on October 6th 1952 and is still in use to this day.

-- While questioning the concierge at the Savoy, Stalker asks him what part of France he is from, to which he replies "Belgium." This is a reference to Dame Agatha Christie's famous character Hercule Poirot, who is Belgian, but is often mistaken for being French.

-- Most of the police force are busy dealing with the "Rillington Place" murders. Sir Richard Attenborough (the lead actor in the play "The Mousetrap") played the serial killer Reginald Christie in 10 Rillington Place (1971), based on those real-life crimes. In addition, when constable Stalker is calling women from the victim's little black book, she calls a Beryl and a Geraldine. These are the names of the mother and daughter Christie killed and blamed on Beryl's husband.

-- "The Mousetrap" is a real murder mystery play by Dame Agatha Christie that premiered at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham on October 6, 1952 and has continued to run to this day, making it the longest-running play in the world. Sir Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim were the first actors to play Sgt. Trotter and Mollie Ralston, respectively.  As portrayed in the film, The Mousetrap cannot be made into an English language film until at least six months after it has closed on the West End. The longest break between shows was 14 months during the COVID-19 pandemic.

-- Some of the character names are references to other writers. "Inspector Stoppard" is a reference to Sir Tom Stoppard, who wrote "The Real Inspector Hound", a play which is a parody of The Mousetrap. (One character in this film says about the deceased, "He was a real hound, Inspector!") Christie's butler is named Fellowes, a nod to Julian Fellowes, who wrote the Christie-esque Gosford Park (2001) and the screenplay for Crooked House (2017).

-- Constable Stalker goes looking for Inspector Stoppard after he claims to be going to the dentist. She sees a building marked "Dentist" and there are buzzers/bells with the names of the dentists. The first dentist is named "Norman Gale". Norman Gale is a dentist in Dame Agatha Christie's 1935 Poirot novel "Death in the Clouds". The second dentist listed is "Henry Morely" the dentist from "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" (1940).

-- Sam Rockwell struggled for weeks prior to filming as to how to play his character. It wasn't until after watching Peter Sellers playing Inspector Clouseau in A Shot in the Dark (1964) that he came up with the idea of playing the character as Sellers would if Clouseau spoke in Sellers' own English accent, and if the character was not a bumbling detective but a competent one.

-- Mervyn Cocker-Norris and Gio's flat is located in Florin Court, the building used as Hercule Poirot's residence Whitehaven Mansions in Poirot (1989).

-- Kopernick criticizes whodunits for having formulaic plots. The real Mousetrap play was an effort by Agatha Christie to break out of some of the tropes of detective fiction which she herself had helped establish.

-- The title is taken from the second line of the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice." "Three Blind Mice" was the title of the radio play and the short story that were later expanded to become "The Mousetrap." The tune "Three Blind Mice" is whistled during the play.

-- While Agatha is washing the dishes, she mumbles to herself about a character named Ms. Ramsbottom. Aunt Effie Ramsbottom is a character in Christie's 1953 novel A Pocket Full of Rye.

My Thoughts:

This was a delight. The movie has plenty of humor and pokes some fun at the genre while providing a truly entertaining mystery.  Since humor is very subjective, that it is often hard to pull off.  The acting is great and successfully delivers the understated british humor to perfection providing lots of laughs.  I have to say seeing David Oyelowo in this was a treat as well.  Each of the actors have done serious dramatic acting and yet they give their roles the best of themselves-for doing comedy well is hard.  The Agatha Christie part was laugh-out-loud funny.  This is a fun mystery in the right hands from script through casting and directing.  I highly recommend.

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