The Thursday Murder Club (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
Aug 28
3 min read

THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB (2025)

Starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Richard E. Grant, Tom Ellis, Geoff Bell, Paul Freeman, Ingrid Oliver, Joseph Marcell, Martin Bishop, Ruth Sheen, Susan Kirkby, Shane David Joseph, David Garlick, Gary Bates, Will Stevens, Russell Barnett and Nic Lamont.

Screenplay by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote.

Directed by Chris Columbus.

Distributed by Netflix. 118 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Netflix may have come up with the perfect idea for an English cozy mystery series of films to give a new generation some comfort television; a new-fangled and poshly-accented version of Murder She Wrote with four Angela Lansburys.

Based on the popular 2020 novel of the same name, which has since spawned more books in the series annually, The Thursday Murder Club tells the story of some aging amateur sleuths playing by four extremely respected actors of a certain age, including two Oscar winners and one former James Bond.

Not just Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan and Celie Imrie (who is not quite as well known in the US as her co-stars but has still had a long and respected career in her native England), the film also has such smart actors as Naomi Ackie as a local policewoman, Jonathan Pryce as Mirren’s husband and David Tennant and Richard E. Grant as possible villains, of course.

So that is one hell of a cast.

With slick and commercial direction by Chris Columbus, The Thursday Murder Club isn’t going to change anyone’s world, but it’s a fun parlor mystery. And considering that these types of mysteries are very hot right now – like Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies, or the streaming series Only Murders in the Building – this film feels like it will be the first of several Murder Club movies. (Honestly, though, this may have worked even better as a limited series than as a film.)

The club is made up of four retired Britons who pass the time investigating cold case killings. Elizabeth (Mirren) was a government worker with some shade past profession (she regularly hints that she was a former member of MI5) whose husband (Pryce) is in the early phases of dementia. Ron (Brosnan) is a former union activist whose son (Tom Ellis) is a famous former boxer and reality show personality. Ibrahim (Kingsley) is a former psychiatrist and Joyce (Imrie) is a former nurse who loves to bake.

It’s probably just me, but Pierce Brosnan feels a little too young for this, but at 72, I suppose that he isn’t. (For the record, Imrie is 73, Mirren is 80 and Kingsley is 81).

The four main characters live in what may be the world’s nicest old-age home – a giant castle with huge living spaces, regular activities, gourmet food in the dining area and fixed, reasonable rent. Therefore, they are very concerned when the owners of the castle start to plan to transform the castle into high-priced condos. And then the bodies of the ownership start to pile up.

The mystery itself is not all that twisty or hard to figure out, but that’s okay, this is a comfort food mystery. Are the actors in The Thursday Murder Club too talented for this material? Probably, but they keep the film consistently enjoyable. Assuming this is the first of several films – which is a very, very safe bet – The Thursday Murder Club is a fun diversion which has the chance to grow into a terrific mystery series.

Jay S. Jacobs