NOW ON NETFLIX! The road of excess leads to the palace of popcorn butter in director Jeremy Garelick’s sumptuous sequel Murder Mystery 2. The screenplay by series originator James Vanderbilt opens right where the first left off, with Nick (Adam Sandler) and Audrey (Jennifer Anniston) Spitz riding on the Orient Express. Instead of doing the obvious mystery on a train, the script wisely jumps ahead in time to where Nick Spitz has quit trying to pass his detective exam, and Audrey has quit her job as a beautician to work as a private detective team. Unfortunately, this venture is going miserably, with little income coming in, creating lots of tension between the couple.
Then the Maharajah (Adeel Akhtar), their old buddy from the first movie, calls them up to invite them to his wedding to his fiancé Claudette (Melanie Laurent) on a private island. Soon the Spitzes are overseas up to their necks in rich people. Good thing another old buddy from the first movie, Colonel Ulenga (John Kani), is there to help them navigate the waves of high society. Wedding guests include famous former soccer player and CEO Francisco (Enrique Arce), who has his sights set on Audrey, Nick be damned.
We also have Countess Sekou (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Imani (Zurin Villanueva) slinking around, disapproving of everything in sight. We also have the Maharajah’s sister Saira (Kuhoo Verma), getting a henna tattoo and reading a book. Meanwhile, Nick has discovered the most amazing appetizers to consume entire plates of ravishing cheese. Finally, however, something awful happens, and the Spitzes find themselves in the middle of another deadly ordeal. Can they help solve this caper, or will they once again end up being branded the prime suspects by the police and foreign press?
“Can they help solve this caper, or will they once again end up being branded the prime suspects…”
Back in 1999, when Sandler formed his film company Happy Madison, I wasn’t watching his movies as they weren’t Italian horror bootlegs. Nowadays, I consume Happy Madison movies like Happy Meals, as both are greasy and delicious and always come with a prize. I originally got hooked through that fabled production house’s other great sequel Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. That leads to regular visits to seedy second-run theaters for the latest Sandler work, including the ill-fated final stretch before the Netflix deal. Yes, that means Jack and Jill in public, and I laughed my face off. Thank you very much. Sandler’s films’ quality has soared since he freed himself from the theaters. Works of genius like Sandy Wexler and The Week Of would never have been green-lighted in the constant pander-thon of theatrical distribution. Sandler has gone from guilty pleasure to acquitted pleasure.
Murder Mystery 2 is a pleasure indeed. The concoction of Agatha Christie elegance with Sandler’s teetering on the edge of taste humor is high-impact relaxation, like a warm bath for your frontal lobes. This is the same kind of “revenge of Generation X” escapism for older audiences that the John Wick movies trade-in. Like Wick, Sandler gives us a middle-aged power fantasy, except using faux pas instead of punches. There is endless joy sparked by seeing Sandler and Anniston inflict their working-class reactions to all the opulence. It is this perception that will give most viewers a feeling of film immersion, as this is the way most of them would behalf if stuck in the same movie. I know I would eat the curd out of that yummer yummer cheese. It revisits the elements that made the first film so fun while injecting enough development to feel like the second chapter for the Spitzes. My only quibble is veering so far away from the whodunit atmosphere into the territory of the Taken franchise.
It does strain the appropriateness of the title almost to the breaking point, but it holds. I was ready for further adventures with these two before I got to the cliffhanger ending, which sealed the deal for Spitz Chapter 3. So kick back and give your mind the night off with Murder Mystery 2.
