My Review of 'Murder Mystery'

Another Adam Sandler Netflix exclusive movie has made its way to us. Every time he comes out with a new movie I cringe, because I don't have huge hopes for them. I'm starting to think that Netflix is probably the perfect place for Adam Sandler movies.

It seems to me that Sandler is being provided full artistic freedom on this format. At least it seems so with his last few movies. Some of the movies he's made have been real stinkers, yet I don't think he's worried if the movie is a success or a failure. The funny thing is that I don't think Netflix cares if they're successful or not either. He has a pretty good variety of movies, and I don't think anyone is doing any sort of quality control in terms of what goes in and out of his movies. There seems to be a lot of things in his movies that I would have thought the studio would have asked to take out, but Sandler for some reason decided to keep them in. Sandler really needs to have some people to give him true critiques of his movies. It seems as though he's surrounded himself with "Yes" men. Otherwise, Sandler has truly struck the deal of a lifetime with Netflix.

In Murder Mystery we have a couple played by Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. The two actors have good chemistry and play off of each other very well as we've seen them in other movies. In this movie, Sandler plays Nick Spitz a detective trying to keep his wife happy despite his failures in life. Aniston plays Audrey Spitz, Nick's hairdresser wife that has taken so much crap from Nick that she's at her wit's end. For their recent marriage anniversary Nick decides to take Audrey on the European trip she's been asking for since they first got married. The problem is that he's broke and too embarrassed to tell her. He books the trip anyway, and they meet up with a wealthy playboy on board the plane to Europe.

This billionaire invites the couple on a little boat cruise with his family as a weird revenge plot to get back at his family. As with many stereotypical super wealthy families there are tons of hidden family drama situations to be revealed throughout the movie. The Spitz couple decides to join the billionaire family aboard their giant yacht after considering their alternatives. Besides, who would give up their chance to live in the lap of luxury

They soon realize this trip becomes more than they anticipate after the family patriarch is mysteriously murdered on-board the family's massive yacht. Everyone instantly becomes a suspect, even the Spitz couple. Now it's up to the audience to try to figure out who the murderer is.

Now we know that Sandler movies aren't expected to be high art cinema, so you'll have to watch it with a bag of popcorn and really tune out of reality. If you do this I can say you'll probably have an okay time watching this movie.

I have to admit the first part of the movie was a little irritating. I know Nick and Audrey are an older married couple, but their bickering with one another was a tad on the annoying side. Especially when you know that Nick isn't the best guy. I just wasn't rooting for him from the very beginning. Fortunately Sandler has a way with getting the viewer to like unlikable characters, and he works his charm in this movie.

I didn't have any burst out laughing moments in this movie. There was a small chuckle here and there, so it's kind of a miss as a comedy. As a mystery movie there's really no cohesive way of figuring out who the killer is. Convenient plot situations kind of just throw the audience for a loop, and it makes me second guess whether the audience is supposed to figure out who the killer is at all. So really the movie is kind of a mess, because it doesn't know what it wants to be, and doesn't really excel at anything.

Overall, I would not recommend this movie to anyone, not even Sandler fans. This movie is a mess and not very entertaining. I don't know where Sandler will go next with his next Netflix film, but I'm really dreading the thought of it. Well not really, I don't really have to watch the next one. I'll have to give this movie a 3 out of 10. It's not worth your time, because there are a ton of better movies out there.