Review by Jane C

Starring Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie; Directed by Chris Columbus

The film is based on the 2020 international bestselling novel by Richard Osman, about four friends living in a retirement community. They spend their time solving cold cases for fun and meet every Thursday to discuss their progress - but on this occasion they find themselves involved in a real murder.

There is a large cast including Helen Mirren, who was excellent as always. Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie play the other main characters, but they didn’t meet our expectations for the characters as described in the books. There was not enough interesting interaction between them which didn’t help to develop their characters fully, so we didn’t get a real sense of who they were. The retirement home setting was a beautiful country house in Berkshire that left us all thinking “What must the fees be?!!”

The film has a simple, pleasant and uncomplicated plot, a modern mystery that includes modern crimes. While it does have an underlying message about older people being capable of a lot, those who had read the books felt they were better.