Review
The very definition of a cozy murder mystery.
Eight strangers are invited by Mr. and Mrs. Owen to spend the weekend on a remote island. Two newly hired house servants greet them, but their hosts are nowhere to be found. At one point in the night, under instructions from the still absent Mr. Owen, a gramophone is played accusing each guest and both of the servants of murder, outright or via negligence. After some debate, they all realize no one there has actually even met Mr. or Mrs. Owen, and soon after one of them suddenly does, their drink poisoned. With no boat scheduled to arrive until the following week, they're stranded at the mansion as their suspicions and paranoia boil and boil as they try to figure out which one of them is a murderer.
I know this is one of Agatha Christie's most famous stories, but I've never read the book nor seen any of its many adaptations. More importantly, even though I knew this is a dwindling-party story, I somehow didn't know about the ten-strangers setup or the Ten Little Indians motif. Even though I'm late to the game, that's a fun gimmick that keeps the story's momentum going for at least half its runtime. Unfortunately, there's not much else to hang on to here.
Everything here is totally fine: the acting, the humor, the cinematography, the ongoing mystery as they're picked off one by one. I also appreciated that the movie gets right to the action. But the characters are barely sketched out, romantic vibes emerge out of nowhere, and the tone is frustratingly flat even as the pacing is fast. This leads to a big reveal that has no energy or excitement behind it- a big shrug.
I read the director himself didn't find this a fun movie; his motivation was more the challenge of adapting the original story's darker tone into a comedy and finding ways around story beats that wouldn't translate across mediums. All that shows through in what's ultimately a mildly entertaining but forgettable whodunnit that isn't interested in its premise's potential.
Focus Group Film Club
Sep 2026: A Polite Murder: Country House Murder Mysteries
