My niece, who is also my goddaughter, loves the original Murder Mystery (2019), as well as its relatively new to Netflix sequel, Murder Mystery 2.  She is also really into Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water, so good luck figuring out her favorite type of movie.  Not that it matters.  She likes what she likes, and there is nothing wrong with it.  People do not get why I enjoy Bullet Proof Monk (2003) or Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019).  That is okay, too.  Now that I have completed the overwhelming majority of the entries on the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 100 Greatest American Films of All Time list, it is my turn to relax, cinematically speaking.  Since Murder Mystery 2 is the one of the six motion pictures I have already discussed that I had yet to see, this is the review you are getting today.  Besides, who am I to refuse my niece when she makes such a request.  By the end of this, I hope she is not too mad at me!

Luckily, there is a recap of the previous film at the beginning of Murder Mystery 2, which is good because I remembered little of the last one.  Whatever it is that happened, it inspired Audrey (Jennifer Aniston) and Nick Spitz (Adam Sandler) to form a husband-and-wife detective agency.  According to the summary, it is not going well.  The last words spoken during it are the worrying phrase that they need a miracle, like somebody close to them getting killed.  As they fret over their decreasing clientele and finances, they get a call from the Maharajah (Adeel Akhtar), an old friend of theirs from their earlier adventures.  He is calling them from his private island to tell them that he is getting married, and he wants Nick to be his best man.  There is a moment of indecision as they wonder about taking the time off when their business is failing.  What wins out is the fact that all expenses are paid.  Thus, they head to their tropical getaway and are treated lavishly upon their arrival.  Not long thereafter they are ushered into the Indian style ceremony where we meet the rest of the other characters involved in this tale of near murder.  This will become clearer as I continue.  Also, these secondary roles will be introduced as needed.  As the wedding is about to commence, with the Maharajah set to come in riding an elephant, it turns out to be a different person on the pachyderm, with a knife in his back.  Nick quickly deduces that the Maharajah is in danger, and makes it outside in time to see the boat that takes the Maharajah away from the island against his will.  Before the night is out, all those other people are in Audrey and Nick’s room to explain their innocence and point fingers at the others.  Before Audrey and Nick can get anywhere in questioning them, though, they pass out, the result of Nick having slipped themselves Ambien.  The next morning brings them two things.  First, there is the arrival of Connor Miller (Mark Strong), an international detective whose book Audrey is trying to get Nick to read in order to help them pass their detective’s exam.  Connor quickly sizes up the husband and wife as amateurs and takes over the investigation.  However, the kidnappers only want to talk to Nick, so the Spitz’s are forced to remain on the case.  It takes them to Paris where, through Nick’s bumbling on the phone, they are to bring the significantly higher ransom price of $70 million to the Arc de Triomphe.  Once again, the Spitz are called upon to deliver the money in exchange for the Maharajah.  Predictably, since this is a comedy, they did not follow the normal rules for such procedures and end up letting themselves be forced into the van with some of the kidnappers, who did not bring the Maharajah.  There entails a destructive dash through the streets of Paris as Audrey and Nick attempt to fight their way free before the vehicle ends up crashing through the wall of a café.  Connor then appears and takes the money from them, making it evident that he is in on the abduction.  Yet, his car blows up when he gets into it, and somebody else, after a few more bumps, absconds with the cash.  No sooner do they witness this do they turn around and see their faces and names on French television connecting them to the crime.  For help, they turn to another compatriot from the last film, Inspector Delacroix (Dany Boon).  He is able to assist them in finding the location for the license plate number off the vehicle Audrey sees escape with the ransom money.  When they get there, however, they find Countess Sekou (Jodie Turner-Smith), who used to be engaged to the Maharajah, and her assistant Imani (Zurin Villanueva).  They are not the kidnappers, but rather opportunists attempting to steal the millions. The Spitz’s are saved, though, when the two women double-cross each other, resulting in their deaths.  Audrey and Nick then contact Inspector Delacroix, who tells everyone to meet at Le Jules Verne restaurant in the Eifel Tower (which is not as high up as you see in the movie).  Nick expects the kidnapper to appear for the money.  Sure enough, a very much alive Connor bursts into the room after Nick calls his bluff with the bomb strapped to the Maharajah.  There follows an action sequence on Paris’ iconic landmark, the long and short of it being that the Maharajah is saved and Connor dies by getting chopped into bits in helicopter blades.  To show his gratitude, the Maharajah gives them $10 million to have the honeymoon they had always wanted (a reference to the previous movie).  The last shot, unfortunately, has the Spitz’s on a helicopter and the pilot stealing the cash and parachuting off, leaving them alone in an uncontrolled helicopter.

Actually, I do not think Murder Mystery 2 was bad, aside from a bit of innuendo and the fact that the title is misleading. There is a murder, yes, but it is not anybody that is important to the plot, unfortunate though any death may be.  There is also nothing special about it, which means I have to really work at giving you a Catholic commentary.  The only thing that caught my attention in this regard is when Countess Sekou ties up Audrey and Nick as preamble to stealing the ransom money.  From there, she lights the house they are in on fire.  The aforementioned double crossing is what gives the Spitz’s the opportunity to escape, but for a moment, things are looking bleak.  Often in movies when characters are put into these kinds of situations, especially when it involves two people, there is a sequence when they admit their faults to each other.  It is a kind of confession, if you will, a word near and dear to us practicing Catholics.  What struck me this time is wondering why they do this at all?  There is a tradition in the Church of those who, if they are conscious in their last moments, Confessing their sins before they die.  They do so because they want to have the stain of sin removed from their souls as it transitions into the afterlife.  What is strange to me when this happens in a film is why they bother doing it?  It happens with so many characters who have expressed no inkling of a faith life, and yet they feel compelled with the possibility of death looming before them to “come clean” as the saying goes.  If both people are truly about to expire, and they do not believe in God (as seems the case with Audrey and Nick), what is the ultimate purpose for doing so?  Do not get me wrong, I love to see such things.  The problem is that it is God that gives the proper context, and I wish more movies would acknowledge this fact.

I think whatever enjoyment I got from Murder Mystery 2 centered on the fact that Mélanie Laurent was in it.  I have loved her since I saw her in Inglorious Basterds (2009).  Unfortunately, her role as Claudette, the Maharajah’s fiancée, is superfluous, and there are long stretches when you do not see her.  Anyway, it is mostly inoffensive, so make of this review what you will.