A One Mann’s Movies review of “See How They Run” (2022).
Being a big fan of “Knives Out“, I was looking forward to “See How They Run” as a comedy whodunnit. But ultimately, I came out disappointed from this one. It’s “OK”… but I thought that it was no better than “OK”.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
It’s the early 50’s in London’s West End and Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” is celebrating its 100th performance. The stars of the play, together with those looking to turn it into a hit movie, are gathered for a gala event. But when the obnoxious American film director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) is brutally murdered and left on stage, the police team of Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and keen-as-mustard Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) are brought in to catch the murderer.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo, Tim Key, Sian Clifford, Shirley Henderson, Reece Shearsmith, Pearl Chandra, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd.
Directed by: Tom George.
Written by: Mark Chappell.
Twitter Handles: #SeeHowTheyRun_
“See How They Run” Review:
Positives:
- There is a nice sense of place with the visualisation of 50’s London. The production design here is all top notch.
- There are some nice performances, most notably Saoirse Ronan’s comic turn as Constable Stalker. She’s done comedy roles before, of course, for Wes Anderson in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and more recently “The French Dispatch“. And she’s very good at it, with perfect comic timing. Harris Dickinson also does a viable Richard Attenborough impression. But my favourite turn (when does she do other than delight?) was Shirley Henderson as the great Agatha Christie.
- Daniel Pemberton delivers a quirky score. Certainly I skipped out of the cinema to the jaunty end-title themes.
Negatives:
- It’s all rather dull! It’s clearly trying to be quirky and Wes Anderson-esque, but for me it just came off as ‘trying too hard’. As a comedy, it delivered a few smiles and even the odd laugh. But it failed on the ‘six laughs’ test.
- Sam Rockwell. I love the guy as an actor in so many films: “Moon”; “3 Billboards…“; “Vice“; even his over-the-top Captain Klenzendorf in “Jojo Rabbit“. But here I just didn’t think he was convincing in the role of the habitually soused inspecter. A strong case of mis-casting methinks Holmes. Another role that didn’t quite click with me, but to a lesser extent, was that of Commissioner Scott. It took me until the end-titles to realise that he was played by a beardless Tim Key: Alan Partridge’s sidekick on Norfolk Digital Radio.
- The illustrious Mrs Movie Man (who, I have to say, enjoyed this one more than I did) commented that there were loads of different characters introduced but you never really got to know anything about them. Some barely cross the screen. And she’s quite right. That’s a requisite of course of a whodunnit, since you need a good pool of suspects to delve into. But, look at classic Christie versions like “Death on the Nile“, “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Evil Under The Sun”. They were also chock full of characters. But you tended to at least get a decent pen-portrait of each suspect. In “See How They Run” we spend so much time with the relationship between Stoppard and Stalker that most everyone else gets ignored.
- The device of the “storyboard” of the movie plot was clunky and predictable (although the final frame raised a laugh).
Summary Thoughts on “See How They Run”:
I was toying with 2 and a half stars for this one. But there are far worse films out there than this. And it’s harmless enough entertainment that would certainly pass a rainy afternoon rewatch when it comes on the box. It was all just disappointingly “meh” for me.
Trailer for “See How They Run”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q00qh7Ab6Mk .
