Film Review – The Thursday Murder Club

August 29th, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

I’ll be honest with you: the retirement home featured in The Thursday Murder Club (2025) looks like a lot of fun. The estate reminds me of the one in Downton Abbey, surrounded by an expansive lawn and finely trimmed trees. It has an old-world aura that is warm and inviting. Everywhere we look, there are activities for the residents – from painting, baking, socials – oh, and we can’t forget the occasional murder. This is a whodunnit in which our primary investigators take advantage of society’s misperceptions about the elderly. It’s cheeky, lighthearted, and contains plenty of British wit. It never loses its playfulness, even when it traverses more serious territory. Although I wouldn’t say it’s a gamechanger, for this particular type of movie, it’s pretty good!

The four members of the murder club are Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley), and Joyce (Celia Imrie). All four are residents of the Cooper’s Chase retirement facility, and each bring along a colorful background. Ron is a former union leader whose son Jason (Tom Ellis) is a famous boxer. Ibrahim was a psychiatrist who helped war veterans with PTSD. Joyce – the newest member – is a retired nurse. And Elizabeth harbors a shadowy past, hinting that she was once an MI6 agent with plenty of international espionage under her belt. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but the narrative adds some clever references to the real-life actors’ previous roles. Ibrahim’s work as a psychiatrist is the same as Ben Kingsley’s character in Shutter Island (2010) – they even wear similar outfits. During a scene where Elizabeth hides her identity, she puts on a disguise and slyly calls herself Queen Elizabeth – a not-so-subtle reference to Helen Mirren’s Oscar-winning role in The Queen (2006). I’m not sure if these Easter Eggs were just random coincidences, but they did make for humorous points of recognition.

As the title would suggest, our four protagonists spend their Thursdays gathering to solve real cold cases that the authorities have given up on. Things change when they – and the retirement home itself – gets insnared in their own murder investigation. Instead of sitting back and letting the police do their job, the foursome jump headfirst into the case, using their individual skills to track down the culprits. They befriend a young police officer named Donna de Freitas (Naomi Ackie) as an insider to give them classified information. This development adds much annoyance to Freitas’ lead detective (Daniel Mays). What follows is an elaborate plot involving double crosses, personal vendettas, protests, a greedy landowner (David Tennant) who wants to shut down Cooper’s Chase altogether, and a whole bunch of mischief.

Director Chris Columbus (who directed the first two Harry Potter films) structures this world with a reserved visual flair. His approach is steady and fluid. Outside of the opening scene – which is shot in black and white – the cinematography (Don Burgess) fills the screen with warm yellows, greens, and browns. The camera movement is graceful, with lots of slow tracking shots and medium to wide angles to take in the scope of the estate. The screenplay (Katy Brand, Suzanne Heathcote) adapts Richard Osman’s popular book as a mystery with multiple red herrings. The narrative is almost too complicated. Running at a full two hours, the film is packed to the brim with story. We go from our sleuths picking out clues for their investigation, the residents fighting against the landowner to save the facility, to each of the main characters’ personal hang ups. It’s a lot, and the way everything ties up neatly in the end does require some suspension of disbelief.

The main draw of The Thursday Murder Club is the cast. The main four – along with a handful of supporting players – exude great chemistry. If there is a lead here, it is Helen Mirren’s Elizabeth. She is the driving force – a determined and efficient operator whose past makes her even more perceptive about the investigation. Pierce Brosnan plays Ron as a man of the people, who spearheads the fight in saving the retirement home and whose love for his son knows no bounds. Joyce, albeit the newest member of the group, proves herself useful right away. Her experience as a nurse not only helps given the environment they are in, but she also provides much needed insight into the case. Ben Kingsley might have the smallest part to play, but he makes the most of his limited screentime. He fills Ibrahim with tenderness and longing, hoping to find companionship at this stage of his life. Naomi Ackie also turns in solid work as the young cop – anxious to take on a bigger role within the police force.

While there are plenty of hijinks, the film isn’t afraid of exploring some of the more somber elements of this world. Much is made of the hospice wing of the facility. There resides Penny (Susan Kirby), the founding member of The Thursday Murder Club and close friend to Elizabeth. During Elizabeth’s visits, we see Penny’s husband sitting by her side in quiet vigil. There is also the inclusion of Elizabeth’s own husband, Stephen (Jonathan Pryce). Stephen is suffering from early dementia, using a voice recorder to not only remember his chess games but to fight off his increasing forgetfulness. The age of the characters is used as an advantage against those that harbor biases against seniors. But beyond that, it also acts as an unspoken motivation. Nobody wants to just sit around being bored all day, we all want to have purpose and goals to strive for regardless of age. Maybe that’s what causes are main characters to dig around in places they probably shouldn’t be.

The Thursday Murder Club was just a pleasant watch from start to finish. It operates at an even keel, has a story that is dense but absorbing enough to hold our attention, and stars actors that seem to enjoy each other’s company. Does it reach the heights of the murder mystery/whodunnit genre as say, Knives Out (2019)? No, but it’s a good time nonetheless.

Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, chris columbus, Daniel Mays, David Tennant, Don Burgess, Downton Abbey, Harry Potter, Helen Mirren, Jonathan Pryce, Katy Brand, Knives Out, Naomi Ackie, Pierce Brosnan, Richard Osman, Shutter Island, Susan Kirby, Suzanne Heathcote, The Queen, The Thursday Murder Club, Tom Ellis