The Thursday Murder Club

The setting is wrong. A single large house might be converted to a care home, but a retirement village is different. Typically the large old house would have communal facilities and some apartments but there would also be a large number of individual houses in the grounds.

In the film the former priory building seems to house communal facilities and apartments. The apartments have large rooms so there could not be many of them - perhaps ten at the most which would house perhaps 12-15 residents. There is no sign of any houses in the grounds.

When we have a scene involving the residents there are a large number - perhaps 100 or more so Coopers Chase would need 80 or so units to accommodate them all. The designer should have done a bit more research.

I've just watched this on Netflix and feel disappointed. All the nuances and humour which are in the book are absent. In my opinion the script was stilted and the acting was wooden. There was no depth to the characters, the ending felt rushed .... and Pierce Brosnan was completely miscast. I think Ray Winstone would have been the ideal actor to play Ron.

Mel1967

glammagran

I’ve just remembered that both Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan starred in MobLand, a series shown on TV recently. Now that was violent.

We’ve just finished MobLand, very good. Looking forward to season 2.
Thought the violence was quite tame (it was the bits that you didn’t see).
No where near as violent as Gangs Of London 😱

I gave up after a couple of Episodes of Gangs of London. I hated the stylised extreme violence.

glammagran

I’ve just remembered that both Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan starred in MobLand, a series shown on TV recently. Now that was violent.

We’ve just finished MobLand, very good. Looking forward to season 2.
Thought the violence was quite tame (it was the bits that you didn’t see).
No where near as violent as Gangs Of London 😱

I’ve just remembered that both Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan starred in MobLand, a series shown on TV recently. Now that was violent.

I'm not so sure about whimsical, I certainly wouldn't tangle with Elizabeth!

Oreo

We don’t always want reality I guess Merlotgran as it can often be depressing.
There’s no such thing as cosy crime outside of books/ tv, it’s always murder isn’t it.
We like to enjoy crime this way at times, it takes the edge off.

True.
I just get a little bit irritated when old age is portrayed in such a whimsical way but like you say, who wants reality? We get enough of that every day.

Oreo

Drop all expectations of a cinematic masterpiece and just sit back and enjoy it is my advice.With a glass of wine in hand or cup of tea and huge slice of cake😁

Wine. 😁

Just recommended it to DD (who'd never heard of the books) and who has her in-laws staying. Goodness knows what they will make of it 😁

Aveline

Maybe it would have been better with a less stellar cast? Their inclusion just made it seem so confected to me.

You may have a good point there 👍🏻

Allira

Whitewavemark2

I read the books and they were no more than pleasant cosy reading, the sort of book to read when you don’t want too much mind bending.

The film was disappointing.

I agree re the books.

I enjoyed them and sometimes, if life is challenging, you don't want to read challenging books as well!

We don't have Netflix so haven't seen the film.
I think the retirement complex is based on the one where Richard Osman's mother lives.

Where was it filmed?

Yes relatively near us - it is entirely different to the film. Quite modern.

Maybe it would have been better with a less stellar cast? Their inclusion just made it seem so confected to me.

We don’t always want reality I guess Merlotgran as it can often be depressing.
There’s no such thing as cosy crime outside of books/ tv, it’s always murder isn’t it.
We like to enjoy crime this way at times, it takes the edge off.

Cosy crimes set in care homes or retirement complexes all have the same old format.
Greedy developers, pathetic management, grasping relatives, sudden deaths, dodgy staff etc. All the author has to do is tick a few boxes.
The residents are always able bodied with attitude and the money to match.
Of course reality would not make great viewing but this didn’t either despite the OTT lavish surroundings.

I do like the period crime dramas such as Hercule P and Miss Marple, tho much of Agatha Christie’s plots are unbelievable and the culprit only arrested as they cough to the murder in the last ‘drawing room scene’, very rarely any evidence to convict them if they chose to deny it.😁 I enjoy all the period clothes, cars and details.

I did all that but ended up really irritated. Spoilt by all the excellent Agatha Christie stories and TV versions.

Drop all expectations of a cinematic masterpiece and just sit back and enjoy it is my advice.With a glass of wine in hand or cup of tea and huge slice of cake😁

This just appeared on my tablet. It comes from the Telegraph, which I think is normally behind a paywall

'The Thursday Murder Club film has all the cinematic flair of an ITV2 serial from 2006
This nefariously lazy Netflix adaptation butchers Richard Osman’s bestseller to create a a half-hearted parody of a whodunnit'

LOL at the end is the clue

Theworriedwell

Do I?

I thought, like the movie, I was injecting a bit of fun into the thread

Ah well, failed lol

And, oh yes, I love that song, too.

I did wonder how the intruder managed to leave the bouquet of flowers for Elizabeth, did she leave her door open ? A place like that would have had extremely strong security.

Clawdy

Watched this afternoon, enjoyed it, especially the Cat Stevens songs at the end!

I enjoyed the closing song too, his voice sounded so lovely. It's "Oh, Very Young" I listened to it again this morning.

Ziggy62

Haven't read the books

Just watched the movie, absolutely loved it, wasn't expecting it to be so amusing

Guess I'm not trying to be as intelligently superior as some lol

Not liking something doesn't mean you're trying to be intelligently superior or even intellectually superior. Is it beyond you to understand some people just didn't like it. It isn't compulsory.

Some people seem to have a real chip on their shoulder.

Sorry my post should have read’ love a cosy murder’ I did enjoy it though. Something different for a Saturday night.

We saw it at the cinema, in an audience which was mostly grey haired. There was a lot of knowing laughter from the whole crowd. We loved it - light hearted, funny, a great cast. Not War and Peace but just what we wanted.