Murder Mystery 2 Parent Guide

After a madcap murder mystery adventure four years ago, Nick and Audrey Spitz (Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston) quit working as, respectively, a police officer and a hairdresser. They are now private detectives, struggling to satisfy clients and make enough money to stay afloat. Then they receive an invitation to the marriage of their billionaire friend Vic, a.k.a. the Maharajah (Adeek Akhtar), to be held on his private island.

The wedding preparations are suitably sumptuous and the party rocks until a murdered man enters the ballroom on an elephant. Nick realizes the murder is a distraction and runs for the dock just in time to see Vic tossed in a boat by a kidnapper. Ransom demands lead the Spitzes to Paris, along with a retired MI5 agent (Mark Strong) hired to retrieve the Maharajah, and the rest of Vic’s nearest and dearest. The kidnappers prove to be well organized and cunning and soon Nick and Audrey are the chief suspects in the abduction of their old friend. Now they must evade law enforcement as they try to save the Maharajah.

I must confess that I did not see the original 2019 Murder Mystery and after watching this sequel I have no regrets about missing it. Murder Mystery 2 has the potential to be a fun film but it just doesn’t gel. The comedy isn’t funny (the bickering spouse shtick stops being amusing very quickly) and the action gets dull earlier than it should. This movie is only 90 minutes long but it somehow manages to feel bloated, perhaps due to the overly extended action sequences at the Eiffel Tower. It’s frustrating because this is a movie that should work. The cast is capable and Mark Strong is particularly good. The locations are lovely and the Indian wedding really kicks off the story with a blaze of color and energy. Once the murder and kidnapping take place, the movie just kind of fizzles out. The Spitzes are too witless to be engaging so it’s hard to root for them, especially when the bad guys are more interesting.

From a parental perspective, Murder Mystery 2 comes with some big red flags. The first is violence, which is pervasive and relentless. People are shot, stabbed with knives, and killed with hatchets. Men hit, punch, kick, toss, and choke each other. A character deliberately commits arson, leaving people to die in a fire. There are few breaks from the violence, except for moments of reckless driving and conversations laden with sexual innuendo. The movie also contains around eight dozen swear words (mostly terms of deity) and has scenes of people smoking, vaping, drinking alcohol, and being sedated without consent. This really doesn’t check the boxes for a family-friendly movie night.

I’m not saying that Murder Mystery 2 is a total dud. Fans of Sandler or Aniston might enjoy watching the stars romp through exotic locales and could find their repartee amusing. Adults who want a mindless blow-‘em-up popcorn movie could find this a pleasant way to wind down on the couch after a busy week. As for me, the movie only provided two questions of interest. First, was a script this predictable written by ChatGPT? And, second, why is Jennifer Aniston’s face so stiff? Is it bad surgery or heavy makeup? She’s 54 years old. Let her look it.