Pierce Brosnan’s Star-Studded 2025 Murder Mystery Movie Is One Of Netflix’s Hidden Gems

If you’re an avid reader, you may be familiar with the term “cozy mystery,” which is typically used to describe mystery-thriller novels that have an exotic setting or a wonderfully eccentric cast of characters while also focusing on something dark like murder. If you’re already a fan of cozy mysteries or this sounds particularly appealing, you might want to check out “The Thursday Murder Club,” director Chris Columbus’ Netflix adaptation of the hugely popular cozy mystery book starring Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, and Ben Kingsley, to name a few.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Richard Osman (the first in a series), “The Thursday Murder Club” centers on Elizabeth Best (Mirren), retired union leader Ron Ritchie (Brosnan), and psychiatrist Professor Ibrahim Arif (Kingsley), who all live in the same retirement community and pass the time by discussing cold cases every Thursday. After welcoming former nurse Joyce Meadowcroft (Celia Imrie) into their ranks, the foursome are completely shaken when developers and businessmen Tony Curran (Jeff Bell) and his partner Ian Ventham (David Tennant) die amid a plan to convert an entire retirement community, Coopers Chase, into a massive new apartment building.

Driven by this very warm case, the titular Murder Club follows leads that put them in potential danger, especially as they close in on the likely culprit, crime boss Bobby Tanner (Richard E. Grant). “The Thursday Murder Club” is satirical, inexplicably warm, and a lot of fun to watch — so consider queuing it up on a rainy Sunday. Before that, it is interesting to note that Columbus and his crew actually brought their previous experiences as directors and actors to the set, and according to Columbus, it is a testament to his crew that the movie is a lot of fun.

In a discussion with The New York Times, Chris Columbus, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley and Pierce Brosnan sat down with interviewer Melina Rezick – with Celia Imrie calling in to chat with the gang over the phone – and Columbus said something incredibly surprising. Obviously the surprising thing here is not that Columbus has much experience working with revered British artists of a certain age (he previously directed the first two Harry Potter films), but that he made a truly contradictory statement about returning to England for this particular film.

“‘Thursday Murder Club’ is like ‘Potter’ in some ways,” Columbus said, before explaining that the Brits are particularly committed to their work.

“Working with people you love [the ‘Potter’ stars] Maggie Smith or Alan Rickman or Richard Harris, there was an opportunity to see the kind of professionalism that these actors brought to the set, being British. It’s more common now, but in 2000, most of these actors were working in TV, theater and film, and they could do one or three takes, and you had what you needed.

Conversely, Columbus said he was “shocked at the laziness of the American actors” when he began working in the United States again. “I say that in relation to a lot of American actors, but that kind of muscle memory wasn’t there,” he explained. “So, for me to be able to work with actors of that caliber [on ‘The Thursday Murder Club’] It was just amazing. “I can’t say enough about how wonderful it is, as a director, not to have to do 25 takes.” (Brosnan basically confirmed that’s how it went, adding: “It was straight into the play.”)

Despite his great experience working on “The Thursday Murder Club,” Chris Columbus said he was hesitant to take on the project in the first place. “I’ve never had any desire to do a murder mystery,” he told Milena Rezic, saying it was “either too procedural and cold, or over-the-top, too big of a performance. This one had an incredibly sharp British sense of humour, which I respond to, and an emotional complexity that you don’t normally see.” As for the cast, they brought their own talents — and perhaps perceived talents — to the Netflix film.

For her part, Helen Mirren said: He has She’s played a female detective before – on the British show Prime Suspect – but described retired MI6 officer Elizabeth Best as “less neurotic” and a little different: “She probably had the same misogynistic things to deal with. But she’s more focused.” Pierce Brosnan added a humorous anecdote about his previous appearance in the Agatha Christie adaptation of “The Mirror Crack’d” alongside Elizabeth Taylor: “No dialogue. Just my head on her chest.”

As for whether or not they would succeed as detectives in real life, Mirren sarcastically said yes because she loves “Dateline,” while Ben Kingsley provided more data to back that up. “I’m fascinated by the human condition,” the Oscar-winning actor admitted. “I know it sounds sacrilegious, but I don’t tend to watch a lot of drama.” “I enjoy the drama of life, and I hope that as an actor I can translate it into a story,” he explained, explaining that he would make a good detective or psychiatrist – like his character in “The Thursday Murder Club” – but “would not make a good bus driver,” adding: “I know my limits.”

“The Thursday Murder Club” is now streaming on Netflix.