The Thursday Murder Club

UK Release Date. 22 August 2025
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 1 hour 58 mins
Director. Chris Columbus
Cast. Naomi Ackie, Pierce Brosnan, Paul Freeman, Richard E. Grant, Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren, Jonathan Pryce, David Tennant.
Rating. 16%

Review.

Chris Columbus' adaptation of Richard Osman's debut novel of the same name is an entirely disappointing affair. The 'master of the Millennial childhood classic' - for directorial duties on Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, and screenwriting credits on Gremlins, The Goonies and Christmas With The Kranks - delivers a film that struggles to reach the paltry standards of a 'made-for-TV' movie. Instead, The Thursday Murder Club just about musters the banality of an episode of Murder, She Wrote and the tweeness of an episode of Rosemary & Thyme. 

The dialogue is purely expositional and humour is minimal, which is a shame given the film boasts a cast of renowned British and Irish actors - Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren. Subplots abound - the isolation and loneliness associated with ageing and a digression into the invisible pain of migrants in the UK – but it all feels far too formulaic and far too self-centred for its own good.

Only Jonathan Pryce makes much of an impression in an understated role as Elizabeth’s (Helen Mirren) husband Stephen, who lives with dementia.

More patronising than perceptive, The Thursday Murder Club is no Knives Out.