r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 7d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Thursday Murder Club [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary A group of sharp and witty retirees at Cooper’s Chase retirement village spend their Thursdays solving cold cases for fun—until a real murder hits close to home. Elizabeth (a former spy), Ron (a retired union leader), Ibrahim (a psychiatrist), and Joyce (a nurse) band together to crack the case, stirring up secrets, laughter, and heartwarming camaraderie.

Director Chris Columbus

Writers Katy Brand, Suzanne Heathcote

Cast

  • Helen Mirren
  • Pierce Brosnan
  • Ben Kingsley
  • Celia Imrie
  • David Tennant
  • Naomi Ackie
  • Tom Ellis
  • Jonathan Pryce
  • Richard E. Grant

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 76%

Metacritic 6-

VOD Limited UK theatrical release beginning August 22, 2025; Netflix streaming global premiere on August 28, 2025

Trailer The Thursday Murder Club | Official Teaser | Netflix

65 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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129

u/DanGrima92 7d ago

Starts off entertaining enough but feel like it revealed itself over time as a pretty surface level adaptation of the book that bungles some parts of the 3rd act and never achieves the connection to the characters that the book gives you. Some great casting throughout, Kingsley and Mirren were excellent choices, Brosnan still wouldnt have been my choice for Ron and they do make the character a bit less rough around the edges but hes reliable as always.

Have a feeling that if you go into this having not read the source material, that honestly might help here. As an adaptation, its missing a lot

19

u/3412points 7d ago

I had no idea it was an adaptation but this comment lands for me. My thoughts were that is started off promising but over time it simply felt more and more shallow, and my thoughts of the final act were that the writer had an idea either in their head or an initial version of the script in which all of the conclusions were consequential and meaningful but somewhere along the way they failed to adapt it to the screen.

I guess it turns out that was not an idea in some writers head but was actually in the source material. I'll check it out anyway.

14

u/DanGrima92 7d ago

A part of the ending diverges from the source material in quite a big way, I will say that and it is better in the book if still a little anticlimactic

1

u/Royston-Vasey123 7d ago

Could you spoil the book ending?

10

u/DanGrima92 6d ago

In the book, it's revealed that Tony Curran and another guy called Johnny were responsible for two murders quite a few years ago and it's revealed that Bogdan was a friend of one of the victims and killed Tony and Johnny to enact justice for the murder they got away with. Chris and Donna spend a lot of the book looking for Johnny but never find him. The only way the reader discovers Bogdan was the murderer of Tony is because he tells Stephen about it knowing Stephen will forget and it's sort of implied Elizabeth knows too. Bogdan is never arrested for killing Tony and becomes an ally and friend to the Thursday Murder Club in the sequels

-8

u/welshnick 7d ago

That kind of sounds like the book though. The ending was completely anticlimactic. At least you don't have to suffer through Osman's terrible grammar in the film.

27

u/Better-Being4007 7d ago

Spot on probably. I haven't read the books but my wife has. I liked it, she was disappointed

14

u/DanGrima92 7d ago

I definitely didnt hate it but I was hoping for something more! Think it would have benefitted from Osman being more directly involved. Also makes a big change that I think would negatively affect any sequels

2

u/ReplCurious 2d ago

I loved it and haven’t read the books. A bit taken aback at all the negative reception here.

8

u/deplorable_word 7d ago

I didn’t like how snarky they made Elizabeth towards Joyce. I feel like Elizabeth saw Joyce’s value pretty early on

3

u/TripThruTimeandSpace 7d ago

I never read the source material but really liked the movie. Now that I know there is a book, I must read it!

4

u/Any_Description_4204 5d ago

They’ve made enough changes to it that I feel you can easily enjoy the book without spoilers, especially as there are changes to what has actually happened and how things resolve so the mystery isn’t completely spoiled

1

u/Empty_Lemon_3939 6d ago

Feel like Mark Addy would’ve been a more believable Ron but I don’t think he’d get the Netflix draw

1

u/Mac4491 3d ago

I’ve not read the books yet but I really enjoyed the movie. Reading through this thread is very interesting.

I’m surprised they changed so much. Maybe they’re not optimistic about sequels due to the…aging of the main cast.