Pesky penshioners and mercy killings? That may seem like an ill-fitting combination, but the saving grace of The Thursday Murder Club—based on the Richard Osman book series about a quartet of retirees in a British elder-care facility who solve crimes—is that there is actually less “quirky old folks” humor than intentional acknowledgment of the harshness of these years: dementia, hospice, and the like. And so the movie is not entirely unrealistic, even if it is brightly breezy overall (and each character’s room is a bespoke living space about the size of your average retirement community’s dining hall). Standing out among the cast are Pierce Brosnan, clearly enjoying his scruffy beard and potbelly, and Helen Mirren, who threatens to turn this into something sexier and scarier at every moment. Chris Columbus keeps things on the straight and narrow, however, directing as if this were an adaptation of Harry Potter Book 78.
(9/18/2025)
