The Play’s the Thing: Self-reflexive Murder Mystery “See How They Run” is Good, Clean Fun
See How They Run is an irreverent murder mystery that differentiates itself from all the other irreverent murder mysteries coming out in the wake of 2019’s smash hit Knives Out through an obsession with self-reference. While hardly breaking new ground, it’s nevertheless a quality entry in the ongoing murder mystery renaissance.
In 1950s London, the run of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery play The Mousetrap is interrupted when an American director hired to adapt the play for Hollywood is actually-for-real murdered the night of the play’s 100th performance. The director, portrayed by a wonderfully arrogant Adrien Brody, is hardly a pleasant personality, running afoul of just about everyone with anything to do with the production.
Tasked with capturing the culprit are Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell), a seasoned vet with a drinking problem, and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan), a plucky rookie who has read too many detective novels. It’s a played-out dynamic, certainly, but the charisma of the two leads keeps the development of the two’s relationship from feeling totally perfunctory. Ronan in particular brings a bumbling decency to her part that’s hard not to be charmed by, and so her inevitable earning of her superior’s respect is satisfying in spite of the predictability of it all.
The rabbithole Stoppard and Stalker find themselves falling down isn’t as convoluted as a veteran of the genre might hope. Compared to the aforementioned Knives Out, it’s a little tame. Its only big surprise is saved for the final reveal. What it’s got going for it in place of labyrinthine plotting is playful metatextuality. The ways in which the real-life investigation does and doesn’t mirror the play going on in the background is fun, and the hackneyed narrative techniques the American filmmaker imagines for his Hollywood adaptation seeping their way into the film we’re watching sure is cheeky. At its worst, these self-aware moments can feel cheap and self-congratulatory. One suspect, a writer, rails against flashbacks in stories right before the film cuts to weeks earlier. Real clever, guys.
Another thing in the film’s favor is how aggressively British it is. The wit is dry, and the telephone boxes are red as they come. The posher parts of London’s West End are rendered in an ornate style that would do Wes Anderson proud. At one point a character bribes another for information with a tin of scones, and isn’t that just brilliant?
If you’re looking for a whimsical mystery that doesn’t take itself too seriously, then you could do a lot worse than See How They Run. It will tide you over until Glass Onion comes out later this year.
See How They Run is screening at Alamo Drafthouse, Regal Stonefield, and Violet Crown. Disclaimer: the author of this article is an employee of Violet Crown and received free tickets to this film.
