What did you watch? The 2022 mystery comedy, See How They Run.

I had to look it up on Wikipedia – I’ve not seen The Mousetrap because I’ve never been to England nor have I read Three Blind Mice, the story that the play is based on, by Agatha Christie. Apparently, the theatrical run of the play The Mousetrap has been going on since the early 1950’s. According to Christie’s estate, there can’t be any movie adaptation until the play is closed, nor can the story be published, at least in England (it was printed in America).

That’s where period piece See How They Run comes in, set a couple years into The Mousetrap’s performances with Adrien Brody as a sleazy American director looking to adapt the movie, which of course he can’t until the run of the play is over. There’s a misdirect as the film’s narrator is killed, and from there a police detective played by Sam Rockwell (Moon, Iron Man 2, a bunch of other stuff) and a constable played by actor Saoirse Ronan (I’ve not seen her in anything) interview the play’s cast and film studio execs trying to adapt it.

Sam Rockwell is of course the seasoned detective who drinks and no longer does the due diligence in note-taking that Ronan is of course too keen to do. They interview the cast & production team, who lie about their relations to each other and their goals. Ronan tries to keep Rockwell on task, until she suspects Rockwell as the killer.

The movie is pretty funny, and light with its characters. I’m not saying I saw the reveal but nearly everyone involved is a misdirect (until some of them are killed). I’ve seen a couple movies based on Christie’s books, so I don’t know how cynical these would follow (such as if they all did it, or if they all get killed). Christie appears as a character, who accidentally causes a throwaway gag death that maybe wasn’t needed but was an obvious set up and pretty funny.

I don’t really care for period pieces these days – there’s a lot of emphasis on production and style, but the drawback is that they tend to exclude people of color nearly completely. This movie set in the early 1950’s includes a couple POC characters who have a lot to do & say as far as the production of the adaptation or as love interests, so additional kudos to the movie. I’ve reviewed a few other recent movies that are mystery comedies – a resurgence of the genre with mostly positive quality so I hope viewers catch on and more like it are made.

As of Sept 2023 it’s available to stream if you have a basic Hulu account, and I’m sure available elsewhere.