Movie Review: 'See How They Run' is a Fun Mystery-Comedy

See How They Run (2022)

Directed by Tom George

Written by Mark Chappell

Starring Sam Rockwell, Saorise Ronan, Adrian Brody, David Oyelowo, Harris Dickinson

Release Date September 16th, 2022

Loosely based on the work of Agatha Christie

See How They Run is a delightful mystery comedy. The film starring the duo of Sam Rockwell and Saorise Ronan has a distinctly British sensibility that is at once dignified and broadly comic and physical. The film tells the story of a murder amidst a murder mystery on the stage. A famous acting troupe on London's famed West End is presenting the latest adaptation of an Agatha Christie drawing room murder mystery when a visitor from America winds up a corpse on the stage.

Adrian Brody plays the murdered man, a Hollywood director named Leo Kopernick. Leo is an abrasive, loudmouthed ladies man who has rubbed just about everyone the wrong way since he's arrived at the playhouse. Leo was brought over by producer John Woolf (Reese Shearsmith), to help with the film adaptation the play The Mousetrap. written by the legendary Agatha Christie. When Leo is murdered backstage and his body is dumped on the stage in the midst of the play, just about anyone might have wanted to kill him.

Upon discovery of Leo's body, the cops are called and a soused detective, Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell), is assigned the case. Working at Stoppard's side is an eager young Constable, Constable Stalker (Saorise Ronan). What Stalker lacks in experience, she makes up for in enthusiasm and a dedication to writing down every detail she can gather. Stalker's eagerness however, often leads to her often jumping to conclusions, one of which will bring the case to a standstill at a key moment before it kicks into gear again in a terrifically meta third act.

As mentioned, this is a murder mystery and there are numerous people who are suspected of killing Leo. Among the rogues gallery of supporting scene stealers is the brilliant David Oyelowo who charms as an easily offended, effete and arrogant screenwriter. Forced to work with the brutish American director, Oyelowo's character, wonderfully named Mervyn Cocker-Norris, flies over the top and back again in a wonderfully animated performance. Also among the suspects is the producer of the play, Petula Spencer, played by Ruth Wilson, who rules herself out as a suspect as Leo's death on her stage is viewed by her as inconvenient, costing her a night's worth of ticket sales.

Then there is Sir Richard 'Dickie' Attenborough, played by Harris Dickinson. Attenborough is the star of The Mousetrap and potentially the star of the film adaptation if it were to happen. However, Attenborough and Leo Kopernick had a brief entanglement at the celebration of the play's 100th performance. A drunken Leo attacked Attenborough just minutes before he wandered off and was murdered by a prop that Attenborough wields in the play. Attenborough, as played by Dickinson, could not be more delighted to be a suspect as it allows him to interact with a real Detective Inspector like the one he plays on the stage.

Saorise Ronan is the stand out performer of See How They Run. She earns laughs and smiles with her enthusiasm for her job. Her eagerness to solve the case plays as a slight but quite amusing running gag as she repeatedly accuses different people of murder and tries to arrest everyone on her hunches, held in check only by Rockwell's more experienced inspector. The two have terrific platonic chemistry even as he's a bit of a chauvinist and she has the more broadly comic performance.

I had a great deal of fun with See How They Run. The film toys with the conventions of Agatha Christie in wonderfully ingenious ways. It's supremely meta in its sensibilities but the meta pays off brilliantly at the end. The joke is truly on Oyelowo's high minded, hoity toity writer even as he is not around for much of the final act of See How They Run. The scenes featuring Oyelowo and Adrien Brody's Leo, seen in flashback as told by Oyelowo's Mervyn, are a glorious send up of Hollywood's sensibilities versus the artists of the stage.

Fans of Saorise Ronan and especially fans of Agatha Christie mysteries will have a wonderful time watching See How They Run. The film is wonderfully clever, witty and occasionally silly, even as there is a body count. The whole cast is having a great deal of fun with these roles and the deeply rooted meta-textual humor at play throughout. Few Agatha Christie movies feature Agatha Christie herself as a character and how See How They Run weaves Christie into this brilliant ensemble is a terrific set piece.

See How They Run is in theaters as of September 16th, 2022. Find my archive of more than 20 years and nearly 2000 movie reviews at SeanattheMovies.Blogspot.com. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean for my new movie reviews. Follow the archive blog at SeanattheMovies for older reviews. Listen to me talk about movies on the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast on your favorite Podcast listening app. If you've enjoyed what you've read, consider subscribing to me here on Vocal. You can also support my work here on Vocal with a monthly pledge or a one time tip. Thanks!