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See how they run, common sense media reviewers.

Comic mystery keeps you guessing; drinking, violence, peril.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Don't jump to conclusions. Typical for whodunits,

Detective trainee demonstrates curiosity, integrit

The film revolves around an actual 1950s Agatha Ch

Shooting, strangling, dead bodies. Some blood, but

Kissing. Talk of infidelity.

A couple of instances of "ass," "bastard," "goddam

Heavy drinking. A couple of characters are drunk,

Parents need to know that See How They Run , which stars Saoirse Ronan, deconstructs the whodunit by creating a fictional murder mystery while filmmakers work to adapt an actual Agatha Christie play into a movie. It's a brilliant way of introducing the elements of writing a murder mystery. Expect violent…

Positive Messages

Don't jump to conclusions. Typical for whodunits, carries the message that you can't get away with murder.

Positive Role Models

Detective trainee demonstrates curiosity, integrity, and a strong work ethic. Constable Stalker demonstrates perseverance and i ntegrity . While not the main character, the inimitable author Agatha Christie is present, and the screenplay is a love letter to her impressiveness.

Diverse Representations

The film revolves around an actual 1950s Agatha Christie stage production; contemporary actors play the real people performing it at the time. They are all White, but the cast also features a Black writer (who's also possibly gay) and his roommate/partner. An interracial relationship is a workplace romance with an uneven power dynamic. Main character is female; the challenges of women entering male-dominated fields is addressed. The most powerful character is Agatha Christie, an older woman who's one of the most successful and celebrated mystery authors of all time.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Shooting, strangling, dead bodies. Some blood, but it's not gory. Physical fighting with pushing and shoving. Close-up of victim's face in distress as they're being killed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

A couple of instances of "ass," "bastard," "goddammit," and "horses--t."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Heavy drinking. A couple of characters are drunk, but it's not shown in a favorable light.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that See How They Run , which stars Saoirse Ronan , deconstructs the whodunit by creating a fictional murder mystery while filmmakers work to adapt an actual Agatha Christie play into a movie. It's a brilliant way of introducing the elements of writing a murder mystery. Expect violent moments: Strangling, shooting, and struggles are intense, and there's some blood. There's kissing and drinking (sometimes to excess); language includes "goddamn," "horses--t," and references to infidelity. It's set in the 1950s, and the cast of the play-within-the-film is all White, but filmmakers make nods to diversity in the form of a Black screenwriter, a mother taking on a career in a traditionally male field, and the suggestion of a gay relationship. Classic cinema fans will eat this one up like buttery popcorn, as the real cast of the 1953 West End production, including the likes of legendary actor Richard Attenborough , are made into characters/suspects. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (7)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Well made comedy romp.

A great who dunnit., what's the story.

In SEE HOW THEY RUN, a 1953 West End production of Agatha Christie 's The Mousetrap is hosting a Hollywood entourage working to adapt the play into a film. When a murder occurs backstage, a detective ( Sam Rockwell ) and his trainee ( Saoirse Ronan ) work to solve it quickly, before the killer can strike again.

Is It Any Good?

This is one of the cleverest murder mysteries to hit the big screen. That's because, as it tells you how a whodunit works while you're simultaneously trying to solve a whodunit, it makes your brain soar into super-active thinking. And yet, you'll still never guess who did it. The project's genesis stems from the realization of why one of Christie's most successful works -- the play The Mousetrap -- was never adapted into a film. Notable producer John Woolf ( The African Queen , Oliver! ) had secured the rights, but there was one limiting clause: "production can begin six months after the play closes." And it so happens that The Mousetrap has played in the West End continuously since 1952, so production has never been viable. Jumping off from that point, the film starts in 1953, shortly after the contract was signed, when those involved assumed it would eventually close. Woolf (Reece Shearsmith), his screenwriter, and his director are in London naively getting their pre-production underway, only to have the theater production interrupted by its own murder mystery.

Because of this setup, viewers will realize that the characters are intentionally "types," like "the world-weary detective" and "the female rookie." But they're made three-dimensional through fantastic writing, excellent performances, and top-notch direction and editing. Having real life icons Attenborough and Christie as characters adds to the fun, as well as to the mystery. Could a real-life famous actor be the killer? In many ways it feels like director Tom George has created the most exciting fan fiction of all time, a smart comedy, and a master class in creative writing all in one.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the elements of a murder mystery. How does See How They Run compare to other whodunits you've seen?

Would you classify this as historical fiction or fan fiction? Why?

How does Constable Stalker demonstrate perseverance and i ntegrity ? Why are those important character traits?

"Don't jump to conclusions" is a recurring message -- both for Constable Stalker and for the audience trying to solve the mystery. Why is this good advice in real life?

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 16, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : November 1, 2022
• Cast : Saoirse Ronan , Sam Rockwell , Adrien Brody
• Director : Tom George
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studios : Searchlight Pictures , Disney
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Book Characters
• Character Strengths : Curiosity , Perseverance
• Run time : 98 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference
• Last updated : July 11, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Your enjoyment of “See How They Run” will depend on your appreciation for its two most prominent elements. The first is the genre of the classic British murder mystery and the names associated with those who created them and those who parodied and meta-commented on them. And the second is the genre of meta-commentary itself. There are air quotes and winks at the audience in almost every scene. I’m fine with both, so since the movie is exceptionally well cast and stylishly filmed, I thought it was a hoot. But those who are not well-versed in Agatha Christie and the darkly comic British Kitchen Sink-era responses to her mysteries may find it so arch that it will make their fillings ache. Let me put it this way: If you know what The Mousetrap  is, and especially if you’ve seen it performed, you’ll get a kick out of “See How They Run.” If you don’t recognize the title “The Real Inspector Hound” or if you are allergic to air quotes, maybe not. Consider yourself warned.

The Mousetrap , a play by Agatha Christie, is the longest-running play in history, opening in 1952 in London’s West End and, except for a pause during the pandemic, running ever since with over 28,000 performances. “See How They Run”—the title also connected to literary mice through the nursery rhyme—takes place around the celebration of the 100 th  performance of The Mousetrap , in 1953 London, when an American movie director named Leo Köpernick ( Adrien Brody ) has arrived as a producer is negotiating the film rights to the play. 

Köpernick is a briefly anonymous off-stage narrator who tells us he has not seen The Mousetrap  but he's sure it's a “second rate murder mystery.” If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen one seen them all, he says. They all begin with “an interminable prologue in which all the key players are introduced." You get a sense of the world they inhabit and then the most unlikable character gets bumped off. Cue the entrance of the "world-weary detective" who pokes his nose around, talks to witnesses, takes a couple of wrong turns, then gathers all the suspects together and points to the least likely. Köpernick is in London because he has been blacklisted in Hollywood, and he tells us he has been hired to make the movie marginally less boring than the play. 

In the traditional British mystery, the first murder victim either has no enemies or is loathed by everyone. Köpernick is in that second category. He's murdered backstage, and, on cue, the world-weary, hard-drinking detective arrives, a WWII veteran with a limp. He is Inspector Stoppard ( Sam Rockwell ) and like other names in the film, this one is a meta-reference. The Real Inspector Hound  is an early work by Oscar-winner Tom Stoppard , and, like this film, it's about a theatrical murder mystery and the people connected to it. Just to make sure we get it, at one point a character says, “He was a real hound, Inspector!” Other characters are named for Richard Attenborough , who was in the original cast of Mousetrap  and played the killer in one of the other films referred to, and to " Downton Abbey "'s Julian Fellowes , who elegantly updated the classic British great house murder mystery in “ Gosford Park .”

In keeping with the mid-century setting of the film, the screenplay is best described as “too clever by half.” This reaches its zenith when everyone somehow ends up at the home of Agatha Christie herself (for casual and non-fans, note that her real-life second husband, Max Mallowan, is played by Lucian Msamati ), though the names and Dame Agatha’s interest in poisons are the only real-life connections. 

It all speeds by briskly when it isn’t distracting us with lazy flashbacks and knee-slappers like calling a possible murder “staged” because it is literally on a stage. And the performance and production values are fun for British mystery fans, with Saoirse Ronan , as always, pure joy as the eager young Constable Stalker (those names!) and the cast clearly enjoying having fun with the conventions and archetypes of the genre. There are references to the serial killer film “10 Rillington Place” and, less successfully, to a gruesome real-life murder that may have inspired The Mousetrap . If all of this is sounding like too much work, you should probably stick with the original or with better meta-mysteries like “ Knives Out ” and its upcoming sequel “Glass Onion” and the wildly funny theatrical production The Play that Goes Wrong . 

Still, all the stylishness and enthusiasm cannot disguise the fact that the mystery itself never comes close to those concocted by Dame Agatha. Then again, no one else has topped her either. 

Now playing in theaters.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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Film Credits

See How They Run (2022)

Rated PG-13 for some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference.

Sam Rockwell as Inspector Stoppard

Saoirse Ronan as Constable Stalker

Adrien Brody as Leo Kopernick

Ruth Wilson as Petula Spencer

Reece Shearsmith as John Woolf

Harris Dickinson as Richard Attenborough

Charlie Cooper as Dennis Corrigan

Pippa Bennett-Warner as Ann Saville

Pearl Chanda as Sheila Sim

Sian Clifford as Edana Romney

Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as Gio

David Oyelowo as Mervyn Cocker-Norris

Shirley Henderson as Agatha Christie

Paul Chahidi as Fellowes

Lucian Msamati as Max Mallowman

Angus Wright as Sgt. Bakewell

Tim Key as Commissioner Harrold Scott

Gregory Cox as Major Metcalf

Maggie McCarthy as Mrs. Boyle

Keiran Hodgson as Harley the Motorcycle Messenger

Ania Marson as Mother

Philip Desmeules as Pierre

Laura Morgan as Joyce

Tolu Ogunmefun as Mr. Lyon

• Mark Chappell

Cinematographer

• Jamie Ramsay
• Peter Lambert
• Gary Dollner
• Daniel Pemberton

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See How They Run turns the world’s most famous whodunit into a big meta gag

Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan stick their heads into the mousetrap and find a star-packed mystery

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This review was originally published to coincide with the film’s theatrical release. It has been updated for the digital platform release.

The Mousetrap , Agatha Christie’s famous stage murder mystery, has never been filmed. When Christie signed the film rights over to producer John Woolf, she stipulated that the film could only be made six months after the play closed on the West End. It never has. Still going 70 years after it opened in 1952, The Mousetrap is the longest-running play in history. So the film never came to be.

That piece of trivia is a plot point in See How They Run , a game little meta-whodunit steeped in London theater lore. It’s also the origin story of the movie itself, if you believe the tale producer Damian Jones spins in the production notes. Jones was considering filming the play, he says, but when he discovered Christie had thwarted him, he saw a way to not just circumvent this obstacle, but to turn it to his advantage: He resolved to create a fictional whodunit about the whodunit, and turn the film rights themselves into one of the cogs in its murderous machine.

See How They Run , written by Mark Chappell and directed by Tom George, turns Christie inside out and upside down, and has a good laugh at the undignified spectacle that process creates. It satirizes the creaking mechanisms of the genre even as it leans on them. It’s an in-joke of a movie, and a pretty good one, enlivened by a terrific cast. But George and Chappell are a little too in love with their own postmodern cleverness, and not concerned enough with constructing as knotty and satisfying a mystery as, say, Rian Johnson’s whetstone-sharpened Knives Out .

The setup is wonderfully wicked, though. On the occasion of The Mousetrap ’s 100th performance — in the real world, it has now run more than 27,500 times — the cast, led by Richard “Dickie” Attenborough (Harris Dickinson), assembles for a party. Film producer Woolf (Reece Shearsmith) is there, along with Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody), an odious, blacklisted Hollywood director Woolf has hired to make the film of the play. Supercilious playwright Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo) is tasked with the screenplay adaptation. Theater impresario Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson) simmers on the sidelines. Everyone’s a bit testy, for various reasons, and Kopernick and Attenborough get into a fistfight. At the end of the night, Kopernick turns up dead on stage. Can the show go on?

Given the production’s history, there’s a mischievous playfulness to this premise — and that’s before the police turn up. World-weary functioning alcoholic Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) has been paired with awkward but zealous new recruit Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) to solve the case. They don’t get any help, because the rest of the murder squad is focusing on the real-world, much darker, Rillington Place murders . Compared to those, this theaterland killing is just a bit of fun.

The wit and double-sided delicacy of this detail — underlining the innocuous silliness of the proceedings, while rooting them in a real time and place — is typical of what See How They Run offers, and it’s one of the movie’s principal pleasures. It’s more fun guessing which figures are caricatures of real people and which are cartoonish inventions than it is trying to figure out who the murderer is.

A couple of late-film cameos play into this warped reality for a hilarious, audacious payoff. The production design walks a similar line, creating a heightened, glitzy 1950s London with a surprisingly authentic texture. (The producers’ opportunism strikes again: The film was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave the production access to some of London’s grandest theaters and hotels to shoot in, as they were shuttered for lockdown.)

See How They Run works better as an outright comedy than as a murder mystery, although it doesn’t nail either form. Chappell’s script is loaded with tasty barbs, painful puns, and gently mocking characterization. George, a seasoned director of British TV comedy, knows how to set gags up and pay them off. But there’s a halting rhythm to it, and scenes sometimes coast too long in an airless haze in between jokes. Comedy, with its dependence on chemistry among the cast, must have been one of the hardest genres to shoot under pandemic conditions.

The cast ends up with the credit. Ronan, as the charmingly sincere Stalker, executes her comic bits with flawless timing and gets the biggest laughs without ever going broad or breaking character. Stalker’s credulous naiveté starts out as a joke — she notes down anything anyone says, and believes the case closed after every interview — but in Ronan’s hands becomes an endearing kind of heroism.

Contrasting her brightness with Rockwell’s jaded, mumbling Stoppard is right out of the buddy-cop playbook, but Rockwell’s amusingly underplayed turn complements Ronan’s perfectly. Stoppard just lets the hijinks happen around him with a shrug, and is somehow funnier for being such a stoic straight man.

Dickinson’s take on Attenborough is a riot, skewering a certain kind of genteel, leading-man fatuousness. The secondary cast is a murderer’s row of British TV and theater pros: people like Sian Clifford ( Fleabag ), Lucian Msamati ( Game of Thrones ), Tim Key (the various Alan Partridge projects), and Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter), who can pull off loving yet savage characterizations in the space of a couple of lines, and make it look effortless.

See How They Run is a lark, a self-referential sendup of theatrical and cinematic artifice. The trouble is, like most larks of its kind, it uses self-mockery as a get-out clause. There’s a voice-over from Adrien Brody as Kopernick, the deceased director, who disdainfully picks apart the cliches and rudimentary constructions of the whodunit genre from beyond the grave, moments before they appear on screen. His own basic Hollywood instincts are similarly mocked one moment and deployed the next. Having a character point out your film’s flaws doesn’t really excuse them. But it doesn’t invalidate the film’s pleasures, either. See How They Run is neither as clever as the creators think it is, nor as stupid as it sometimes pretends to be. It doesn’t have much to say about whodunits other than “Wouldn’t it be funny if they existed inside their own world?” And yes, it turns out, it would.

See How They Run is now available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon , Vudu , and other digital platforms.

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‘See How They Run’ Review: An Agatha Christie Mystery Spoof

Unraveling a murder case backstage at a Christie play in 1950s London.

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By Teo Bugbee

The whodunit comedy “See How They Run” is set backstage in a 1950s London production of the long-running Agatha Christie play “The Mousetrap.” With a sprightly wit and an all-star cast to bring it to life, the movie manages to be a loving parody of theater gossips, postwar London and Christie’s murder mysteries all at once.

The story is an investigation of the murder of a Hollywood film director, Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody). Leo had been hired to adapt the play, and he was killed in cold blood at the theater, making all the show’s players potential suspects and, they fear, potential future victims. There’s the disgruntled screenwriter, Mervyn (David Oyelowo), the sensitive actor Dickie (Harris Dickinson), and the hard-nosed theater owner (Ruth Wilson). Each has their motives, and an odd couple of detectives are assigned to untangle them. Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) is a jaded veteran, and his apprentice is a movie-loving rookie, Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan).

As a parody, the film is quick to show its appreciation for the genres being spoofed. One charming gag finds Stalker pausing her criminal analysis to praise the virtues of performers who are tangentially mentioned in the course of the investigation. “Rex Harrison, wonderful actor,” she reverently intones.

It’s an endearing bit because the same compliments could be passed along to this film’s decorated cast. The director Tom George gives his performers permission to approach their roles with cake-eating aplomb, and he complements their enthusiasm with campy direction, winking at the audience through title cards, split screens and paisleyed production design. The result is a plummy affair, a proper figgy pudding baked out of once-stale Scotland Yard tropes.

See How They Run Rated PG-13 for brief violence. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters.

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clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

‘See How They Run’: An Agatha Christie-adjacent whodunit, with laughs

The murder mystery-comedy is set in the 1950s, against the backdrop of the long-running play ‘The Mousetrap’

While fans of the murder mystery genre count the weeks until the release of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” the eagerly anticipated sequel to 2019’s twisty, sharply funny “ Knives Out ,” they can take the edge off their appetite with “See How They Run.” Starring Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan as a pair of odd-couple Scotland Yard officers investigating a theater-world murder in 1950s London, this larky meta-whodunit both subverts and pays homage to “The Mousetrap,” Agatha Christie’s famously long-running play. After opening in London’s West End in 1952, “Mousetrap” has been running continuously — except for a pandemic-induced break — for more than 28,000 performances.

The popular show has, almost as infamously, never been made into a movie. Hold that thought. It figures somewhat prominently here, and for reasons other than the fact that you can’t stream it on Amazon before watching “See How They Run.” Though after seeing the new movie, you may want to.

As “See How They Run” gets underway, the “Mousetrap” cast and crew — which, in a nod to verisimilitude, includes characters based on “Mousetrap” stars Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) and his wife, Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda) — are celebrating the show’s 100th performance. An obnoxious but entirely fictional Hollywood director named Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) is in town to discuss a film adaptation with the British movie producer John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith) and would-be screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo), when Leo turns up dead. Woolf, like several other characters in “Run,” is based on a real person; Cocker-Norris, whom Oyelowo renders with an amusingly priggish persnickety-ness, is not.

“Life imitates art,” reads a headline in a newspaper. But in some ways, “See How They Run” is a case of art imitating life.

In reality, death isn’t why the play was never adapted for the screen; there’s a far more fascinating explanation, which I’ll leave for “See How They Run” director Tom George and writer Mark Chappell to reveal, in one of the film’s deliciously ironic twists.

Called onto the case are Rockwell’s jaded, slightly boozy Inspector Stoppard and Ronan’s aptly named Constable Stalker, a dogged if untested police rookie who writes down everything she observes in her notebook — including this advice from the more experienced Stoppard: “Do not jump to conclusions.” Stoppard’s name echoes the playwright Tom Stoppard, whose one-act play “The Real Inspector Hound,” like this film, parodies the cliches of a “Mousetrap”-style stage mystery.

To that end, “Run” includes several suspects, all of whom have legitimate motives to do Leo in, including creative differences and secrets they’d rather keep hidden. It helps that this victim was widely disliked. It also helps the multilayered nature of this very loosely fact-adjacent film that the backstory of “The Mousetrap” itself is loosely based on true events. That’s another thought to hold in the back of your mind while watching the film, which is, true to form, larded with flashbacks and the occasional on-screen title detailing the passage of time.

And yet “do not jump to conclusions” is pretty good advice for audiences, too, as the red herrings pile up in “See How They Run.” The colorful characters of Stoppard and Stalker loom large here, as detectives so often do — Hercule Poirot , Jane Marple — in such fare. But even larger is the shadow cast by Christie’s 1952 play, which provides a fun backdrop, if one rendered irreverently, for this diverting puzzle within a puzzle.

“It’s just like one of [Christie’s] confections!” observes one character with seeming delight, as the film heads toward its antic climax. Maybe not just like, but close enough.

PG-13. At area theaters. Contains some violence, bloody images and a sexual reference. 98 minutes.

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See How They Run Reviews

[It] offers a well-mounted, sparkling murder-mystery supported by a glorious cast and peppered with fun ripostes.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2023

A light-hearted watch packed with charm and a stacked talented cast, we can forgive most of its mistakes because, yes, it is just that delightful.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 18, 2023

Whatever may not work about the film is redressed by Saoirse Ronan's impeccable work here, and whatever does is only amplified by her presence. Without her, it's a fun bit of Sunday afternoon fluff. With her, it's a total must-see.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 4, 2023

Saoirse Ronan sparks a very bright light onto the film, showcasing her polished and well-timed comedic chops; but as soon as she’s not on-screen, it falls flat quickly.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 29, 2023

Ultimately, See How They Run is a solid ride. To those who find the recent influx of meta genre flicks to be exhausting, See How They Run will not come across as charming. It will feel tedious in its insistence that the film is clever beyond imagination.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

While it’s no masterpiece, it’s a solid, fun, flashy, meta whodunit with a deliriously enjoyable soundtrack from Daniel Pemberton.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2023

So what we have here is a fizzy, enjoyable, modestly ambitious outing with some finely detailed period set design and visual style quirks that help keep us engaged.

Full Review | Jul 3, 2023

A pure Whodunit... that reintroduces us into the solvent narrative structure just like Knives Out (2019) did recently. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 16, 2022

The ending payoff is as predictable as they come, and the movie’s lack of emotional weight ultimately works against it. In a year with several whodunnits, this one may, unfortunately, be the weakest.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 30, 2022

Thanks to a cleverly constructed screenplay and a dynamic double act in Rockwell and Ronan... See How They Run is sure to both mystify and delight all whodunnit devotees.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 30, 2022

Saoirse Ronan should take a bow. She steals this film and makes me smile.

Full Review | Nov 16, 2022

The type of whodunit that used to be described as a good yarn, back when you could say "simply a good time at the movies" and it wouldn’t sound cheap or unconvincing.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 14, 2022

A whodunit with plenty of suspense where the focus is on the funny interactions of the detectives.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 12, 2022

See How They Run never portrays itself as a great film in a similar genre, it tells a fan fiction spoof story with conviction and never deviates from its common objective of providing wholesome entertainment.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 11, 2022

If you have a soft spot for period whodunits, then you may have some fun with this stylish, well-cast piece that mostly comes off as an appetizer for The Glass Onion.

Full Review | Nov 10, 2022

Too tepid for too long, even if it tries to make some decisions late to spice it up enough to matter.

Beautiful costumes and setting, with a story told with so much charm.

Full Review | Nov 9, 2022

An absolute delight!

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 6, 2022

With a focus on two unlikely young coppers instead of the pompous potential victims, this riff on Agatha Christie measures up to farcical fun

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 28, 2022

I think it’ll be more successful for you if you’ve only seen three or four other movies.

Full Review | Oct 27, 2022

‘See How They Run’ Review: Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell Team Up for a Snappy Retro-Kitsch Murder Comedy

A performance of Agatha Christie's long-running stage smash 'The Mousetrap' yields a backstage murder mystery of its own in this most enjoyable all-star comedy.

By Amy Nicholson

Amy Nicholson

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Agatha Christie, master of deduction, was wrong only once. When her play “The Mousetrap” opened in London in 1952, she reckoned it would last eight months. 70 years later, the unkillable production lives on — even Covid only clipped it for 14 months — and yet, the actual plot of the longest-running show in theater history makes most people draw a blank. This is due to two clauses in Christie’s contract: First, every night, the actors order the audience to keep the story secret, and second, every movie producer who wants to turn the play into a film is told they must wait until the end of its run, which at this point may be never.

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Gauntlet thrown. “See How They Run” is a retro homage that surprises audiences with giggles and suspense. Chappell’s script pits old-fashioned Christie-style chills against the hip gunplay that Köpernick claims will excite Eisenhower-era squares. (Köpernick’s ideas are destined to become the action flick status quo.) In flashbacks, he pitches his take on updating the whodunnit to the unswayable Melvyn (David Oyelowo), a traditionalist who clings so stubbornly to the past that he still pronounces the word “penchant” as though he believes it’s 1066 and England’s official language is French.

While the real-life London producers of “The Mousetrap” credit its perennial success to the fact that it’s performed without a drop of irony, George and Chappell give their cast’s deadpan line deliveries a light layer of modern gloss. We’re meant to snort at the subtext when Melvyn introduces his live-in Italian lover (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) as his, er, nephew, or chuckle when a police commissioner (Tim Key) declares himself a feminist modernizer, and then asks Ronan to fetch him a tea.

Sometimes, the joke is on “The Mousetrap” itself, which is presented as stiff and stagey. Whenever any of the film’s characters attempt to sit through it, they quickly make excuses to leave. A better Wile E. Coyote-style gag takes place in the wings, when a person in peril attempts to fend off the killer by flinging ceramic vases, which turn out to be plaster props that crumble harmlessly. Mostly, though, George and Chappell enjoy watching these artistic hotheads bicker about their differing story-telling philosophies, debates that allow the filmmakers to pluck sample gimmicks — time stamps, close-ups of pistols, country house clichés — and re-insert them into their own movie as a meta-prank.

As the plot quickens, editors Gary Dollner and Peter Lambert divide the screen into two pieces, then three, then four. Their cutting is brisk and fanciful, and, during a standout dream sequence, marvelously illogical. Meanwhile, composer Daniel Pemberton unleashes a jazzy upright bass to climb up and down the scales.

Still, the film is firmly in the pocket of Rockwell and Ronan as the odd pair working to solve the carnage. Rockwell’s shambling detective is all kinetic energy: He drinks, he limps, he slams his coat in car doors, and at one point, skids to his knees. Ronan is so aquiver with nervous excitement that she continually chokes out nonsensical lines that zoom almost under the radar. (She explains that she quit her secretary career for the police academy because she “hates the sight of blood.”) George gets Ronan in such a tizzy that we are poised to see her panic just from the snap of a pencil tip.

Reviewed in Los Angeles, Aug. 31, 2022. Running time: 98 MIN.

• Production: A Searchlight Pictures presentation. Producers: Gina Carter, Damian Jones. Executive producers: Katie Goodson, Richard Ruiz.
• Crew: Director: Tom George. Screenplay: Mark Chappell. Camera: Jamie Ramsay. Editors: Gary Dollner, Peter Lambert. Music: Daniel Pemberton.
• With: Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell, Adrien Brody, David Oyelowo, Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Harris Dickinson, Shirley Henderson, Sian Clifford.

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‘See How They Run’ review: Saoirse Ronan charms in this mousetrap of a murder-mystery

Movie review.

“See How They Run” is the Saoirse Ronan show. Start to finish. Top to bottom, Now and forever.

The 28-year-old actor dominates the picture more completely than any performer in any movie in recent memory. In the role of a London constable working to unravel a knotty murder mystery, she’s winsome, whimsical, unfailingly chipper and funny. Above all: funny.

With a frankly adorable Scottish accent and big cornflower blue eyes, she creates a character who is a total charmer. Eager, observant, star-struck (the murder victims are from the worlds of the stage and the movies), whip-smart and ever upbeat, her Constable Stalker is tasked to work with a fedora-wearing veteran Scotland Yard inspector named Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) who views her with weary bemusement. It’s 1953, and a woman in a major investigatory role in a high-profile case is just not the sort of thing that was done in those days. But his boss the commissioner insists (in the script’s nod to as-yet unfledged feminism), so Stoppard is obliged to swallow his grumbles and go along. 

The character’s name alludes to playwright Tom Stoppard, whose 1968 play “The Real Inspector Hound” is a parody of “The Mousetrap.”

The setting is London’s West End where the 100 th  performance of Agatha Christie’s hit stage whodunit “The Mousetrap” is being feted. (The play is still being performed in the West End to this day, making it the longest-running play in theatrical history.)

On scene among the performers and the backstage glitterati is Hollywood director Leo Köpernick played by Adrien Brody. He’s in town to help secure the rights to the play so he can turn it into a movie. He’s crass and cynical beyond all measure. In other words, thoroughly American in the disdainful appraisal of the Brits.

He knows what he is and glories in his crudity. He also provides a running commentary on the goings-on in the early going, from beyond the grave as it were. In murder mysteries of the Christie variety, “The most unlikable character gets bumped off,” he observes, and sure enough off he is bumped before too long. Enter Stalker and Stoppard, and the game’s afoot.

Because Köpernick was such an offensive cad, everyone hated his guts, and so everyone is a suspect: the playwright (David Oyelowo), the play’s haughty impresario (Ruth Wilson), the lead actor (Harris Dickinson) who answers to the name of Dickie Attenborough and was a real-life theatrical figure who played the police detective sergeant in “The Mousetrap” in its opening run. Later in life, he became a prominent figure in film, directing “Gandhi” and “A Chorus Line” among others and acting in ever so many movies, including “Jurassic Park.”

As they’re all suspicious characters, Constable Stalker thinks each in turn has done it. Busily taking down their every word and movement in an ever-present notebook, she chirps to Stoppard that obviously this one did it, then that one. He sags slightly each time, giving her a baleful look until she abashedly admits to jumping to conclusions. It’s a running gag and consistently laugh-out-loud funny.

She’s initially respectful of her veteran partner, but then her admiration cools when it becomes obvious he’s an alcoholic of the quiet, falling-down-drunk variety. Rockwell’s performance is a subtle one and he’s the perfect foil for the sprightly upbeat Ronan. His accent, however, is uncertain, not quite British, not quite American.

In his feature directorial debut, Tom George, a veteran of BBC television comedies working from a screenplay by Mark Chappell, has a light touch. The pace is quick. The interweaving of actual “Mousetrap” period history and fictional elements is deft. And the settings, many of them filmed in actual West End theaters that were closed during the pandemic, are elegant.

A most delightful comedy, thanks above all to Ronan.

With Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo, Charlie Cooper, Pippa Bennett-Warner. Directed by Tom George. 98 minutes. PG-13 for some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference. Opens Sept. 16 at multiple theaters.

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See How They Run review: Playful Agatha Christie romp is as sweet and light as a fondant fancy

Saoirse ronan comes out on top in an ensemble comedy awash in giddy, well-intentioned fun, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Tom George. Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Harris Dickinson, David Oyelowo. 12A, 98 minutes.

Could the all-star whodunnit finally save us from the monotony of superheroes? That’s the tantalising promise embedded in See How They Run , which may feel as cynically constructed as any of Marvel’s corporate-minded affairs, but goes down as sweet and light as a fondant fancy. It’s an equal-parts concoction of Rian Johnson’s wry, self-aware Knives Out and the aristocratic romanticism of Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie adaptations. And if its ambitions towards broad likeability weren’t already obvious enough, the film’s caked in the Wes Anderson aesthetic – obsessive symmetry, bright palettes, French New Wave-inspired camera trickery. You also have to wonder whether the presence of two of his regulars – Saoirse Ronan and Adrien Brody – means they themselves weren’t wickedly deceived into signing their contracts. Are they aware this isn’t actually a follow-up to The French Dispatch ?

But, somehow – and almost against odds – See How They Run is a real pleasure to consume. If the appeal of the Marvel universe can be whittled down to a feeling of familiarity and stability in unwieldy times, then there’s not much that separates it from the legacy of Christie and her many successors. Both are rooted in a reassurance that justice can be restored and mayhem tamed. Christie wrote under the shadow of war, and the crime genre has always waxed and waned in accordance with our collective feelings of security. See How They Run follows all the rigorous codes of the genre: a dead body and a detective (or two); a colourful assortment of suspects; answers provided in neat, monologue form.

The deceased, in this case, is discovered plonked onto a prop couch centre stage at The Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End, where Christie’s The Mousetrap has just completed its 100th performance. The film mentions the real-life contract clause that bars a film adaptation from being made until the show’s run has ended – the grand joke of it all being that The Mousetrap is now the longest-running play in the world, still active at the St Martin’s next door (minus its brief, Covid-related closure). Inspector Stoppard ( Sam Rockwell ), with the assistance of rookie constable Stalker (Ronan), are on the case. The pickings of would-be murderers are rich, since they include some of The Mousetrap ’s original cast, Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) and Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda).

See How They Run marks the directorial debut of Tom George, the man behind all three seasons of the BBC mockumentary This Country . He’s carried over the same ethos here – hand a strong cast a set of well-defined characters and let them run wild (series stars Charlie Cooper and Paul Chahidi also crop up). It’s the sort of ensemble film that plays like a tennis match, as David Oyelowo’s ostentatious screenwriter lobs one-liners at Sian Clifford’s brittle producer’s wife, who lobs one-liners at Dickinson’s luvvie-ish Attenborough. Ronan, however, ultimately comes out on top. She plays Stalker’s eager naivety with the same kind of gentle slapstick quality of a baby deer wobbling around on its legs for the first time.

• Daisy May and Charlie Cooper: ‘We had nothing before This Country. It was humiliating... we couldn’t even afford McDonald’s’

As pure elevator pitch, See How They Run does admittedly come off a little trite. To copy Wes Anderson without also indulging in his profound sense of melancholy makes it no better a homage than an Instagram post of a satchel bag and a beret. But the film’s so plain in its ambitions – in its sense of giddy, well-intentioned fun – that it feels a little pointless to scorn its more superficial choices.

The same could easily be said of all its knowing winks to the camera. Brody’s Leo Kopernick, a film director who serves as the story’s narrator, introduces the tale with a broad evisceration of the murder mystery genre: “You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all”. But there’s no air of smugness to this gambit. Mark Chappell’s script playfully indulges in the very same contrivances that it parodies. Oyelowo’s character bemoans flashback sequences in movies as “the last resort of a moribund imagination” – in the middle of a flashback. When it comes to See How They Run , spotting the puppet’s strings is very much part of the pleasure.

‘See How They Run’ is in cinemas from 9 September

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See How They Run Review

09 Sep 2022

See How They Run

See How They Run  is built on a simple but delicious premise: a whodunnit buried inside an actual whodunnit, in this case Agatha Christie’s  The Mousetrap . It not only gives Tom George’s film many genres to satirise — it’s a backstage drama, crime potboiler, police procedural all wrapped up in a farce — but it allows for a knowing, self-referential quality that brings the conceits and conventions of the murder-mystery to the fore. It doesn’t completely work, but it’s fast, funny and frequently stylish, topped off with great work by Sam Rockwell and especially Saoirse Ronan .

Mark Chappell’s screenplay does a nifty job of affectionately embroidering the story’s madcap malarkey with real nuggets pulled from British film and theatre lore. Chief among them is the little-known fact that Christie (embodied briefly by Shirley Henderson ) inserted a clause into her  Mousetrap  contract that decreed no film version could be made until six months after the play had ended its theatrical run. The detail gives a plausible motive for a host of engaging characters to sabotage either the stage or film version via the murder of movie director Leo Köpernick ( Adrien Brody , who also narrates) backstage at the Ambassadors.

The real joy of the film is the rapport between the investigating plods, Sam Rockwell’s cynical Stoppard and Saoirse Ronan’s newbie WPC Stalker.

On the theatrical side we have impresario Petula ‘Choo’ Spencer ( Ruth Wilson ), actors Richard Attenborough (a terrific Harris Dickinson , who gets the young Dickie’s voice down pat) and Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda). Among the movie suspects are mogul John Woolf ( Reece Shearsmith , playing the actual producer of  The African Queen ), his wife Edana Romney (Sian Clifford) and celebrated (read: overrated) screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris ( David Oyelowo ). The cast attack the mayhem with gusto but the whodunnit element ultimately loses its grip, the revelation of the killer less than satisfying.

There’s a knowing, meta quality to the screenplay — a bemoaning of flashbacks as a hoary device crash-cuts to a title-card “Three Months Earlier” — and sometimes it feels too winky-winky. As such,  See How They Run  works best when it’s leaning into old-school wordplay, visual whimsy and strong gags (“Which part of France are you from?” “Belgium”). Debutant feature director Tom George cut his teeth on lo-fi BBC Three mockumentary  This Country  — Charlie Cooper shows up as a dimwit usher — but elevates his ambition here. There are shades of Wes Anderson in the stylisation ( The Grand Budapest Hotel  looms large) and hints of Edgar Wright in the emphatic cutting but George makes it his own, neatly evincing ’50s London’s different atmospheres and moving things along at a fair old lick.

But the real joy of the film is the rapport between the investigating plods, Sam Rockwell’s cynical Stoppard (there’s a running joke about coppers named after playwrights) and Saoirse Ronan’s newbie WPC Stalker. Rockwell brings grizzled, Walter Matthau-type charm to the inspector but it’s Ronan who shines brightest as an over-eager, by-the-notebook constable, star-struck by the suspects and taking everything at face value. They make such an enjoyable duo, in fact, that the further investigations of Stoppard and Stalker would be very much welcome.

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See How They Run

In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered.

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• 272 User reviews
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• 4 nominations total

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• Trivia Richard "Dickie" Attenborough greets the detectives as "Darling." This was a real-life quirk of Attenborough's which he admitted he would often use if he forgot someone's name.
• Goofs At the end, Inspector Stoppard is awarded the King's Medal for police etc. This movie is set in 1953; while Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne in February 1952, the name of the King's Medals were not changed to Queen's Medals until May 1954, so it is accurate that the award Stoppard received would be called "King's."

Max Mallowan : Better make that eight for dinner, Fellowes, and let Agatha know.

Fellowes : Yes, sir.

Max Mallowan : And get a shovel to clear the path.

Max Mallowan : And do we have enough coal?

Fellowes : Yes, sir. Three bags full, sir.

• Connections Featured in EE BAFTA Film Awards (2023)
• Soundtracks St. Thomas Written by Sonny Rollins Arranged and Produced by Ed Farmer

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• Runtime 1 hour 38 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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See How They Run Parent Guide

This murder mystery parody spends a great deal of its runtime winking at the audience..

Theaters: As actors celebrate the 100th performance of their play, a dead body is found on stage. Now it's up to the police to unmask the killer.

Release date September 16, 2022

Run Time: 98 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kirsten hawkes.

It’s 1953 and Agatha Christie’s whodunit The Mousetrap has just completed its 100 th performance in London’s West End. As the theatrical cast celebrates with Hollywood luminaries who are planning a movie version, a real murder takes place in the theater. The body is discovered on the main stage and the police take charge, determined to find the killer.

See How They Run is less a murder mystery than a parody. It spends its runtime sending up genre tropes and winking broadly at the audience. The script follows Agatha Christie’s formula – an assortment of stereotypical people with abundant motives. There’s an adulterous producer who’s being blackmailed; a lecherous director; a self-absorbed writer; a vain actor; and a world-weary, alcoholic police inspector. A junior police constable, played by Saoirse Ronan, is more or less the film’s protagonist and she plunges ahead, jumping to wild conclusions, in the search for suspects.

What really sells the film isn’t the overly arch script but its incredibly talented cast. Saoirse Ronan as the eager rookie keeps the story moving forward with earnest good intentions. Adrien Brody is suitably slimy as the caddish Hollywood director, and Sam Rockwell is convincing as the defeated police officer. The only off-note here comes from the normally stellar David Oyelowo. He seems overly mannered in his role as a neurotic screenwriter, which I attribute to the script and weak direction.

As far as negative content goes, See How They Run fares better than most murder mysteries. Given the subject, there is obviously blood and violence, but gore is kept to a minimum. The violence is weirdly tongue-in-cheek at times: there’s a bizarre casualness in the poisoning scene and an equivalent lack of concern for a fire started by a Molotov cocktail. Whether or not you see that as demonstrating the script’s lighthearted attitude to its story or a callous disregard for suffering is a matter of perspective. Sexual content is minimal, with references to adultery, and profanity is comparatively light, aside from a couple of scatological curses (but these are enough to lower the film’s grade). The only other issue of concern is alcohol consumption. Alcohol is consumed throughout the film and the police inspector has a serious alcohol abuse issue, which his constable helps him cover up.

As for its target audience, this film is clearly aimed at murder mystery aficionados. You don’t have to be an Agatha Christie fan; you don’t have to have read or watched The Mousetrap. All you need is a sense of humor and a desire to figure out whodunit. If you’re particularly thrifty, you might want to wait until the film streams online in a few months; if not, you can head off to the theater and See How They Run.

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Kirsten hawkes, watch the trailer for see how they run.

See How They Run Rating & Content Info

Why is See How They Run rated PG-13? See How They Run is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference.

Violence:   Characters are attacked and murdered. They are strangled, bludgeoned, poisoned, and struck with heavy objects. Bloody injuries are seen. Police mention that a dead man’s tongue has been removed. A person makes a Molotov cocktail, starting a fire in a house. Guns are fired and people are injured, with visible bloody wounds. There are scenes of men fighting with pushing and shoving. A fake strangulation is portrayed in a theatrical performance. In a nightmare, a character sees a man’s back being cut open. Sexual Content: Adultery is frequently mentioned. There are a few scenes of kissing. There is coded mention of sexual harassment or assault, described as “difficulties”.  There is a vague suggestion of a gay relationship. A man is briefly seen in his underwear on a couple of occasions. Profanity:   There are approximately a dozen profanities, with the script featuring a couple of scatological curses, plus terms of deity, mild profanities, and an anatomical term. Alcohol / Drug Use: People drink alcohol frequently throughout the movie and are often shown intoxicated. A main character drives after drinking.

Page last updated January 13, 2024

See How They Run Parents' Guide

This movie was inspired by Agatha Christie’s enduringly popular play, The Mousetrap. To learn more about the real people who are shown in this movie, you can read these links:

Screenrant: Is See How They Run Based on a True Story?

The Guardian: The real mystery in See How They Run is its mishandling of The Mousetrap

The play’s website can be found here.

Loved this movie? Try these books…

The story that inspired it all can be found in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap and Other Plays.

If you enjoyed this film, there are some Agatha Christie novels that follow similar themes. The Sittaford Mystery is set in a country house, isolated by a heavy snowfall. Actors and actresses are suspects in Lord Edgware Dies. A film star is a main character in The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. Dentist Norman Gale (whose nameplate is seen in this film) is a character in Death in the Clouds. Another dentist is a character in One Two, Buckle My Shoe.

If you want a lighthearted approach to crime fiction, you can try Agatha Christie’s series featuring Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. This sleuthing couple solve mysteries together in Partners in Crime, The Secret Adversary, and N or M? Another young adventurer gets embroiled in intrigue in The Man in the Brown Suit.

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The film this most closely resembles is Clue. Released in 1985, this murder mystery parody hits comic gold with a cast that includes Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, and Christopher Lloyd.

Agatha Christie’s books have been frequently adapted for television. Recent theatrical productions of her novels include Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express .

Classic films referenced in this movie include The African Queen and Dial M for Murder .

Review: Murder-mystery ‘See How They Run’ really staggers

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A murder occurs right as “See How They Run” begins and for a very good reason: It’s a whodunit film about a real murder backstage at a whodunit play where all the murders are fake.

Got that? Good. Shall we continue?

Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan star as police officers who must unravel this knotty mystery in early-1950s London in a film that’s as much a valentine to whodunits as an indictment of them, and it’s not always clear which side the filmmakers are on.

There’s a touch of noir, some mocking of the murder-mystery tropes, a dash of self-awareness, lots of fedoras and coats, mannered humor — “Poppycock!” says one character; “Hitchcock, actually,” comes the reply — and an archness that keeps everything at arm’s length.

All in all, a pleasant diversion, if not a particular memorable one, although it has snagged a pretty impressive cast, all employing upper-class British accents as thick as Devonshire scones. It seems perfectly designed for folks who adore Acorn TV and PBS British mysteries. You know how many celebrities decide to star in kiddie films so that their children can finally appreciate what they do for a living? Well, “See How They Run” is for their grandparents.

It kicks off backstage in the West End at Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” a mystery that in this telling has celebrated 100 performances and Hollywood is noticing. But there’s a catch: No film adaptation can be made while the play is still running. That may lead to some sabotage.

When the malignant, would-be film director — a delicious Adrien Brody, playing the only American — ends up the victim of a murder — sorry that’s a MU-dur — Rockwell and Ronan show up to solve the crime, he a steely-eyed copper who drinks too much and she a nervous novice prone to jumping to conclusions.

The early death of Brody’s character doesn’t mean he’s out of the movie. He’s our narrator, snacking on the dialogue as if it were an overstuffed pastrami sandwich. “It’s a whodunit,” he says at one point. “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”

Also along for the ride are Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith and Harris Dickinson. There’s also a fancy intellectual screenwriter played insouciantly by David Oyelowo, who is derisively called “London’s most sensitive writer.” It is a hoot to see him play insufferable — as it is to see Ronan do comedy.

Director Tom George and screenwriter Mark Chappell revel in the time period — the cars and furs and vintage dialogue speckled with “Darlings” and “Hop to it!” This is a film for you if you like your police officers extremely polite. “Constable,” says Rockwell to his partner. “Inspector,” the underling replies. They do this approximately 400 times.

It is a film that adores commenting on its own conventions as it folds in on itself, as when stage props fool savvy characters or when it introduces a flashback and Oyelowo’s screenwriter complains that such a device is “the last refuge of a moribund imagination.” Somewhere in here is an indictment of Hollywood, but it is as blunt a weapon as the one that does the murder.

The filmmakers employ all kinds of ways to try to keep viewers interested, like split screens, some farce and a surreal dream sequence, but there’s not enough humor or grit or anything other than actors swanning around in period clothing.

“See How They Run” fits perfectly in a vibe right now — “Only Murders in the Building” on TV and “Knives Out” at the movie theater. Add to the list Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot adaptations “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile.” Whodunits are hot. But if you’ve see this one, you’ve definitely seen them all.

'See How They Run'

Rated: PG-13, for “some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference” Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes Playing: Opens Friday in general release

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See How They Run movie review: this meta-mystery showcases Saoirse’s comedy chops to perfection

Set in London’s West End , See How They Run is being given a big push by Disney, who want to sell it as the next Knives Out . It’s not quite as weighty (or plausible) as Rian Johnson’s whodunnit, but on the plus side, it’s a gazillion times smarter and wittier than Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile , offers a puzzle worth solving and is super-cosy. Despite seeing it in a miserably cold screening room, I felt snug as a bug throughout.

It’s the 1950s and Saoirse Ronan is nerdy, inexperienced Constable Stalker, assigned to help world-weary, war-wounded Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell), handle the murder of Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody), a US producer who, we discover, was desperate to turn the popular play, The Mousetrap, into a Hollywood-friendly movie (Leo wanted more guns, bromance and lashings of Hank Williams).

As the police interview Leo’s enemies (he had no friends), Stalker writes everything down in her notebook. She can’t curb her enthusiasm for fresh intel and is constantly jumping to conclusions. She’s also a martyr to her own good manners; watch her face as she’s offered and then sips fresh nettle tea.

Ronan displayed her gift for comedy in Brooklyn, Ladybird, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Little Women. She’s always had perfect timing, but we’ve never filed her under “laugh a minute”. See How They Run will change that.

Equally delectable are Harris Dickinson and Ruth Wilson, both playing characters based on real-world legends. Dickinson is The Mousetrap’s charmingly condescending lead, Richard Attenborough; Wilson is the show’s outrageously penny-pinching impresario, Petula Spencer (a playfully cruel spin on theatre producer Peter Saunders).

You don’t need to have seen The Mousetrap, by the way (or remember who did what, at the end) to follow what’s going on. That said, you’ll get an extra kick out of the proceedings if you view Christie as a genius. Via its hero’s name, See How They Run signals that it’s part of a tradition of meta-mysteries, i.e. Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound. But unlike Stoppard, scriptwriter Mark Chappell has respect for what he’s deconstructing.

The problem is Californian star, Rockwell. Is it wrong to harp about his “English” accent, given that many a big name (see Knives Out’s Daniel Craig) has thrown authenticity to the wind? No. Rockwell’s accent is a different kettle of fishy, because the script makes so much of the Inspector’s back story. It’s deeply distracting that the inspector seems, from the off, like a man with something to hide. Viewers may find themselves thinking: “I’ve cracked the case! The Inspector’s secret: he’s an out-of-his-depth actor!”

Also, Stalker’s home life is unnecessarily complicated and, on closer inspection, doesn’t add up. If there’s to be a sequel (and Tom George’s sweet and wickedly clever film deserves one), that rumple in the plot needs smoothing out. Christie would never.

98mins, cert 12A

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See How They Run review – Agatha Christie spoof scampers through 50s theatreland

This likable whodunnit comedy sees Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan on the trail of high-camp crime in the original production of The Mousetrap

B eing threatened, as we are, with an endless string of ropey yet lucrative Agatha Christie movies with Kenneth Branagh phoning in anuzzer rurbeesh turrrn as the Belgian sleuth, this comedy is a relief. It’s a likably silly and relentlessly camp whodunnit spoof from screenwriter Mark Chappell, centred on Agatha Christie’s long-running play The Mousetrap , and an imagined brutal homicide that took place backstage in its London West End theatre in 1953 – when the production was a mere 100 performances old.

A brash Hollywood director played by Adrien Brody, who is planning to bring The Mousetrap to the screen, is found horribly murdered in the costume department. Sam Rockwell and Saiorse Ronan have a droll sort of platonic police chemistry as the investigating officers: Inspector Stoppard (a nod to Tom Stoppard’s own spoof meta-mystery The Real Inspector Hound) and his overeager assistant with a silly peaked cap, Constable Stalker, possibly a homage to Tarkovsky or to the former deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester John Stalker. Tim Key (normally Alan Partridge’s sidekick on the parody show Mid- Morning Matters) is very funny as the glowering Met police commissioner.

The forces of law and order face the usual pasteboard galère of poutingly resentful suspects among the Mousetrap cast – including young Dickie Attenborough, who really was the Inspector in the original run, and here played very entertainingly by Harris Dickinson. David Oyelowo is Mervyn Cocker-Norris, the highly strung writer who had been tasked with adapting The Mousetrap for the cinema, Reece Shearsmith (who probably deserved a few more funny lines) is the producer John Woolf – another real-life character – and Ruth Wilson is the manager Petula Spencer.

There’s a very entertaining daftness and theatre nerdery to See How They Run (the title sounds uncomfortably like Run For Your Wife) as director Tom George takes the same approach to The Mousetrap that Ken Russell took to The Boyfriend: playing up the artificiality of it all. The comedy is shallow in the right way, and Rockwell’s bleary world-weariness contrasts nicely with Ronan’s saucer-eyed idealism. I think George may also be aiming for a Wes Anderson -ish approach – although not so much that you’d notice, and this may just be the presence of Ronan.

This is a disposable film with no pretensions, entirely without the deadly seriousness with which Agatha Christie is now adapted. I’d like to see Rockwell and Ronan reunited for a complete new detective franchise, our two cop heroes perhaps encountering Dorothy L Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.

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See how they run (2022) - movie review.

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Well, it’s a whodunnit. When you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, right? Well, that’s at least how our narrator, American film director Leo Kopernick ( Adrien Brody ), puts it in the opening sequence of See How They Run . And while, to a certain degree, Kopernick’s remarks are true, director Tom George and writer Mark Chappell have brought a cute, clever, and charming addition to the whodunnit genre that keeps the audience engaged and entertained.

It’s 1953 in London, and Kopernick has his sights on directing an adaptation of the Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap after its successful run on the West End, starring Richard Attenborough ( Harris Dickinson ) and Sheila Sim ( Pearl Chanda ). But during a party after the 100th performance of the play, Kopernick gets into with a few of the guests, including Attenborough, and gets killed backstage. After his body is planted onto the set…or rather is staged (the movie made the joke, I didn’t, okay?!), a veteran/drunk officer, Inspector Stoppard ( Sam Rockwell ) and the novice/eager officer, Constable Stalker ( Saoirse Ronan ) are tasked with solving the mystery. But, of course, something like this is never so simple to solve.

With a talented cast sporting their eccentric roles, the comedic performances are as strong as they can be. Ronan, however, is clearly the shining standout in her supporting role as she is the story’s most relatable, sympathetic, and funny character in the entire film. Despite it being her first ever comedic role, Ronan shows that she can transfer her acclaimed dramatic talents to this genre with a great ease.

The only real thing I would fault the picture for is the flamboyant gay writer Mervyn Cocker-Norris ( David Oyelowo ) and his boyfriend (though their relationship is never directly addressed, of course) come across as perhaps too silly and digging way too much into the ridiculous stereotypes of being difficult and sensitive. While the film is obviously not outright making a purposefully derogatory depiction, I do fear that there is the unfortunate opportunity that this depiction can come across as offensive to some.

But overall, See How They Run is a movie that is just a good time. Also starring Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Harris Dickinson, Charlie Cooper, Shirley Henderson , and more, this film is quick, entertaining, has its heartfelt moments, has a decent amount of fire-y action, and is quite funny. If you get the chance, kick back and have a nice time with a good old-fashioned murder mystery for your Saturday Matinee.

See How They Run is now playing in theaters.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference. Runtime: 98 mins Director : Tom George Writer: Mark Chappell Cast: Kieran Hodgson; Pearl Chanda; Gregory Cox Genre : Comedy | Mystery Tagline: The greatest murder ever staged. Memorable Movie Quote: "Let's not jump to conclusions, Constable." Theatrical Distributor: Searchlight Pictures Official Site: https://www.searchlightpictures.com/see-how-they-run/ Release Date: September 16, 2022. DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered.

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How can 'See How They Run' waste the great Sam Rockwell? It's a mystery. A meta-mystery

The phrase “too clever by half” seems insufficient to describe “See How They Run,” a meta mystery film with an outstanding cast and an exhausting sense of self-satisfaction.

Admittedly, too clever by whole doesn’t have the same catchy ring. But it fits. Though maybe that’s too kind a description for a film that doesn’t know what to do with the great Sam Rockwell.

Saoirse Ronan’s performance is a powerful mitigating factor, on the other hand, making up for the misfire with Rockwell.

Written by Mark Chappell and directed by Tom George, it’s a murder mystery that takes place around Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” early in its decades-long run on the West End.

In fact, the mystery part begins at a party for the 100th performance in 1953.

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Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody), a pushy Hollywood director and our narrator, wants to make a film version but runs into several roadblocks, the biggest of which is Christie’s insistence that no movie be made until the play has run its course.

(Spoiler alert: It’s still playing, in 2022.)

The least likable character gets killed first, Kopernick   says, and after arguing and flirting and falling into food,   he manages to get himself murdered. (This does not stop his narration.)

Looking forward:  Must-see new movies coming this fall

A film that's too meta for it's own good, or anyone else's

Finding out whodunit against the backdrop of a whodunit is the basic set-up, though that’s not the only meta madness. By the time “See How They Run” is done it will have incorporated “The Mousetrap” into its own story, despite spending much of its running time taking shots at it.

Scotland Yard sends Inspector Stoppard (Rockwell, doing a British accent), a slovenly, sleepy-eyed drunk, to investigate. Constable Stalker (Ronan), an inexperienced, movie-mad officer, is assigned as his partner, to Stoppard’s chagrin.

Is Stalker a funny name for someone whose job entails watching people? Maybe. Is calling your main character Stoppard when the playwright Tom Stoppard wrote the well-received “Mousetrap” spoof “The Real Inspector Hound” funnier? A little, I guess.

All meta, all the time, seems to be the working theory here.

Richard Attenborough and John Woolf were, of course, real people

There are any number of suspects. Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson), the actor starring in “The Mousetrap,” is one of them. So is John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith), who produced “The African Queen,” which Stalker can quote chapter and verse.

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Attenborough and Woolf were real people, of course. They’re mixed in with fictional characters like Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo), an absurdly arrogant writer, and Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson), the embodiment of the show-must-go-on producer.

It’s all zany. Christie herself shows up, played by Shirley Henderson, once the action moves to Christie’s Berkshire home for a mysterious dinner party.

At this point the plot is mirroring that of “The Mousetrap,” as well as some of the daffy action sequences Kopernick dreamed up to spice up the action of the play.

Brilliant actors and wacky comedy are not enough to save this film

Ronan proves herself more than adept at wacky comedy. The key, of course, is to play it straight, the crazier the scenario the better. She’s always good; it’s nice to see her being good at something so silly.

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Rockwell is a brilliant actor — my favorite living actor, in fact. (If you’ve never seen “Moon,” do, the sooner the better.) Stoppard has his problems, and it’s understandable that underplaying the character is a valid option. But Rockwell goes so far in that direction he veers into what seems like apathy. The character kind of stumbles through life, yes. But Rockwell is a gifted-enough actor to play that in an interesting way. Here, he just doesn’t.

It’s all very British, enough so they should serve tea and crumpets during screenings. Some of it is also entertaining. Just not enough.

'See How They Run' 2.5 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Tom George.

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell, Adrien Brody.

Rating:  PG-13 for some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference.

Note: In theaters Sept. 16.

Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected] . Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm . Twitter: @goodyk . Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter .

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Screen Rant

Is the fall guy a box office bomb breaking down the ryan gosling movie's disappointing opening weekend.

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How Much The Fall Guy Cost To Make & What Box Office It Needs To Succeed

The fall guy's post-credits scene explained, the fall guy review: ryan gosling leads a thrilling & wildly fun love letter to the stunt community.

• The Fall Guy's opening weekend box office numbers fell short of expectations, raising doubts about its overall success.
• Several factors contributed to The Fall Guy's disappointing start, including inflated Hollywood budgets, its non-IP status, audiences waiting for streaming releases, and stiff competition in coming weeks.
• The film's costly budget and competition from other big releases pose challenges for The Fall Guy to avoid being a box office bomb by the end of its run.

The Fall Guy 's opening weekend box office numbers make for disappointing reading, but whether the film will be a complete box office bomb remains to be seen. The Fall Guy has been one of the more anticipated films of 2024's early-summer movie season since its premiere at SXSW. This is largely attributed to the film's many inviting aspects, from The Fall Guy 's fantastic cast and its refreshing action-comedy-romance tone to the incredibly dangerous and thus impressive stunts on display.

Combined with a compelling mystery story that resolves satisfyingly in The Fall Guy 's ending , the movie had all the ingredients it needed to be a surefire box office hit. This is without mentioning The Fall Guy 's appealing soundtrack , which should have only further enabled the film to haul in an impressive opening weekend box office total. However, despite all of these aspects and the movie's positive reviews, The Fall Guy 's opening weekend total was a disappointment, leading many to question whether the film would end its theatrical run as a bomb at the box office.

Ryan Gosling's action comedy The Fall Guy looks to be an early summer hit, but what is its budget and how much does it have to make at the box office?

How Much The Fall Guy Made At The Box Office In Its Opening Weekend

The fall guy's opening weekend box office was below expectations.

As the first movie of the summer season, all eyes were on The Fall Guy to perform well. Given that it sports a well-matched duo of huge stars and the other aforementioned benefits, The Fall Guy 's below-par opening weekend is more than disappointing. Both in domestic territories and worldwide markets, The Fall Guy 's opening weekend was underwhelming , primarily due to the excitement that was placed on the film by critics before its release. With Box Office Mojo confirming the exact numbers for The Fall Guy 's opening weekend, it is difficult to see a way back for the Ryan Gosling-led movie.

Why The Fall Guy's Box Office Opened Below Expectations

Several factors contributed to the fall guy's below-par opening weekend.

When exploring why The Fall Guy 's opening weekend was disappointing, there are several factors at play. For one, The Fall Guy is - mostly - a non-IP movie . Although it is based on the 1980s TV show of the same name, this was not exactly common knowledge for general moviegoers. Even if it was, The Fall Guy was not the most popular of TV shows, meaning its connection to 2024's The Fall Guy was not expected to overly impact box office performance as a much bigger franchise link would.

...blockbuster movies have soaring budgets that are simply not feasible anymore.

The second reason why The Fall Guy 's disappointing opening weekend is the overall lack of box office dominance that has affected Hollywood of late. Most big blockbusters have been struggling to make huge profits in recent years, which in and of itself is a problem that has many contributing factors. Firstly, blockbuster movies have soaring budgets that are simply not feasible anymore. The Fall Guy is no different, with a budget that would not have been attributed to a non-IP action movie in the 2000s or 2010s.

The box office has been poor for similar movies recently because of the switch to video-on-demand and streaming since the COVID-19 pandemic. The closing of theaters led most studios to drastically decrease the wait time between a film leaving theaters and its release on streaming platforms or VoD. As such, movies in 2024 need to be must-see's on the big screen or audiences will simply wait for their release on streaming a few weeks later. Movies like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire or Dune: Part Two - both also connected to huge IPs - are two examples of this.

Godzilla x Kong made $194 million in its global opening weekend, while Dune: Part Two hauled in $182 million, both far surpassing The Fall Guy .

The argument can also be made that The Fall Guy relied too heavily on its leads, Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling, to promote the film. The trailers highlighted these leads to a massive extent, potentially alienating audiences who desired to be made aware of The Fall Guy 's stunt-heavy plot and love-letter nature to stunt teams in Hollywood. Finally, there are bigger movies - such as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - releasing in May, meaning audience members who only visit theaters one or two times a month will prioritize them over The Fall Guy.

Why The Fall Guy's Box Office Hurts To See

The clamor for original movies makes the fall guy's failure hurt more.

Audiences want original movies, yet when such films come around, they are not being made in a smart, cost-effective way...

Regardless of each of these reasons being valid explanations for The Fall Guy 's lower-than-expected opening weekend, the result is still a painful one. The primary reason for this stems from the overall clamor for original movies in Hollywood of late. With major franchises like Star Wars and DC taking an extended hiatus from theatrical releases and formerly successful IPs like the MCU not having the same box office draw, audiences have long-desired original filmmaking . The Fall Guy offers exactly this, yet is set to be a box office bomb if its opening weekend is anything to go by.

As alluded to, there are several factors contributing to The Fall Guy 's disappointing opening weekend at the box office. As such, it is not the failure of moviegoers that The Fall Guy is struggling to succeed. That said, it is still indicative of where the movie industry as a whole is in 2024. Audiences want original movies, yet when such films come around, they are not being made in a smart, cost-effective way that bucks the recent streaming/VoD trends of Hollywood so that they can succeed, potentially harming the prospective release of The Fall Guy 2 .

The Fall Guy could be a new franchise for Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and the first movie does have a post-credits scene. Here's what happens.

Can The Fall Guy Avoid Being A Box Office Bomb?

The fall guy is unlikely to be a true success at the end of its box office run.

The burning question after The Fall Guy 's opening weekend is whether it can avoid being a complete box office failure. Unfortunately, the odds are slim that The Fall Guy will see an upturn in performance. At best, it seems The Fall Guy could earn enough to break even. The rule of thumb for Hollywood movies is that earning double the production budget will allow them to break even. Concerning The Fall Guy , it cost a reported $125-$150 million. Given the uncertain cost of the film, many trade publications - including Variety and THR - list the production budget at $130 million.

If the film was to begin earning a profit, The Fall Guy would likely need to earn a worldwide total north of $335 million.

With this number in mind, The Fall Guy likely needs to earn around $260 million to recoup its cost when factoring in marketing and distribution fees. If the film was to begin earning a profit, The Fall Guy would likely need to earn a worldwide total north of $335 million. As alluded to, this seems increasingly unlikely . While the word of mouth from The Fall Guy 's positive reviews and audience CinemaScore is positive, the other movies coming out in May could hurt the film's chances of having long legs at the box office.

The Fall Guy features great comedic performances, fun action sequences & a nice homage to the stunt community, who keep these kinds of films afloat.

Only a week after The Fall Guy 's release date of May 3, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes releases on May 10. This means that, despite positive word of mouth potentially bolstering The Fall Guy 's second weekend, a lot of potential viewers will be drawn toward the bigger franchise. If Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes performs well commercially, The Fall Guy 's third weekend will be filled with stiff competition. On May 24, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga releases in theaters, providing The Fall Guy with another giant movie to contend with.

This is not to mention other big movies releasing either said of Furiosa , such as Ryan Reynolds' IF , Pixar's Inside Out 2 , and Bad Boys: Ride or Die. With such competition facing The Fall Guy over the next six weeks, the film's opening weekend needed to be a bigger success than it was to give the film hope of turning a profit. Unfortunately, The Fall Guy 's fantastic cast, great action, fun vibe, and original story were not enough to see it succeed, though most moviegoers will be happy to be proved wrong should its fortunes begin to, ironically, rise.

The Fall Guy

The Fall Guy is an action thriller from Bullet Train and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch. Ryan Gosling stars as a stuntman who is forced to find a missing movie star, investigate a conspiracy, and repair his relationship with the love of his life. The film was written by Drew Pearce and inspired by the 1980s TV series of the same name.