Murder Mystery 2
★★★
I was not super impressed by the first Murder Mystery film, so my expectations were pretty low going into this one. I was happy to say that the sequel outshines the first installment, though, not by much. The plot and premise are once again ridiculous, but director Jeremy Garelick and more importantly, James Vanderbilt, hone it all in a bit more. The focus is more set on the plot instead of a thorough background between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston's characters. There is still a story arc between the two, but more attention is paid to their interactions versus trying to solve an emotional quandary.
I was also quite shocked and delighted by the action set pieces. Yes, there is still a lot of CG that can be a bit distracting, but the scale, sets and stunts are quite impressive. In particular, there is a fight scene that occurs in a moving van that I thought was both impressive and hilarious.
I watched this with my twelve-year-old and we both had a good time with this. I was delightfully surprised and if you need to shut your brain off for a while and get a good laugh in here and there, I think you'll be as well.
