The Thursday Murder Club

[AnneElliotfanclub]

Anyone else been to see this? Was really looking forward to it but rather disappointed by changes to the plot.

One of the things I didn't like about the Bridget Jones films was the flats/houses - Bridget's flat and her parents' house just seemed completely wrong. Coopers' Chase reminded me of this and as for the police station that looked like it was straight out of St Mary Mead! I thought most characters were well cast apart from Pierce Brosnan and I agree that Joyce's clothes were quite wrong. As if Elizabeth would be seen dead wearing a necklace with 'TMC' on it 😁

They did my boy Bodgan so dirty. I won't say anything else.

Same. Bogdan was one of my favourite characters from the book and I don’t think he came across well in the film. I’m not knocking the actor, there wasn’t much to go on, didn’t have enough screen time. But I was thinking more of a Paul Mescal in Normal People strong, silent and broody type.

Yes! My husband said “oh so she’s the real detective in this” about Elizabeth, but that’s not the case in the book. The film has made it all about Elizabeth and it’s lost the wit and spark of Joyce. Great casting for Joyce, but her character had totally vanished.

So disappointed! I love the book. Ron was all wrong. Accent was….I have no idea!

I'm disappointed. I am a massive fan of the books, but the film skipped all the stuff I loved the books for. Maybe it’s an enjoyable film if you haven’t read the book, or didn’t like the book, but for me, the characters are the strength of the story. Despite an amazing cast, the characters didn’t come across as deep or fun or likeable even. It really should have been a series.

I had the impression in the book ( that I read a few years ago tbf ) that it was Jason who was funding Ron’s fees , but I may have made that up because he was a successful boxer and now a celebrity! A lot of Union reps were richer than the ones they were fighting for , but not enough to pay for that swanky place surely ?
I can’t remember if money ever came up ? I haven’t read the other books, so it may have come up in other stories? It is a good point that he wouldn’t be able to afford it, but the others are more ‘well to do. ‘!

A pp mentioned the palatial setting of Coopers Chase in the film. I can’t remember the descriptions in the book well enough, but I pictured it as a nice retirement complex, not a stately home. The film makes it look like somewhere that only decaying aristos could live.

Happy to be shown to be wrong.

My impression of this retirement home in the book was nothing as it was seen on screen. Nice, but not as posh as this!

Have just watched the first twenty minutes, and yes, Joyce’s clothes are all wrong. Joyce is pretty with it, and definitely not one for a high-necked pastel floral blouse fastened with a brooch — she looks as if she’s cosplaying Sweet Little Old Lady in the Background in an eighties Christie adaptation. Her decor wouldn’t be that insanely twee, either, especially if she’s just moved in!

I don’t mind Cooper’s Chase being rather palatial, but I do mind that Joyce is made to seem like a bit of an idiot, dashing about getting excited about a ‘real murder’ when she’s literally just had it explained to her in detail that Tony Curran is their best hope for saving CC from David Tennant’s scenery-chewing.

And Donna is a total goofball rather than a good cop who made a unwise transfer somewhere boring. Plus the guy playing Tony Curran would have made a perfect Ron. Pierce B still looks like Remington Steele’s silver fox dad, not a tracksuit-clad geezer.

Helen Mirren is doing her best with an infodumping script, and I quite liked the moment when she appeared dressed as herself playing the queen.

So disappointed in this. PB was awful as Ron with accent all over the place and no charisma. Donna and Chris played as bumbling fools,David Tennant just ridiculous and the whole palatial setting so unrealistic. Celia Imrie was good as Joyce but the character not as well developed as in the books. Jonathan Pryce was sweet as Richard.
I stayed with it to the end but it was a struggle. What a let down.

The best one was Richard E Grant as Tanner. Loved the guy liner and bloody hands doing floristry !
He was great.

Must say I have to agree with pp. Pierce Brosnan's accent was a mess. Even Ben Kingsley was rather mumbly imho!

They didn't put Donna and Bogdan together. Donna's mum wasn't even in it. CC was like a bloody castle! David Tennant was almost unrecognisable and far too foul mouthed for a 12 rating imho. Couldn't get on with Tom Ellis' cockney accent either.

Overall, I did like it. But not as much as I thought I was going to. Also, in the book, didn't Stephen die thanks to Elizabeth giving him pills or did I imagine that and get mixed up with Penny?

You're mixing him up with Penny, in the first book this film is based on.
Stephen is in all four books, his fate isn't disclosed until book 4. I can PM you if you like, as others on here may not be up to that yet?

The trouble I have is that I read the book when it first came out and so made up in my own mind what the characters looked like. So unfortunately I’m disappointed. PB isn’t my Ron and slightly dodgy accent? Joyce seemed too bumbling, not at all like the books. And sorry but DT completely got on my nerves. Overacting much. REG as Tanner brilliant as always and JP too. My friends who haven’t read the book enjoyed it as they have no other alternative to base their opinion on.

I don’t think book spoilers are fair.

Oh god. It’s so bad. Pierce Brosnan’s accent! David Tennant’s accent! Arrrgh why did they have to make it so shite?

Cant STAND Richard EG.
The whole thing was a cringe fest.

Ok Helen being the Queen was funny. But Jeeeedus it’s bad.

Im glad it’s not just me who didn’t get the PB casting! The actor that played Tony Curran would have been a perfect Ron.

I thought Donna’s character was a bit flat too - I wanted her to be a bit more sassy and have attitude, she seemed meek.

I also felt it had been rewritten too much, it lost its humour and charm. The cleverness of the books was lost in all the changes.

We enjoyed it - I’d read the book (not subsequent ones) and dh hadn’t. It did feel rushed though, needed another 30 minutes at least

Haha I’ve just seen this. Very very much agree!!

Yep. I almost feel bad for Richard Os.

I haven't read the books, but I have been looking forward to this for months. Saw it on Netflix. Gosh, it was awful. Like an amateur dramatics society's first runthrough. I actually fell asleep at one bit, and didn't bother rewinding it when I woke up. Pierce B was horribly miscast. I enjoyed the flowers, though.

I do think it's true that you are more likely to enjoy the film if you didn't enjoy the book, like me. I started reading the book when it came out, thought it was a load of overrated twaddle and ended up skimming it but enjoyed the film as lightweight entertainment because of the cast and visuals, someone compared it to Death in Paradise and I'd agree with that.

I was watching for a thread in Telly Addicts - hadn’t realised it was on cinema release as well!

I don’t see me watching it again. I had also hoped it was going to be done as a miniseries, not hacked about and set in Downton Abbey. The ludicrously palatial apartments look nothing like the size or style for “luxury” retirement complex sales pitches that pop through my door.

I like all the lead actors but not really in these parts. I thought Kingsley was well cast if a bit older than the character. I assume Helen Mirren was there to reprise her REDS character (or Judi Dench turned it down)- it didn’t quite work for me. Brosnan miscast - agree a Ray Winstone would have worked better. Celia Imrie’s Joyce was both sexed up but also pushed into the background instead of being the narrator and viewpoint of the reader.

I liked Ellis as Jason - I thought it was a good fit, I found Bogdan believable, Mays was fine reprising his recurring role as the hapless senior police officer depending on a bunch of amateurs in a cozy mystery.

Grant was miscast and Tenant was just Tenant as he is in everything - for me that didn’t fit with my impression of the character but if you like his one performance it was probably fine.

I couldn’t work out exactly what I didn’t like about it but Helen Lewis pins it down very well for me:

https://helenlewis.substack.com/p/the-bluestocking-381-geriatric-hogwarts