A boorish American film producer (Adrien Brody) visits a London theater in the midst of a record-breaking sold-out run of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap with the idea of turning the hit play into a movie, offends and outrages everyone he comes into contact with, and is, quite justifiably, murdered. Instead of letting sleeping dogs lie, an alcoholic veteran detective (Sam Rockwell) and chipper rookie policewoman (Saoirse Ronan) stumble through what is intended to be a rollicking, blunder-filled investigation to unmask the killer.
As someone who’s had the misfortune of sitting through a production of Christie’s venerable whodunit, the idea of staging a comic murder-mystery in, around, and atop that play is truly inexplicable. I have no idea how an A-list cast like this was hoodwinked into participating in this wink-wink nudge-nudge snooze fest. Staying home and playing a rousing game of Clue with a warm cup of cocoa would’ve been higher stakes for all concerned. This is some very weak tea indeed. PG-13, 98 min.