Adam Sandler

"Murder Mystery 2" might be the epitome of what amounts to a "Netflix movie," which is to say that as long as you're paying for a subscription already, ...

The two thus jump at the opportunity to attend a destination wedding on an island paradise thrown by the Maharajah (Adeel Akhtar), who is marrying Claudette (Mélanie Laurent, like most of the supporting cast, deserving better), who has “trophy wife” written all over her. The sequel charitably shoots for a sort of more violent “The Thin Man” vibe, but about the best one can say for the movie is that it’s mercifully short. The near-four-year gap between movies does help in one respect, allowing people to largely forget what left them unimpressed about the original.

At 56, the formerly juvenile funnyman has matured into a subtler, more nuanced comedy performer. It's why the “Murder Mystery” films work so well.

Well-respected in his field, Stanley longs for a position on the bench: In his mid-50s and with a wife and teenage daughter he rarely sees, he badly wants to spend less time on the road and more time at home. [Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/80245104)), a goofy horror parody very much in the style of [vintage Happy Madison productions](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls079301020/), stars Sandler as Hubie Dubois, a sweet-natured simpleton reminiscent of the characters he played in “Little Nicky” and “The Waterboy.” (As in those films, Sandler speaks entirely in a squeaky, abrasive voice.) The difference is that “Hubie” leans into Sandler’s latent sweetness, counterbalancing the raunchy lowbrow humor with a heartfelt — perhaps even sentimental — touch. There’s always been a deep-seated earnestness in his work: Consider the Frank Capra-esque ending of his mawkish (and underappreciated) [farce “Click”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZNC5emNyEQ) (2006). Now he carries the guilt of that choice in his every movement. When he has to carry the ransom to a hostage exchange, he grouses about the weight of the briefcase (then gets defensive about the size of his hands); moments after a murder, he bickers with his wife about appropriate before-bed snack portions. This exchange is typical of the couple’s banter, which ranges in the films from tender to acrimonious to protective, sometimes in the span of a single line. He’s drawing on his art-house gifts even in farcical contexts, and the result is some of the most rewarding work of his career. In the first film, Nick and his wife, Audrey (Jennifer Aniston), are celebrating their 15th anniversary with a long-overdue trip across Europe. As with the original, this sequel works because it remains grounded in the mundane rhythms of a longtime marriage. In films like “Billy Madison” and “Happy Gilmore,” Sandler specialized in a kind of galvanic caricature of Gen X arrested development, oscillating wildly between boyish puppy-dog charm and explosive, bratty anger. In many ways this is much the same Sandler that we have seen onscreen since the early 1990s, as the star of often juvenile feature comedies and as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live”: an oversize man-baby in the throes of an antic tantrum. Roughed up by the guys he owes, he turns to his mistress, Julia (Julia Fox), for consolation.

Jewish star Menzel is about to star in Sandler's upcoming film You're So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.

Fellow Jew Ben Stiller also went on stage to celebrate his friend and long-time collaborator but ended up mostly kvetching about how the two constantly get compared. it’s that Adam magic.” In a comedy song at a ceremony for the awarding of a prestigious American comedy prize, Menzel sung a tribute to Sandler, one of America's most recognisable Jewish actors.

Murder Mystery 2 can't compete with Uncut Gems and Hustle or early comedies like Billy Madison and The Wedding Singer. But Sandler has come a long way from ...

Still, it’s ideal viewing for a plane or a hotel room, and not because it’s cheap-looking (it isn’t) or disposable (though it is that). But Sandler may be the first movie star to fully readjust his rhythms for the streaming era — and to sharpen his game at the same time. [Death on the Nile](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/22929797/death-on-the-nile-review)-style murder on a yacht, and though they were initially suspected of committing that murder, they wound up cracking the case instead. There must be an audience that feels as positive about Just Go With It or Jack and Jill (and hey, that theater of the grotesque Is he putting more thought into his day job, emboldened by his work for directors like Noah Baumbach ( [The Meyerowitz Stories](https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/1/16829714/netflix-movies-independent-film-theater-amazon)) and the Safdie brothers ( [Uncut Gems](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2019/12/13/21020507/uncut-gems-review-adam-sandler-josh-benny-safdie-idina-menzel-kevin-garnett))? The couple’s bickering also becomes more agreeable in the thick of the action, as they argue about who’s better equipped to handle a gun. But Sandler’s Happy Madison work makes sense on a streaming channel, especially as his audience has shifted from bygone mall multiplexes to the coziness of their couches. Even though mercenary badass Miller (Mark Strong) has been called in to track down the kidnappers, Nick and Audrey are emboldened by their previous mystery-solving, so they attempt to help with the new case, which eventually takes them to Paris. Tellingly, they don’t seem as impressed by any of the natural beauty on display as they are at the opulence of the wedding’s over-the-top gift bags. [Adam Sandler](https://www.polygon.com/23158653/hustle-review-adam-sandler-netflix-basketball) and [Jennifer Aniston](https://www.polygon.com/features/22680083/morning-show-season-2-watch-guide), can reasonably expect certain things, since the movie is one of Sandler’s many Happy Madison productions for the streaming service. Hopes that he might use his long-term deal with the streamer to get out of his 2010s-era rut were dashed when his 2015 movie The Ridiculous 6, a longtime dream-project Western, was just as slipshod and crudely conceived as the likes of 2013’s big-studio release Grown Ups 2. [2022’s Hustle](https://www.polygon.com/23158653/hustle-review-adam-sandler-netflix-basketball) is a grounded sports dramedy with barely any shtick.

The stars again display charming comic chemistry, as they swap rapid-fire patter in front of their fabulous supporting cast and glitzy international locales ...

The filmmakers also have some fun toying with the Agatha Christie formula, combining it with “Taken”-style kidnapping thrillers and — in one funny scene — a parody of a classic romantic comedy that shall remain nameless to preserve the surprise. They’re invested in making the crazy world surrounding the Spitzes a place people won’t just pop into on a whim but will actually want to revisit. Just like “Murder Mystery,” the sequel runs a tight 90 minutes (and feels even a bit tighter because Garelick and Vanderbilt don’t have to futz around with a lot of setup), and it has been shot in and around real, eye-catching locations like the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Even the pileup of last-act twists is, in a way, predictable. They also cross paths again with the world-weary Inspector de la Croix (Dany Boon) and meet a new lawman, a former MI6 agent named Connor Miller (Mark Strong). During Adam Sandler’s nearly decadelong association with Netflix, he’s produced and starred in an eclectic batch of movies, from the broadest of comedies to critically acclaimed art films.

The middling action comedy Murder Mystery 2, starring Adam Sandler & Jennifer Aniston, is streaming now on Netflix. Read our review here.

That question is irrelevant given that this movie exists only because of Netflix’s massive deal with Sandler to keep making these films, but Murder Mystery 2 certainly isn’t the biggest embarrassment of his career. It’s Definitely Better Than I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry: Adam Sandler’s Netflix era is interesting to parse on a number of levels these days, as the longtime comedy star has released no shortage of movies via said deal that fail to reach the raw hilarity of his earliest works. (Okay, maybe it wasn’t super-surprising that Nick had an interest in mystery-solving, given that he was a New York City cop, but hey, Audrey was a hairdresser, this is a big deal for her.)