The comedic murder-mystery See How They Run recently debuted in Australian cinemas. Our residents film buffs, Tom Parry and Stefan Bradley, went to check it out.

TP: ‘Whodunits’ have made a huge comeback in Hollywood these past few years, with the likes of Knives Out and Death on the Nile gracing cinema screens. Now we have another and I must say, Stefan, this one’s pretty good.

SB: I knew absolutely nothing about this movie when we went in, other than it’s a whodunit, and that’s exactly what it is, with shades of a buddy cop movie. So if that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, you’ll really enjoy this.

TP: The story follows a weathered detective and his talkative, zealous constable as they investigate a murder at London’s Ambassadors Theatre, home to Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap, in 1953. I thought there was a great deal of charm to See How They Run. I did enjoy the performances of the two leads; the soundtrack was pleasant, and the overall look and tone of the film really appealed to me. It’s been likened to a Wes Anderson film and I can certainly see that vibe, but it’s not quite as quirky or as deadpan as his movies are.

SB: The film is under 100 minutes, but I wouldn’t say it’s fast-paced. Overall, I thought it was fine. Not great, but it’s good. I don’t really seek out films like this. We all have that one friend who always seems to figure out the twists in movies, or in this case the murderer, and I was never that person. I wasn’t able to figure it out.

TP: This is definitely a movie tailored to murder-mystery aficionados. Everything about this film will delight them, I feel. If you are someone who’s new to the genre, someone who’s not particularly fond of whodunits, you may find some appeal; but otherwise, I don’t think there’s anything in here that’s going to make you fall in love with the genre. It’s very big on the fourth-wall jokes and the referential humour.

SB: It is a bit meta with regard to its humour. The narrator says at the start: “It’s a whodunit. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” And in my view, this film didn’t deliver anything particularly intelligent or different to other works in the genre, so they’re essentially criticising themselves. I agree that the two main characters are excellent – the badly-dressed lead with the thick moustache, Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) with her encyclopaedic film knowledge. We don’t spend a lot of time with the other characters, which seems a bit strange considering you’re supposed to guess who killed who.

TP: Speaking of Rockwell, he’s doing a British accent here – he is of course American, but plays a Pom here. He did a pretty good job of masking his natural voice, although his British accent did sound like it had been here, there and everywhere, It went westward to Cornwall, up the coast to Merseyside, across the Yorkshire Dales to Newcastle and south again to Sussex, before returning to London. Still, I enjoyed his performance, and Ronan’s even more so.

SB: If you like Agatha Christie’s works, British films, whodunits, buddy-cop films or any of the actors in this, I think you’ll like See How They Run.

TP: Couldn’t agree more. I do wish it were funnier, and I do wish the script punchier, but I think it was pretty clever. I’m certain that fans of British murder-mysteries are going to lap it up.

See How They Run is rated M for violence, and is currently screening at Sale Cinema.