Is this really the Wes Anderson fanfiction many have claimed it is? Not quite...
Director: Tom George
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell, Adrien Brody
Running time: 98 minutes
‘See How They Run Isn’t a Wes Anderson Movie, But It Might As Well Be’. That’s the verdict of this film from Yahoo!, and it’s easy to see why they’d come to this conclusion. Intricately well-designed sets? Check. A group of whimsical, wise-cracking characters? Check. Saoirse Ronan and Adrien Brody in the cast? Check.
Yet to claim Tom George’s enjoyable whodunit is nothing more than Wes Anderson tribute would be doing him a major disservice. Sure, it’s clear George is a fan of Mr Anderson’s work, but this is a fun and fresh film in its own right, underpinning any superficial similarities with a strong core of solid storytelling under the surface.
Unocovering the truth behind a string of murders related to the hit Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap, down-on-his-luck, lacking-in-motivation Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) teams up with (or, rather, is saddled with) the overly-enthusiastic Constable Stalker (a scene-stealing Ronan) to figure out who’s doing it to the cast of this whodunit.
As is the case with any of these ensemble movies, the intrigue of the story depends largely on how compelling the characters are within that story. Where Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile earlier this year was filled with uninteresting figures lacking any real pop or originality, for example, this offers a much more singular addition to the genre.
When it comes to movies like this, it’s impossible to expect anything particularly revolutionary. Very often, the best you can hope for is a good time - and, on this, See How They Run delivers
Okay, Brody’s Leo Köpernick may well have been lifted straight from the pages of some Wes Anderson fanfiction, but Rockwell’s Stoppard is dry, sardonic and aloof, his supposed apathy feeling like a new twist on the usual ‘crazily competent cop’ trope. And Ronan’s Stalker is delightfully entertaining from start-to-finish, her frenzied excitability winning over the audience and delivering a healthy dose of laughs from the off - even if some of her dialogue can be a little on-the-nose.
The tongue-in-cheek nature of the film at large is refreshing, too. It’s a take on the whodunit that always seems to work best; like in Knives Out, there is a balance to be had between interesting, measured storytelling and outright outlandish weirdness, and this just about finds it every time. If the casting of Paul Chahidi and Charlie Cooper isn’t enough of a giveaway, the distinctive humour confirmed that the director behind This Country, one of the finest British comedies of recent years, is behind the camera again here - it’s sharp, amusing and takes genuine risks, with the majority of them paying off.
When it comes to movies like this, it’s impossible to expect anything particularly game-changing or revolutionary. Very often, the best you can hope for is a good time - and, on this, See How They Run delivers. Making the most of its star-studded cast, (just about) steering clear of becoming too Andersonian and packing a whole load of entertainment into a tight runtime, it’s the perfect Friday night family film.
Did you know? Some of the character names are references to other plays, or to Agatha Christie herself. "Max Mallowan" was her second husband's name, and "Inspector Stoppard" is a reference to Tom Stoppard, who wrote The Real Inspector Hound - a play which had a murder mystery as a play-within-a-play.
See How They Run is in cinemas now
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
