''Murder Mystery 2'' is a 2023 American

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

directed by

Jeremy Garelick Jeremy Garelick (born November 30, 1975) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Early life Garelick was born in New York City. He attended Yale University and graduated in Film Studies. He is of Jewish background. Career After grad ...

and written by

James Vanderbilt James Platten Vanderbilt (born November 17, 1975) is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known for writing the films ''Zodiac'' (2007), ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' (2012) and its 2014 sequel, and '' Independence Day: Resurgence'' (2 ...

. It is a sequel to the 2019 film ''

Murder Mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

'', and it stars

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. Primarily a comedic leading actor in films, List of awards and nominations received by Adam Sandler, his accolades include an Independent Sp ...

and

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom ''Friends'' from 1994 to 2004, which earned her Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Scr ...

with

Mark Strong Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963) is a British actor best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in '' Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in '' RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (200 ...

Mélanie Laurent Mélanie Laurent (; born 21 February 1983) is a French actress and filmmaker. She has received two César Awards and a Lumière Award. Internationally, Laurent is known for her roles in ''Inglourious Basterds'' (2009), '' Now You See Me'' (2013 ...

Jodie Turner-Smith Jodie Turner-Smith (born 7 September 1986) is a British actress. She made her feature film debut in '' The Neon Demon'' (2016) and has since acted in '' Queen & Slim'' (2019), ''After Yang'' (2022), and ''White Noise'' (2022). She is also known f ...

and

John Kani Bonisile John Kani (born 30 August 1942) is a South African actor. He is known for portraying T'Chaka in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films '' Captain America: Civil War'' (2016) and ''Black Panther'' (2018), Rafiki in ''The Lion King'' (201 ...

. ''Murder Mystery 2'' was released by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on March 31, 2023. Like the original film, it received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Nick and Audrey Spitz work as full-time private detectives, although their agency falls on hard times after a few bad cases. One night, while arguing about which direction to take their careers, the Spitzes receive a call from their friend, the Maharajah Vikram, who invites them to his wedding on his private island. At the ceremony, Audrey notices a cloaked figure following Vik's elephant. A dead body falls from the elephant and turns out to be Lou, the bodyguard. Nick suspects that it is a diversion and watches Vik's abduction by a mysterious figure who leaves the island on a boat. The couple determines that at least two perpetrators must have been involved: one to create the diversion and the other to kidnap Vik. The next morning, the group is joined by a team of professional detectives, led by former

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

hostage negotiator Connor Miller. The kidnapper calls and demands a ransom of $70 million in exchange for Vik, arranging a meeting at the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...

. Traveling to Paris, Miller takes Nick and Audrey to the exchange point. The kidnappers force the couple into a van at gunpoint. A fight ensues and the van crashes. The kidnappers frame Nick and Audrey for Vik's abduction and Miller is seemingly killed when his car explodes after taking back the briefcase of money. A mysterious figure retrieves the briefcase but is immediately run down by a second assailant in a garbage truck, who takes the briefcase and speeds off. With the assistance of Inspector Delacroix, Nick and Audrey trace the truck to a countryside château where they are ambushed by Sekou and Imani, who, while admitting to trying to steal the money, insist they are not the kidnappers. Sekou shoots Imani and attempts to kill the couple by knocking over a candle to ignite the room, but is shot dead by a dying Imani. Nick and Audrey escape and call Delacroix and the others, requesting Vik be brought to the

Le Jules Verne Le Jules Verne is a restaurant located on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. History Since 2019, ''Le Jule Vernes cuisine has been led by chef Frédéric Anton, who succeeded Louis Grondard (198 ...

restaurant at the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

. Vik appears at the rendezvous, strapped into a bomb vest. Nick reasons that the killer would never jeopardize the ransom. The bomb's countdown is suspended, and Miller, the mastermind of the abduction, appears; he had faked his death by hiding in a bomb-proof titanium chamber within the car. He attempts to kill the group, but Audrey clings to his harness and is pulled to the top floor. Nick pursues them, subdues Miller's men, and destroys the detonator to the bomb vest. Miller throws Audrey, who is still connected to his harness, off the tower. The two men engage in hand-to-hand combat, culminating with Nick opening the briefcase and dispersing the money into the wind. Audrey reappears and Nick helps her tie Miller's harness to the tower's elevator mechanism, throwing him into the rotor blades of his getaway helicopter, which explodes and crashes into the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

. Returning to the restaurant, Audrey mistakes Saira's darkened arm for blood, but Saira insists that her

henna Henna is a reddish dye prepared from the dried and powdered leaves of the henna tree. It has been used since at least the ancient Egyptian period as a hair and body dye, notably in the temporary body art of mehndi (or "henna tattoo") resulti ...

smeared during the commotion. Audrey remarks that once dried, henna does not smear. She recalls that Saira was not present when Vik's elephant was ushered into the reception ceremony, and realizes that the clothes of the cloaked figure who killed Lou were stained by wet henna, not blood. This reveals Saira as the second conspirator, as well as the one who had previously made an attempt on Vik’s life in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, out of anger that he was made heir to their parents’ company over her. Exposed, Saira attempts to shoot Vik, but he is shielded by Ulenga, who takes the bullet. Claudette then knocks her out with the briefcase. With the commotion concluded, Vik and Claudette decide to elope and later give Nick and Audrey $10 million and the use of Vik's helicopter. On a honeymoon in Greece, they are accosted in air at gunpoint by their supposedly European helicopter pilot, who turns out to be American; he steals the money and jumps out of the helicopter, leaving them scrambling for the controls.

Cast

as Nick Spitz *

as Audrey Spitz *

as Connor Miller *

as Claudette Joubert *

as Countess Sekou *

as Colonel Charles Ulenga * Kuhoo Verma as Saira Govindan *

Dany Boon Dany Boon (; born Daniel Farid Hamidou on 26 June 1966) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. Starting out as a comedian during the 1990s, he found success in 2008 as an actor and director in the film comedy '' Welcome to ...

as Inspector Laurent Delacroix *

Adeel Akhtar Adeel Akhtar is a British actor. He is known for his role in '' Murdered by My Father'', for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 2017. He is also known for ''Utopia'', '' Ali & Ava'', '' Showtrial'', and '' She ...

as Vikram Shivan Govindan, the Maharajah *

Enrique Arce Enrique Javier Arce Temple (born October 8, 1972) is a Spanish television and film actor. Biography Arce was born in Valencia, Spain on 8 October 1972. He originally went to university to study law, but during his fourth year, he decided to mov ...

as Francisco Perez * Zurin Villanueva as Imani *

Jillian Bell Jillian Leigh Bell (born April 25, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She was a writer for the 35th season of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' between 2009 and 2010. Since her departure from ''SNL'', s ...

as Susan *

Tony Goldwyn Anthony Howard Goldwyn (born May 20, 1960) is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He made his debut appearing as Darren in the slasher film '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' (1986), and had his breakthr ...

as Ron Silverfox *

Annie Mumolo Annie Mumolo (born July 10, 1973) is an American screenwriter, actress, comedian, and producer. She is best known for co-writing the comedy film ''Bridesmaids'' with Kristen Wiig, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA for ...

as Mrs. Silverfox * Myo Leong as Mr. Lou *

Carlos Ponce Carlos Armando Ponce Freyre Jr. (born September 4, 1972) is a Puerto Rican actor, musician, model, and television personality. Ponce began his acting career by participating in Spanish language soap operas for Televisa and Telemundo. Ponce contin ...

as Shitz helicopter pilot

Production

Development

In October 2019, it was announced that a sequel to ''

'' was in development with

and

reprising their roles. In August 2021,

was hired as director, from a script by

, with the filming of the sequel to take place in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Sandler and Aniston had confirmed their returns during the September 2021 Tudum Global Fan Event. In January 2022, it was reported that

and

would be reprising their roles from the first film, with

, Kuhoo Verma,

, and Zurin Villanueva joining the film as newcomers.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in January 2022 in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and ended on April 8, 2022 in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The top three levels of the

were recreated for the movie, but some stunts were actually shot on the tower itself. The Indian wedding dance scene was shot in Paris and choreographed by Mahina Khanum.

Release

''Murder Mystery 2'' was released by

on March 31, 2023. It reached Netflix's top 10 in over 90 countries. Between its release and June 2023, the film totaled 173.6 million hours watched (equal to 117 million views).

Reception

Accolades

Adam Sandler won the award for Best Comedic Performance at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards.

References

External links

* * {{Jennifer Aniston 2023 films 2023 action comedy films 2020s American films 2020s comedy mystery films 2020s English-language films American comedy mystery films American sequel films Echo Films films English-language comedy mystery films Netflix original films Films directed by Jeremy Garelick Films produced by Jennifer Aniston Films produced by Allen Covert Films produced by Adam Sandler Films produced by James Vanderbilt Films scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams Films set in the Caribbean Films set in Paris Films shot in the Caribbean Films shot in Hawaii Films shot in Paris Films with screenplays by James Vanderbilt Happy Madison Productions films American murder mystery films English-language action comedy films