Only the third sequel of Adam Sandler’s career. For whatever reason the former SNL star and box-office king has always seemed particularly averse to reprising roles. It’s not hard to see why he would be up for stepping back into this one though. On top of getting to make out with Jennifer Anniston, pre-Hubie Halloween the first Murder Mystery was easily the best of Happy Madison and Netflix’s non-stand-up collaborations. Unfortunately, unlike his Grown Ups and Hotel Transylvania follow-ups this is a step backwards rather than an improvement. There are some funny moments and lines scattered throughout, but for the most part a lot of the humor simply fails to land with much effect. The script is clearly comprised of weaker material, and not just in the comedy department either. The actual whodunnit itself is messier and far less interesting. The whole thing appears to be trying to get by on the spectacle of its locations and more action-oriented thrills. Each setting is gorgeous and rife with lavish details. I honestly couldn’t tell at times if what I was looking at was real or CGI, a praise to the film’s visual effects team no doubt. As ridiculous and unbelievable as it is to watch the 56 year old Adam Sandler slug it out with armed, highly trained criminals I was actually impressed by how cool and well-choreographed these fight sequences ended up being despite the required suspension of disbelief. Still, when the laughter quantity is this low it’s hard to walk away fully satisfied. It’s not unwatchable or anything, but even for the most hardcore Sandler fans like myself this is entirely skippable. Ever since breaking out into movie stardom the leading man has been accused by his critics of resorting to the laziest jokes possible. I imagine that argument has only gotten stronger in the streaming service portion of his career. Personally though, I think the weaker outings we’ve been receiving from him over the past few years are less due to a lack of effort on anyone involved’s part, and more the unfortunate consequence of he and his usual cohorts genuinely running out of clever ideas. As a result, currently the best murder mystery of 2023 so far continues to be The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog.