The Thursday Murder Club
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): August 28, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
ColliderMaggie LovittAug 22, 2025
The Thursday Murder Club is a delightfully charming movie that hits all the highs of the cozy murder mystery genre without any of the negatives. Read full review
85
Paste MagazineLacy BaugherAug 22, 2025
It’s true, the specifics of The Thursday Murder Club’s story aren’t anything special, but the film is fairly remarkable in the way it centers and uplifts older characters, giving them stories that don’t revolve around distant family, precocious grandkids, or the bleak prospect of their impending deaths. Yes, the club’s members are all pushing eighty, but they’re each vibrant, fully realized characters who still have things they want out of life. Read full review
80
The TimesKevin MaherAug 22, 2025
Mirren, of course, smooths over most quibbles with a character who begins in pure camp and enjoys a cheeky nod to her off-screen ex-beau Liam Neeson in Taken, and then gradually evolves into a serious, stony-faced sleuth. Read full review
75
Original-CinKaren GordonSep 2, 2025
It’s an easygoing, entertaining movie, boosted by its name cast. And sure, it doesn’t ask much of its audience. But sometimes a well done movie-length TV mystery is enough. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyAug 28, 2025
The tone of the film is a little lukewarm, and the visuals aren’t the most thrilling, but there’s a very welcome absence of condescension and sentimentality that is often used in the portrayal of elderly people on film, particularly when they engage in activities not typically associated with their age. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAug 22, 2025
The Thursday Murder Club is solid entertainment, as sweet and sugary as one of Joyce’s irresistible cakes. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubCaroline SiedeAug 22, 2025
If The Thursday Murder Club has a central flaw, it’s that it’s more affable than laugh-out-loud funny or especially clever. In that way, it winds up feeling more like an appetizer than a full meal. In fact, with such an appealing heroine and such an engaging yet underexplored world, you could easily imagine The Thursday Murder Club as a supersized pilot to an ongoing series where the gang solve a new crime each week. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 30, 2025
It’s easy to smile at The Thursday Murder Club, with its veteran performers chewing the scenery and still having the teeth to do it. Does that sound ageist? It might, if the charms of this lighthearted, star-studded confection weren’t all about its main characters being advanced in years and still as sharp as an insulin injection. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennyAug 29, 2025
Aiding their investigations is an underappreciated policewoman appealingly played by Naomi Ackie. The proceedings are marshaled with affection by the director Chris Columbus. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 22, 2025
It’s one of those movies you watch not necessarily for its whodunnit complexities, but for the pleasure of watching a group of actors having fun, in a storybook English-countryside setting complete with happy, well-kept flower beds and cemeteries dotted with gravestones both ancient and new. Read full review
70
Screen RantRachel LaBonteAug 22, 2025
I would love to spend more time with this ensemble. While the story deviations can prove a bit frustrating, the movie is its own thing, and I suspect it'll be a crowd-pleaser. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterCaryn JamesAug 22, 2025
A mystery about retirees who solve cold cases for fun, it is as gentle as a game of Clue and as cozy as an Agatha Christie novel, but its glittering cast and a touch of self-awareness make up for that lack of originality. This modestly entertaining film is uncool and filled with stock tropes, but it doesn’t pretend to be anything more. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenSep 19, 2025
Standing out among the cast are Pierce Brosnan, clearly enjoying his scruffy beard and potbelly, and Helen Mirren, who threatens to turn this into something sexier and scarier at every moment. Chris Columbus keeps things on the straight and narrow, however, directing as if this were an adaptation of Harry Potter Book 78. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 29, 2025
The players are the reason to relish this bon bon, with Kingsley in fine fidget, Brosnan all Irish leftist bluster and Mirren giving a comic edge to a performance that harks back to “Prime Suspect” past. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckAug 28, 2025
The script could certainly be sharper, the comedy more clever. But for two hours on Netflix, Coopers Chase is rather a comfy place to be, with some moments to cherish. Read full review
60
Christian Science MonitorYvonne ZippAug 22, 2025
The Thursday Murder Club, despite the best efforts of its truly superlative cast, is pretty much a Sunday night detective drama – albeit one with spectacular production values. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenAug 22, 2025
Grab your nan, put the kettle on and enjoy some exceedingly fine thesps hamming it up royally. Read full review
60
The Daily BeastNick SchagerAug 22, 2025
It won’t revolutionize the genre, and in fact would have benefited from considerable additional polish, but it’s just cute enough to warrant two hours of Netflix subscribers’ time. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 22, 2025
There’s a fair bit to enjoy here, with the club sometimes resembling a kind of senior-citizen X-Men group whose collective superpower is invisibility; old people can do things without people noticing them. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesGemma WilsonAug 26, 2025
The satisfaction of a cozy mystery doesn’t always come exclusively from a complex puzzle solved; it also comes from justice done and, ideally, comeuppance savored. Despite being beautifully made, this tepid, moralizing story denies us any of those pleasures. Rude. Read full review
40
iFrancesca SteeleAug 22, 2025
The Thursday Murder Club never nails its tone, forever feeling like it’s still in rehearsal rather than down to the final edit. Read full review
40
NMEPaul BradshawAug 22, 2025
There are glimpses of what could have been a decent film here – something charming, witty and exciting, with a cast of greats given room to soar – but whatever might have been is still stuck inside the pages of the book. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 22, 2025
As an occasional source of broad and undemanding chuckles, the film doubtless serves its purpose. But the mystery itself unfolds with such plodding expediency that there’s little suspense to speak of. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyAug 22, 2025
No matter how enticing the prospect may sound on paper, and even with the efforts of director Chris Columbus (of Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire fame), the whole affair is so flimsy you’ll lose nothing from watching it on an iPad while cooking dinner. Read full review
40
EmpireLaura VenningAug 22, 2025
Maybe this would hit the spot for a Sunday-night sofa slump but it’s more patronising than perceptive when it comes to portraying ageing. As disappointing as a stale scone. Read full review
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