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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
123
Mixed:
15
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Aug 4, 2023
Aug 8, 2023
Season 3 Review:
Does the third season, of which I’ve seen eight episodes, go on too long, like so many streaming shows these days? Probably so. But there’s such warmth afoot, in our cross-generational Mod Squad and in the fun that all the cast members seem to be having. Along with silliness, the show has heart.
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Jun 27, 2022
Season 2 Review:
Not every subplot works — there’s a storyline involving Charles that makes him seem naïve, even for a self-involved TV actor — but each episode of Season 2 has at least a couple of scenes that are pure comedic gold, thanks to that sharp writing and memorable triple-threat of Martin, Short and Gomez.
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Aug 28, 2024Aug 9, 2023Jun 30, 2022
Season 2 Review:
“Only Murders in the Building” mashes up high comedy and carefully observed human moments and Season 2 is a continuation, and deepening, of that. All three leads are aces at this, and the show is directed with a particular appreciation for Short’s symphony of facial expressions.
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Aug 31, 2021
Aug 26, 2024
Season 4 Review:
At its core, it’s two veteran comic actors having a great time, and Selena Gomez happy, comfortable, and loving every minute of it. A year from now, I’ll probably be back reading this very text trying to jog my own memory about where we left off and wondering just how much juice Only Murders has left. And then I’ll tune in happily for another season.
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Jul 27, 2023
Season 3 Review:
It’s not that Season 3 of Only Murders is anything close to bad — it’s just that they’ve shown us in previous seasons how great this concept, and the chemistry within, can be. By separating the cast as much as the show does, a touch of that magic is missing. Even so, we have a murder to solve, people, and we do have a bright new crime scene to explore. The show goes on, and this show is still worth tuning in for.
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Jun 20, 2022
Aug 27, 2024
Season 4 Review:
At this point Only Murders In The Building rides on the chemistry among Martin, Short and Gomez, and in Season 4, that chemistry is well-established. We just hope that Charles, Mabel and Oliver are as much fun running around Hollywood solving murders as they are running around New York.
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Aug 8, 2023
Season 3 Review:
The first eight (of ten) episodes of Only Murders in the Building Season 3 left me feeling decidedly “meh.” Sure, you can’t really snub your nose at Meryl Streep bantering with Martin Short — even I have to admit that watching the show’s stars collide is worth the price of admission — but the storytelling kept letting me down.
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Jun 28, 2022
Aug 23, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Only Murders delivers above-average laughs, a clever mystery, and a starry cast. But it's hard to shake the feeling that the show missed an opportunity to be something special, if only Martin and Hoffman had allowed it to be a little less kooky and a little more thinky.
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iAug 27, 2024
Season 4 Review:
While there are still laughs – particularly involving Sazz Pataki’s stunt pals, Eva Longoria embracing life as a would-be super sleuth, and a getting-to-know-you montage involving Galafianakis and Oliver that’s borderline romantic – season four has a lot more heart, and it works.
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iJun 29, 2022
Season 2 Review:
The characters are more lived-in, their quirks more fleshed out, and the concept of the show feels more assured – we start to find out more about Oliver’s background through flashbacks, and Mabel’s chance at finding love gives a new dimension to her moroseness. But this character-building doesn’t distract from the show’s main plot and fortunately, season two dives straight into the whodunnit.
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Jul 27, 2023
Season 3 Review:
There’s not enough time spent on solving the mystery at the center of season 3 of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, leaving the characters disconnected and pursuing thinly developed relationship plots. While the show still delivers some strong performances from this season’s guest stars Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep, it’s lost sight of what made the first two seasons of the true-crime spoof so compelling.
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IndieWireAug 27, 2024
Season 4 Review:
“Only Murders” Season 4 is still fun. It’s still funny. It’s still well-made and obviously well-acted. It’s even smart enough to steer attention back to our original trio in a way that leaves no doubt who we’re meant to care about the most. It’s just a little too enamored by everyone it can cast to realize maybe it would be better not to cast everyone just because it can.
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IndieWireAug 7, 2023
Season 3 Review:
A TV series that revolves around its characters putting on a Broadway show demands to be a showstopper in and of itself. “Only Murders” pulls it off. Anyone who sees Season 3 and doesn’t walk away convinced that the actors deserve a share in its success, well, you’re clearly one of the would-be thieves.
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IndieWireJun 20, 2022
Season 2 Review:
The humor is heavily meta. Deferential jokes about how difficult it can be to make a successful sequel work to acknowledge the obvious bumpiness and, hopefully, excuse some of it. All of these adjustments, both subtle and glaring, may grind on viewers seeking the same cozy experience they remember, but growing pains are part of the process in an ongoing series, and “Only Murders in the Building” still sports the simple joys of Steve Martin and Martin Short’s incredible skills.
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LooperSep 8, 2025
Season 5 Review:
There's enough good stuff here, especially among the central trio (and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who guest stars once again as Detective Donna Williams) that it's worth watching. But even great shows have a tendency to move past their prime when they've been on the air long enough. I'm afraid that could be what's happening here.
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Movie NationAug 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
It’s all more a series of chuckles and surprises than farcical big laughs, with only as much melodramatic menace as Woody Allen’s similar “Manhattan Murder Mystery.” But this trio clicks, and everything “Only Murders in the Building” lightly mocks — New York living, New Yorkers, modern “relationships,” podcasters, podcast fanatics, snooty celebrities, snootier wannabes — is funny because we’ve been laughing at this or that for decades.
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Aug 27, 2024
Season 4 Review:
It’s wonderful to see Only Murders return to such great form. There are even traces of an evolution: If you squint, you can see a manic and unhinged quality to some of the jokes and set pieces that feels distinctly new. But what’s truly welcome is how the show has recentered itself.
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Aug 30, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Effectively, but not effortlessly — you can still sense the moments where Only Murders works better in concept than in execution, the places it leaps and then lands with a bit of a wobble. But its flaws do not make it any less charming. For a show that seems born out of the spirit of “wouldn’t it be fun?”, the answer is clearly “yes.”
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Aug 27, 2024
Sep 8, 2025
Season 5 Review:
These side stories give you too much time to think, which means you spend more sussing out potential red herrings than paying attention to the action (Lester’s widow is played by Dianne Wiest, and heaven knows that nobody with a voice like that can be trusted in a murder comedy). And maybe this is all the point.
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Aug 26, 2024
Season 4 Review:
While Season 3 spit the trio apart as they each got pulled in their own directions, this season finds them stronger than ever. As they work together to solve this case, they bounce back and forth in hilarious and zany ways, allowing Martin, Short, and Gomez to really thrive beside one another. And they continue to elevate the series’ newest additions as well.
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Jun 20, 2022
Season 2 Review:
Only Murders’ second season feels more like a seamless continuation of its first rather than a whole new case, which—along with the show’s incredible sweaters, coats, and sports jackets—adds to the overall cozy and familiar feel. Essentially, everything you loved about the first season is still fully intact here, and while not perfect, it’s still a charm and a half.
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Jun 24, 2022
Season 2 Review:
The good news is the show’s second season, streaming Tuesday, is more like the back half of season one: funnier and more involved because we’re dealing with established characters and because the writers, led by showrunner John Hoffman (“Grace and Frankie”), have a firmer grasp on the show’s tone and a more confident hand in its plotting.
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RogerEbert.comSep 8, 2025
Season 5 Review:
All of these people are great comic performers, and the truth is that’s often enough with “Only Murders in the Building.” Again, it’s comfort food, something that goes down easily through a blend of breakneck plotting—there’s a new twist every episode—and remarkable starpower. Could it be better? Sure. But sometimes, good enough will do.
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RogerEbert.comAug 8, 2023
Season 3 Review:
There are just certain parts of the entertainment experience missing in Season Three, which is strange to say given how much fun its wacky musical numbers can be. Mostly by its own design, it's just not as funny, and it’s not heartbreaking as its reflection-heavy mood wants to be.
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Aug 28, 2024
Season 4 Review:
There are too many suspects because there are simply too many high-profile guest stars and recurring players on this season of the Hulu comedy. .... And, to be fair, this collection of talent does at times yield strong results. .... More often, though, Season Four is too busy, and too focused on dynamics other than the durable one among the three leads, to be as satisfying as Only Murders is capable of being.
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Aug 27, 2024
Season 4 Review:
“Only Murders in the Building” is still one of TV’s best comforts. It may take a while to find its stride (which it does, by the seventh episode) and lack any addictive hooks like last season’s surprise Broadway banger “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” But it still gives us plenty of motive to stick with it, overwhelmed though we may be by its amplified dazzle.
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Aug 9, 2023
Season 3 Review:
[Streep's] performance and Rudd's meld with that of the rest of the excellent cast. .... All these moments compensate for the softer corners this season manifested in the usual physical farce and misdirects, and the questionable choice to make Andrea Martin's Joy as campily vivacious as she comes across. Ultimately, however, that matters less than the vibe weighing on our trio.
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Jun 28, 2022
Season 2 Review:
This season sends their investigation in many different directions, none of which adequately gel enough on a first pass to make the whodunit's mechanics the season's main talking point. ... If you missed this show more for sentimental reasons as opposed to the sleuthing... oh baby, does it feel wonderful.
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Aug 31, 2021
Season 1 Review:
"Only Murders in the Building" works because it embraces such entrancing details, but even more so because its creators recognize what grants any piece of art the potential to become classic: it's in the marriage of old and new. ... Any show can string together a decent whodunnit, but examining loneliness as a universal mystery is the more captivating concept enriching the three-part harmony wrought by Gomez, Martin and Short's combined performances.
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Screen RantSep 8, 2025
Season 5 Review:
The writers have got the formula down to a fine art: assemble all the suspects and persons of interest on the chessboard, shuffle them around with each new piece of information that comes out, and give the audience just enough clues to keep them guessing while they try to figure it out.
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SlashfilmSep 10, 2025
Season 5 Review:
Even the most irksome and overwrought moments of "Only Murders in the Building," even five seasons in, are still sort of charming, and a few jokes got genuine chuckles out of me across the nine episodes provided to critics. Still, I'm worried about this show's future, because it's truly just spinning its wheels at this juncture.
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SlashfilmAug 26, 2024
Sep 4, 2024
Season 4 Review:
Outside of Steve Martin nailing that pitter-patter song last season, the show has struggled to reach the highs of its first go-around. Chalk it up to too many new cogs in the machine, a misplaced focus on celebrity cameos, or a misreading of the dynamics that actually make the show special—take your pick. But it begs the question: If Only Murders in the Building needed to step so far outside of the building to stay relevant, maybe we should’ve wrapped the show up after its first season.
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Sep 8, 2025Aug 9, 2023
Season 3 Review:
While season three’s premiere is jam-packed with nuggets about the case, it never loses focus away from the comedy. The one-liners and banter continue to flow smoothly between Charles, Mabel, and Oliver.
[The score is the average of the grades for the first two episodes.]
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Aug 31, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Only Murders In The Building engenders curiosity, first and foremost, whether it’s about your neighbors, what’s in the cultural zeitgeist (be it a podcast or the latest murder mystery show), or why someone might keep others at arm’s length. If you find personal revelations as thrilling as the resolution of a crime, it could even become your next TV obsession.
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Aug 30, 2021
Season 1 Review:
In pitting Martin and Short’s established routine opposite her [Selena Gomez's] wild-card casting, the show evolves from a straightforward parody of true-crime podcasts and their devoted listeners into a goofy yet endearing examination of the generational divide. ... The detective work is satisfying, but watching the investigation force the characters to reveal themselves and build an unanticipated bond is the real reward.
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The Daily BeastJun 27, 2022
Season 2 Review:
[The second season] isn’t as playfully meta as its predecessor. Yet in every other way, it’s as mysterious and witty as before. A fast-paced whodunit that captures the spirit of New York City and its colorful denizens and diverse communities, it’s a pure delight, led by a Short performance that reconfirms his standing as the funniest person alive.
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The GuardianSep 8, 2025
Season 5 Review:
The podcast element falls by the wayside, the proportion of red herrings to genuine progress is off, the action is too often located outside the Arconia, and the core team are too often split up. .... It still has enough flashes of the old dynamic to keep us hooked and hopeful. Martin, Short and Gomez have not lost sight of their characters, and a course correction could easily be made for season six.
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The GuardianAug 31, 2021
Season 1 Review:
For a series about obsession, Only Murders in the Building has curiously shallow hold on one’s attention. Like the true crime podcasts that inspired it, the show appears to be figuring things out as it goes. Whether or not you’re along for the ride depends on one’s affinity for the performers – and how much time you’re willing to invest on a mild, moderately rewarding journey.
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