Murder, Anyone? review.
A love letter to the horrors and comedies of the writing process. Murder, Anyone? can’t quite sustain interest through the final act…but it gets close enough.
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Murder, Anyone?
Directed by James Cullen Bressack
Written by Gordon Bressack
Starring Kristos Andrews, Galadriel Stineman, Maurice LaMarche, Charles M. Howard IV and Lisa Wilcox
Murder, Anyone? Review
Everything ever written has started with the same three things. A blank page, an idea, and an immediate argument about the idea. Murder, Anyone? showcases the debate of ideas in the best way for film. It gives us two writers with different beliefs and opinions. The bulk of the movie involves us watching them work on a project. When I say watch…I mean just that. Their text comes to life in real time in the form of a play that we see performed. A play, at least, initially.
One of the main arguments in Murder, Anyone? is between the value of a play versus the value of a film. Eventually the play morphs into a film…complete with a change in aspect ratio and camera movement. The writers argue the merits of each format as the characters on screen play out an escalating story of murderers and victims. Every point is hotly debated by the two writers. Character names, casting, plot points…things change as the story progresses to represent the whims of which writer is at the keyboard.
If this sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. Murder, Anyone? never feels too busy or hard to follow. Part of that is because the writers are always there to explain why a man in a chicken suit entered the scene…or why Marilyn Monroe popped up on screen. The movie runs wild with ideas. Ideas presented in the moment by a writer and incorporated in real time by the characters we watch play out their story. When the story switches to a film script, these ideas get more ridiculous. Zombies sell, after all. Who cares if it makes sense?
Murder, Anyone? pares down its central question as its story within the story becomes more and more unwieldy. Play versus film gives way to a simpler debate about art versus commerce. Zombies may sell these days…but what are you compromising to sell them? It’s an internal debate made into an external argument showcased by a cast of characters in action. Put simply, the concept is brilliant.
It’s also very funny. The banter between the writers is snappy and witty. Watching their words acted out as a play in the first half of the movie is quite fun as well. The shifting story works best with the cast’s committed play-acting. The absurd moments are elevated by the sparse format of a stage play. Murder, Anyone? does run out of steam in the back half when the format changes to film. Things get bigger and crazier…but it just isn’t that interesting. To be fair, that is part of the argument that Murder, Anyone? is making.
When we hit the film within a film portion of Murder, Anyone? the story is filled with crowd pleasing ideas. The simple story of a murder becomes overloaded with monsters and paranormal concepts. Ghosts and zombies mingle with vampires and Van Helsing. None of it makes a lick of sense. It’s not supposed to. What is on screen in Murder, Anyone? is not the point of Murder, Anyone?. The play may have been the thing in Hamlet…but the process is the thing in Murder, Anyone?.
Murder, Anyone? doesn’t skewer the process of writing…far from it. This is a love letter to the horrors and comedies that anyone who has ever stared at the blank page with an idea will be very familiar with. It takes the argument out of one’s head and onto the stage and screen. While it never fully lands its message about art versus commerce…it does present a thoughtful piece about what writing is, and what it should be. And it does it in a unique and entertaining way.
Scare Value
The internal debate of the writing process is explored in a unique and interesting way in Murder, Anyone?. This is a funny movie that doesn’t feel like anything you’ve seen before. Loaded with clever observations, Murder, Anyone? shows and tells at the same time. Using plays vs film to push its larger message works as a brilliant stroke for the story.
3.5/5
Murder, Anyone? Links
Streaming on Tubi
Rent/Buy on VOD from VUDU and Amazon
