See How They Run (2022)
Dir: Tom George
Writer: Mark Chappell
Starring: Sam Rockwell; Saoirse Ronan; Tim Key
by paulieb2003@gmail.com
Set in London, in 1953, in the West End theater district – this little doozy really threw me for a loop.
It is set around Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap, which is the longest running play in the world, ever. It ran from 1952 to 2020 when it is was shut down briefly for the Covid pandemic.
Written by Mark Chappell, this film is a complete original and pokes fun at the Whodunnit genre. Although the facts about The Mouse Trap are real – Richard Attenborough did indeed star in the play during his era, everything surrounding it is not.
Sam Rockwell plays Inspector Stoppard, and does so with a rather nice English accent. So if you wanna see Sam be British – this is the film for you. Saorise plays his inexperienced sidekick, Constable Stalker. Saorise was Hanna in Hanna when she was younger and has the thick Irish accent. These two play brilliantly off each other and have just incredible comic timing. It was a joy to watch them work.
This is a cheery film, bright and innocent and funny and I was thoroughly surprised. I usually don’t like murder mystery films set in London but this is very light hearted and of course, Sam makes any movie he is in a joy to watch.
You have your murder, your suspects and of course, your bumbling police inspectors. The jokes hit, the dialogue moves and is funny, and I would really recommend this for a nice date movie or if you want something light and funny that won’t give you nightmares before bed. It’s a parody of itself – even the character names give it away – Stalker, and Stoppard. Stalker of course is like, a stalker. and Stoppard is after the author of a book which was a parody of The Mousetrap. So this film has done it’s homework and it’s jokes are subtle and pretty funny.
Watching this movie really makes you question if Sam Rockwell can take a crack at a character like The Pink Panther’s Inspector Clouseau. He can do an accent and his physical comedy here is superb. If not Clouseau then something very close to it, and I think Sam would be amazing in it.
Go decide for yourselves. It’s not the usual PBS stuffy British comedy. This puppy feels Americanized and moves quickly and has some really great comedic actors in it.
Thanks for reading – and catch me next Thurs!
