Only Murders in the Building Review: A Great Cast Mix True Crime And Comedy

Release date: August 31, 2021
Running time: 10 x 30 minute episodes

Creators: John Hoffman, Steve Martin

Stars: Steve Martin (“Charles”), Martin Short (“Oliver”), Selena Gomez (“Mabel”), and

Aaron Dominguez (“Oscar”)

“Only Murders In The Building” follows three strangers (Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. As they record a podcast of their own to document the case, the three unravel the complex secrets of the building which stretch back years. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon, the endangered trio comes to realize a killer might be living amongst them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.

Only Murders in the Building will draw people in with its all star cast.  And it was really fun to see Steve Martin and Martin Short together again on screen. They have a fun dynamic, both playing characters that have a little bit of drama in their past and a whole lot of personality now.  And they are joined by a very reserved but also mysterious Selena Gomez, who is someone with a lot more going on than initially meets the eye.  The dynamic between the three is a lot of fun, and not just because they are all funny actors.  The writing and situations, and very different lifestyles of the three, add to the overall humor of the film.  There are some funny age-related jokes as you would expect when Steve Martin is talking to Selena Gomez.  And she plays it perfectly, sometimes over emphasizing this to great effect. 

And the story of this series has plenty of twists and turns that will keep you engaged.  Like any good TV series (or podcast), each episode gives a little more information and then ends in a twist ending.  This is a lot of fun to see and will keep you hooked; this is definitely going to be a series that you want to binge.  And there is enough New York intrigue as well baked into the story that will please those who have lived in the city, or at least spent time in it.  And it is not just the wonderful main characters that will draw you into the series, there are some really great cameos as well that are a lot of fun to see. 

However, the film follows a true crime podcast, but it seems to not get as deep into the true crime as the obsessed characters should be.  Perhaps this will occur in the later episodes, but it does feel like a true crime-obsessed group would be more interested in some of the nitty gritty.  And despite the story and characters becoming much more enjoyable as the film progressed, I didn't love Martin Short and Steve Martin at the beginning.  They felt like they were trying too much to make their characters ridiculous.  Thankfully, that subsided by the second episode and it was a fun whirlwind from there.

Only Murders in the Building is an enjoyable series that will appeal to comedy and true crime fans, with a wonderful dynamic between the leads, great cameos, and a story with plenty of twists and turns.

Watch it.

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Only Murders in the Building premieres on August 31, 2021 exclusively on Hulu. 

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