Murder, Anyone? – Review
81 Minutes, Not Rated
Written by Gordon Bressack
Directed by James Cullen Bressack
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Two playwrights, George and Charlie, are tasked with the challenge of creating the next “avant-garde, surrealistic, mind-bending neo-noire thriller”. As they write, the story comes to life in real time. However, their own emotions and arguments also begin to manifest on film, creating sharp twists and turns that affect the entire movie. Filled with hilarity and chaos, Murder, Anyone? is a comedic play-within-a-play-within-a-movie that contemplates the complexities of language, art, theater, film and more.
We’ve commented here on the Visually Stunning Movie Podcast before about how the Whodunnit? seems to be enjoying a bit of a renaissance, and Murder, Anyone? seems, if not a classic Whodunnit?, then at least a Whodunnit-adjacent property.
Murder, Anyone? is adapted from the stage play of the same name from writer Gordon Bressack. The late Bressack is perhaps best known for his writing on such seminal animated shows Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Tiny Toon Adventures, but this is a different beast altogether.
Adapted by his son, James, Murder, Anyone? provides a ridiculous, yet completely believable, look in the creative process when multiple creative impulses are trying to be satisfied. Charlie and George cannot even agree on whether or not the script is for a play or a film, much less the particulars of character background and motivation.
What follows is a constantly evolving, yet oddly consistent story of money, love, murder, and madness, both on and off the page.
(The characterization shifts and modifications actually remind me a bit from the great series Con Man from Alan Tudyk, in which an incomplete TV show episode is “finished” with different actors and sets before being cut together and shown, lol.)
At times played straight, comedic, noir, and/or dada-esque, Murder, Anyone? cannot fail to impress with its solid script and impeccable performances, especially from Maurice LaMarche (who only allows The Brain to slip in once, that I caught) and Galadriel Stineman as our femme fatale/victim/love interest.
Top-notch entertainment with comedy that’s not too far out-of-bounds for anyone, Murder, Anyone? is an easy recommendation to make.
Murder, Anyone? is currently available on On Demand and digital and stars Galadriel Stineman, Kristos Andrews, Maurice LaMarche, Charles M Howell IV, Spencer Breslin, and Sally Kirkland.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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