There are worse places to be than Adam Sandler’s inner circle (you could be a part of the embarrassment that is Superman & Lois). The comedian, writer, actor, and producer has made a fortune having fun while making people laugh, and now in his later years, he also uses movies like Murder Mystery 2 as an excuse to vacation in the world’s most beautiful locations. If you’re talented, funny, and lucky, you could just find yourself tagging along for the ride. Hello Hawaii. How do you shabadoo?

Murder Mystery 2

For comedic movies, especially of the screwball variety, the only thing that really matters is, is it funny. What does it matter how unique and thoughtful the cinematography is or how believable the acting was if every joke flops? Well, you are in luck because Murder Mystery 2 is funny. You might not p!$$ yourself laughing but you will definitely chuckle throughout, and there might even be a couple of laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled in for fun.

The story goes like this: after the events of the first Murder Mystery, Nick and Aubrey returned to Brooklyn, quit their jobs, and sank their life savings into launching a private detective agency. Now, it is not going well, and the two find themselves struggling financially as well as within their marriage.

Fortunately, their ultra-wealthy friend from the first movie, The Majarajah Vikram Govindan, played by Adeel Akhtar, is getting married and invites them to his private tropical island to join in the celebration, and it’s just the vacation that Nick and Aubrey need…or is it? True to formula, everything quickly goes to h@!! and Nick and Aubrey once again find themselves in the middle of it all.

Not surprisingly, there’s no subtlety to the film, and every beat is telegraphed so hard that someone surely hurt themselves, but the movie is still a win thanks to three key elements: Sandler and Anniston have terrific chemistry and are excellent together, the director, Jeremy Garelick, has a wonderful sense of timing and keeps the pace pitch perfect throughout, and the cinematographer, Bojan Bazelli, is masterful with every scene.

That all being said, the biggest star of the movie is the loving and committed relationship between Nick and Aubrey. They never run one another down for a laugh and they show deference and respect for one another throughout. It’s also the biggest improvement from the last film. In this one, their bickering rings true to marriage but is without malice or hurt feelings, and Anniston’s Aubrey no longer pities her doofus-of-a-husband, and even *gasp* respects him.

Another improvement is that Sandler’s Nick isn’t a complete buffoon who is always outdone by his wife. In Murder Mystery 2, each is as competent and incompetent as the other. Sure Nick still can’t handle a gun, but he sure as h@!! lays out a couple of baddies in order to get to and save his wife. Likewise, Aubrey isn’t a crack shot, but she’s just clever enough to save the day. It’s all very well balanced

While the level of maturity cannot be measured in the quality of its d!@k jokes, this Adam Sandler comedy shows its maturity with its number of d!@k jokes. It’s not a perfect film and it relies almost exclusively on convenience and coincidence to move us from one scene to the next, but Murder Mystery 2 has heart and offers a lot of laughs, and is also a lot of fun. There’s not much more than you can ask of a film.

WOKE ELEMENTS

• They are delivered by characters that are terrible people, so it could be tongue in cheek, however, there are one too many “dumb American” jokes tossed in. Only one really lands, while the others feel like a writer’s actual opinion. Well, you’re welcome for the paycheck, douché.