In a London theater in 1953, director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) manages to start a fistfight after a showing of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. Not long after, Köpernick turns up dead on a sofa used in the play. The weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) is assigned the case and is saddled with the very energetic Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan). Through a series of hilarious interviews they find that multiple people at the theatre, including the famous Richard Attenborough, thoroughly hated Köpernick and could be suspects.
Constable Stalker wants to follow up every lead and often jumps to conclusions as to who is guilty. Inspector Stoppard is more torpid, to the point that he would rather have a few drinks while on duty. As the twists and turns mount up, will this turn out to be like an Agatha Christie thriller?
See How They Run deconstructs the murder mystery, just as Scream deconstructed the slasher movie. Both movies dissect the common tropes of each genre, then put them back together in new and innovative ways. See How They Run should improve murder mystery movies by not allowing them to be lazy in the writing and plot.
Saoirse Ronan is quite the gem. She is allowed to do her pert Irish accent throughout. The scene where Inspector Stoppard secretly goes off for a drink while she remains on duty with a fixed stare is hilarious. And when she yells, “Stop! In the name of the law!” It’s quite a treat.
Although Sam Rockwell does a fine job, I thought Saoirse Ronan should have gotten top billing, since she had far more lines than he did. And Adrien Brody does his usual job of getting under one’s skin with his intense but laid back style.
Throughout, scenes from The Mousetrap are shown. It makes me curious to read the book.
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