Stream It Or Skip It: ‘See How They Run’ on Hulu, a Fizzy, Self-Aware Murder-Mystery Bolstered by an Endearing Saoirse Ronan Performance

The murder-mystery revival has yet to run its course, as evident by the existence of See How They Run (now on Hulu), which takes the Agathe Christie-inspired genre a step further by making Christie herself a character. So yes, you’ve been warned: This is a self-aware murder mystery that’s set during the early days of the longstanding West End run of Christie’s play The Mousetrap. Amusingly – or perhaps annoyingly, depending on your tolerance for all things meta – a shocking murder within the very theater where the play is playing inspires an investigation by detectives played by Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan. So the “fake” murder mystery within the movie is the backdrop for the “real” murder mystery within the movie, which is based on a real-life fake murder mystery, with characters from real life mixed in with the characters that are just made-up. Got it? No? Doesn’t matter – you’ll probably enjoy the movie anyway.

SEE HOW THEY RUN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: “It’s a whodunit. You seen one, you seen ’em all.” Those are the words of our voiceover narrator, Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody). He explains all the tropes and clichés of the genre, including how the least-likable character ends up dead so there will be many suspects who potentially dun it. That’s an ironic statement because the first rug that gets pulled here is that Leo himself is the murderee, his head bashed in with a sewing machine, his tongue all but yanked out and his body left smack in the middle of The Mousetrap stage set – which means that yes, he’s voiceover-narrating FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. He ventures into the valley of the shadow and all that right after a party celebrating the play’s 100th show, and he made a right jackarse of himself, and we all know The Mousetrap would go on to zillions more shows right up to this very day, which makes this movie historical fiction. It’s London, 1953.

It’s a snowy evening when Inspector Stoppard (Rockwell) arrives at the theater to investigate. He’s none too amused that his partner on the case is Constable Stalker (Ronan), a rookie whose wide-eyed, meticulously note-taking, optimistic sponginess runs counter to his weary sad-sack seen-it-allness. They prod potential suspects: John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith), the film producer seeking to adapt The Mousetrap for a big Hollywood movie. Woolf wanted to hire Kopernick to direct it, and pretentious screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo) clashed with the director’s vision (par for the course for a grating hack, Kopernick wanted to transform the whodunit into a lowbrow spectacle with shootouts and explosions). Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson) owns the theater; Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) and Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda) are the couple starring in the play; Ann Saville (Pippa Bennett-Warner) is Woolf’s secretary and mistress. That’s your rogue’s gallery for you.

In subsequent days, Stoppard and Stalker interrogate the suspects, turning up this possible motive and that probable clue. Stoppard proves to be a drunk with a sad story and Stalker proves to be a go-getter with a sad story. These postwar stories are always sad beneath all the frivolity and murder, aren’t they? They interview the usher, Dennis (Charlie Cooper), who caught a glimpse of the culprit – he wore an overcoat, pants, and a hat on his head, as opposed to wherever else one might wear a hat, I suppose. Very helpful, this chap. One assumes this very same culprit also inhales oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide, and that their body is also 60 percent water. Now, you can try to piece it together and figure out the whodunit for yourself, or you can sit back and simply be entertained. I recommend the latter. Less work. Anyone around here need more work? Didn’t think so.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: See How They Run nestles in the enjoyable median between Rian Johnson’s extraordinary Knives Outs and the middling blah of Kenneth Branagh’s Christie adaptations. And at least visually, it’s a bit of a Wes Anderson-inspired take on the genre. 

Performance Worth Watching: Is Ronan ever not the highlight of the films that are fortunate enough to be honored by her presence? She’s so effortlessly funny here; she’s the catalyst for her most amusing interactions with Rockwell; she so sweetly, nonverbally conveys the tragedy that overshadows her character. She’s a treasure, as ever.

Memorable Dialogue: One of the better wink-at-the-audience exchanges:

Kopernick: The audience only ever remembers the last 20 minutes.

Cocker-Norris: Oh, poppycock!

Kopernick: Hitchcock, actually.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: As our intrepid detectives work to reconstruct the events of that tragic evening, they also deconstruct the conventions of murder-mysteries – which, if your name isn’t Rian Johnson and your twistyplots aren’t exquisitely clever, may be the only viable path for the genre at this point. And although that’s a bit of a dead end for any genre, we can set aside that analytical thread and appreciate See How They Run here and now as a reasonably well-conceived, consistently amusing, nicely acted 98 minutes of entertainment. And I guess if a movie isn’t going to be about anything – and this one is decidedly about nothing – then it might as well be about itself.

So what we have here is a fizzy, enjoyable, modestly ambitious outing with some finely detailed period set design and visual style quirks that help keep us engaged. It could capitalize more on the Ronan-Rockwell dynamic, and give them a little more leeway to transcend their character tropes, but as is, they’re a smart duo, smart enough to carry the film through its myriad twists. Christie scholars will enjoy an extra layer of meta-references, too. Anyone allergic to characters blatantly shattering the fourth wall should be at ease as well; it doesn’t happen until the final shot. That’s not a spoiler; it’s a warning – and an affirmation that the nudge-winky elements of this modest charmer don’t overstay their welcome.

Our Call: See How They Run is, simply, fun. Add in a typically charismatic Saoirse Ronan performance, and you got yourself a recommendation here! STREAM IT. 

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.