W jak morderstwo

I can't believe all the negative ratings. This is *not* a whodunnit people, it's more in the vein of The Pink Panther than Murder She Wrote. If the ringtone didn't clue you in, you're perhaps not as good as you think at "finding clues"...

Now, that you'll be coming to the movie with the right expectations, you will be in a position to savor the humor and social satire. And you'll also be in a better position to kick back and enjoy the acting in this light and refreshing comedy.

Scenario: the town of Podkowa Lesna about 50 kilometers southwest of Warsaw. Characters: Magda, her husband Tomasz, Jacek (Magda's childhood sweetheart, now a police officer), Dr. Walczak (a veterinarian), Robert (a pnony clairvoyant and healer), etc. Plot: Magda takes her dog for a walk in a park and finds a body, A piece of jewelry (a W-shaped gold pendant) links the victim with Magda's best childhood friend Weronika, who disappeared without a trace 15 years ago.

For the rest of the movie Magda tries to solve the enigma with varying success, helped/hindered by Jacek, Robert, Dr. Walczak and other town characters. At the end, everything falls into place like in an Agatha Christie novel. A subplot (which also finds solution at the end) is Magda's relation with her cold, borderline abuser husband.

I liked this movie. Production values are high including music (which quotes several times Bernard Herrmann's themes for Hitchcock). Acting is good all around (not unusual in Polish movies). Anna Smolowik playing Magda carries the movie (she is in almost every scene) with the help of her considerable charisma. Credibility is strained here and there and some comedy sequences (including a little slapstick) are perhaps not as funny as they should be but the result is an entertaining movie, well worth watching.

Magda, downtrodden housewife, nursing a sorrow from the past (her best friend from high school, Weronica, has been missing for 15years), discovers a murder victim while walking the dog.

Another school friend, Jacek, is the detective in charge of solving the murder.

All sounding a bit dark?

Well the film actually is quite quirky and takes on an Agatha Christie type feel. Magda becomes the amateur sleuth and Jacek is more of an inspector Clouseau, even though it is Magda who has the Pink Panther ringtone.

The pace keeps up and you really do like Magda and Jacek and the situations they find themselves in make you laugh.

It is an enjoyable film that makes you smile.

This is Polish version of Pink Panther series in the 60s and 70s, in a nostalgic way. In W JAK MORDERSTWO (2021), the police officer is the replica of Jacques Clouseau. However, he is just the appearance of Jacques Clouseau. The real, inner part of Jacques Clouseau is our heroine here. (It's obvious. The clue? The ringtone of her phone is, yes, Pink Panther's theme.)

What's more interesting about this movie is that the protagonist is more than the nosy, slipshod, kindhearted inspector in Pink Panther. She is actually the fragile girl (in the form of a wife/mother) in SHIRLEY VALENTINE (1989). Being mistreated by people around her, she propels herself in search for redemption of her life. From this angle, WJM is bittersweet, uplifting, as well as entertaining.

The music department has done an excellent job. Whoever responsible is wonderfully Henry Mancini-an. Great to listen to his style of music in modern day cinema after he perished a quarter of century ago.

While in a similar vein to a lot of the "cozy mystery" type TV mysteries and book adaptations, this one is definitely an upgrade on your typical Hallmark Mystery, light-entertainment iterations.

The lead character is smart but a bit zany, and is clearly wasted on being a housewife. The supporting characters are all "types", but not in a way that is annoying - her husband is a slimy jerk, the police detective is a lovable dork, the veterinarian who offers her a job is sexy and supportive, and her best friend (the policeman's sister) is quirky and blunt, and always seems to be waving fans around (but this actually pays off in the end). There's also a guru-type mystic man who has a more redeeming story-arc than I was expecting.

As a mystery fan (pun intended) myself, I was impressed by the plot. It made sense (to me - not sure why another reviewer called the story weak...) but wasn't too easy to figure out before the end. It's not exactly groundbreaking stuff but it was a lot better than it could have been.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and entertaining mystery for when you're in the mood for a light and fairly comedic outing of the genre. I was going to give it a 7/10 but feel the need to offset some of the unnecessarily harsh ratings.