The Stunt Man

I really like Only Murders On The Building and the central crew are as good as ever but I wonder where this season is going. This episode is nearly ruined by a self-indulgent Paul Rudd doing an appalling travesty of an "Irish" accent, for no readily apparent reason. Aside from the that, the plot is advancing with glacial slowness. I hope the writers manage to pull it together soon and I'll still keep watching, but we are starting to get a sinking feeling of resting on laurels, particularly in comparison with the brilliant Season 3. So far nothing here has marched the highlights of that season or even come close.

I like this show. I dodged it for a while as I tend to with most shows or movies subject to a heavy handed advertising campaign - but it's decent, it's funny.

This episode, though - I mean, it was fine but as someone hailing from the British isles, Paul Rudd's attempt at an 'oirish' accent was so abominably poor it spoilt the entire 30+ minutes irretrievably.

Americans can't do most non-American accents, so please stop letting them try. There are so many world class actors from Ireland and Britain in Hollywood. Stop letting people without the ability 'have a stab', because it doesn't just alienate the audiences in 4 entire countries - it also massively undermines the suspension of disbelief.

I do like this show, but it's not one I'm itching from week to week for the next episode. Just drop them in bulk like The Bear and stop pretending you're at the same level as Succession.

In the fourth episode of Only Murders in the Building season 4, "The Stunt Man," the group struggles to find answers after a cliffhanger in episode 3. Charles, who had been following Sazz through the woods, dreams of her heading to "Paradise" before gunfire. He spends the night creating a second murder board, which he shows to Oliver Mabel the next morning. The board reveals that they are looking for both the killer and the victim. As the conversation shifts to Mabel being iced out by the Westies, Charles notices a mystery man appearing in several photos on Loretta's Instagram. As Mabel discovers Sazz was also on Instagram, she heads to Concussions to get some answers. However, the bartender refuses to tell them anything and puts the group on fire for only looking into Sazz's death for their podcast. As Charles tries to reason with the group, Paul Rudd returns as Glen Stubbins, the stunt double of Ben Glenroy from season 3. They notice a mysterious woman entering the backroom, giving Mabel a glimpse of the purple lighting where Sazz's final Instagram photo was taken. Glen asks Charles to help him out by allowing him to take over as his new stunt double. They end up striking a deal with Glen, offering him a job in the Only Murders movie if they get them into the backroom to meet with the mystery lady Mabel, who turns out to be a chiropractor who helps treat the stunt doubles. Glen takes Charles to Dr. Maggie, who only agrees to speak with him if she treats him. She reveals that Sazz is preparing to retire and struggling with a difficult relationship. When she unlocks his tightened back, Charles returns to his dream state where he sees Sazz trying to make her way to Paradise. Mabel enlists Howard's help in staying in the Dudenoff apartment, knowing someone must be in the apartment at all times for her squatter plan to work. Howard is lured away by a flyer for opening casting calls for the Only Murders movie and races off without thinking. Oliver and Mabel meet at Olvier's apartment, where Oliver opens up about his relationship with Loretta. They create a burner account to spy on Loretta, which Mabel convinces him to shut down. Oliver reveals that he almost proposed to Loretta in LA but chose not to due to fear of failed marriages. Howard storms in, and Mabel realizes no one is in the apartment, putting her plan at risk. She races to the Dudenoff apartment and confronts the Westies, who reveal their involvement in a rent control scheme connected to Dudenoff. They illegally sublet the rent-controlled apartments they have been renting for years and pay Dudenoff's rent. The voice on the ham radio is Rudy's ex-girlfriend Helga, originally from Finland, who the group claims isn't all there. Vince assures Mabel they never met Sazz and o.

As a Dub living in the US I have heard some atrocious so-called accents on screen and on the job site. Before today I would not have been able to name a single thing Rudd had been in but now, memorable.

Admittedly it was not as bad as THE DEVILS OWN, enough said

Love the bar, sadly the only foreign accent in A BAR is Irish. Maybe he saw Rings of Power and thought he could impress them with a nondescript accent and get a gig that pays something worth acting for?

Show is moving slowly and feels it is adding more than it can handle at the moment or more than viewers care about but it is keeping in its lane and not trying to reinvent itself which is good.

If every American movie had its main star sounding like Larry the Cable guy, looking like Meatloaf on a bad hair day and called Kermit I think people would tire of it very quickly.

Pick up a phone, call a random number in Ireland for 5 seconds and it will help create a better accent than what we heard today.

I believe Cerberus ate a mute who was 15 generations removed from Home and he belched out a better Irish accent.

I know there are accent coaches, did amazing with Gabriel Byrne on The Assassin, and sometimes Producers want an accent to sound a certain way, even if invented, but it has to stop somewhere and hopefully the next episode can be re-dubbed this weekend

Evoke.ie/2022/12/26/entertainment/worst-Irish-accents-ever.

I was only halfway through this episode when I came here to give a 4 rating, but I've returned at the end to make it a 3.

I like Paul Rudd, even through all his depictions of Ant-Man in the Marvel movies. His career will survive this depiction of an Irish stuntman body double* for his TV actor/victim from last season. But it almost shouldn't.

It's so bad that if you fast forward through his scenes, you'll still get everything you need from this episode's modest contribution to solving the mystery, and you won't lose 90% of whatever respect you have for Paul Rudd and the show's writers.

Here's a compliment for Rudd: he must be so fun to work with that the producers and writers brought him back for this throwaway role, and the director let him ham it up (I suppose the ham theme persists throughout this season).

*I understand the outrageous accent is a deliberate effort to avoid confusing us as audience that somehow the character has come back to life, a confusion that lasts maybe one second. But there are a hundred ways they could have achieved that more easily.