Invitation to a Murder

This is a murder mystery in a setting similar to films like Murder on the Orient Express and Clue, sadly as much as this isn't a terrible movie, it isn't up there with those classics.

On the plus side, the story is quite compelling and doesn't go in the obvious direction. It's also not stuffed with too much filler.

Unfortunately there are some major criticisms i have with this, not least the atrocious accents that range from Traditional English to Pantomine Dame. However it's the main character where's i have most issues. First off, she looks like she's walked in right off the catwalk, not Mid 20th Century England, but worse than that, is how her character behaves. Are we really to believe a group of Adults, most older than her, are going to be bossed around like school Children by a Florist. She even gives orders to the Detective. Why on Earth would anyone let a normal civilian interrogate and order them around, even if she was good at selling murders. At least Jesscia Fletcher of Murder she wrote had the decency to speak to people with respect, this woman was a trumped up snob that in reality would be laughed at. This is a shame, because it's so distracting from the movie, it means it's quite hard to get into.

Still, if you have 90 mins free and there's no better options, it should prevent boredom.

This movie was Agatha Christie on a budget but I still found it engaging. Fun to see Mischa Barton (The OC) again and she did an engaging job with her central character.

The plot was straightforward enough though certainly not original, it seemed to take from several other Agatha Christie stories and mash them together.

It seems like they are setting this up for a series starring Mischa Barton as the new female detective heroine and I would watch another one of these for sure. I'm a sucker for British murder mysteries and this was as good as many so why not?

Still 40 characters short, the review length criteria is too long on IMDB.

At first this movie had all the hallmarks of a decent little detective mystery movie in the style of Knives Out or Mourder on the Orient express. It has a decent set up, a coherent plot, it establishes its characters and starts to build on their motives.

Unfortunately, it then suffers from having a beginning, no middle and then ends. Why? Probably due to budget or talent or deadline. Who knows. But right until it had me hooked about an hour in, it started to move toward a conclusion and finished.

It's a shame. Micha Barton was a surprise and the set up was good, so, half a film. Still, better than no film at all.

Seems to be a remake of agatha christie's novel "and then there were none". They even mention christie by name in the first minute! Micha barton is miranda green. She notices little details. So when guests at an estate start dying, she's determined to figure it out before the police arrive. Alex hyde white (plays sean, the butler) is the son of wilfrid hyde white, who was in the 1965 version of ten little indians! And in some other pretty big films too. My fair lady, third man. It's mostly good. Never gets too suspenseful, but there are some twists and turns. The guests' stories near the end really slow down the story. They seem to drag on and on. And one demerit for some silly little mistakes that a solid christie fan probably would not make. Directed by stephen shimek.

Set in England (or a small island just off the coast) however none of this movie feels like England, which isn't surprising considering it was filmed in the U. S. Even lacking English accents (accurate ones, anyway), and awkwardly including American idioms throughout (e.g. English police do not carry guns). An uninteresting mystery with an unlikable protagonist and a rather boring conclusion. It sets itself up as the potential first in a series of movies starring the same amateur sleuth, but I will not be interested in anything that follows. It is nothing like the Agatha Christie mysteries it is trying to emulate, and it leaves a rather unpleasant taste, so I'm off to watch something starring David Suchet to cleanse my palate.