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Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez in Only Murders in the Building (2021)

Plot

Only Murders in the Building

Edit

Summaries

  • Charles, Oliver and Mabel, three eccentric neighbors, find purpose and chaos in solving murders that hit close to home through their true-crime podcast, turning their New York apartment building into a playground of mystery and mischief.
  • In New York City, three strangers who live in the same apartment building and are obsessed with solving crimes must work together to solve real murders that have happened in the apartment building. Together, they come up with many ways to solve the cases.—RECB3

Synopsis

  • Three strangers: Charles, Oliver and Mabel live in a luxurious apartment complex in New York, the Arconia. Charles is an elderly lonely star of a 90s police series; Oliver is an elderly financially-struggling down-on-his-luck theatre and musical director; Mabel is a safety-conscious, knitting-needle wielding young lady with a rich aunt. The three are all aficionados of "true crime" podcasts. They bond during a fire alarm in the building, later finding out that a resident shot himself (as the police believe), or possibly was murdered when the alarm was pulled. Charles had noted a person entering the building, rather than leaving like the rest - the "tie-die guy". The three decide to investigate and record a podcast about it, which Oliver especially needs to sort out his money troubles. Mabel conceals from others that she actually knew the victim, Tim Kono, as a kid and teenager. They were in a friend group together, only one night one of four friends was murdered and Tim falsely testified against another friend, landing him in prison for 10 years. Charles starts dating another resident, the slightly-younger bassoonist Jan. Oliver's dog is poisoned, but recovers; on his door is a threat to end the podcast. Eventually, Mabel's conceit is revealed, and tests the trust of the team members. It turns out, the "tie-die guy" is the recently-released victim of Tim's false testimony, Oscar. Mabel and Oscar start (or continue) their relationship. The podcast is booming in popularity. The team learns that Tim was trying to bust a black market jewelry dealer, who they discover is no other than their sponsor, Teddy Dimas, the deli king. Dimas and his deaf son, Theo, get jewelry by taking it off dead bodies in a funeral home. In a flashback it is revealed Theo was the one who accidentally pushed Mabel's friend from the roof during an argument, and the Dimases then intimidated Tim Kono to lie. The Dimases are busted, but have an alibi for the time of Tim Kono's death; furthermore, the toxicology report says Tim was poisoned, and he was already dead when shot. Jan is stabbed, but recovers. The team discovers a bassoon cleaner among Tim's sex toys, and understands that Jan was his mistress and likely murderer, but Charles initially refuses to accept this. He eventually confronts Jan, who reveals she was the murderer, and has in fact poisoned Charles as well. She announces plans to poison the whole building to cover her trail, but Oliver and Mabel stop her plan with the poison-paralysed Charles in tow. As the three celebrate some time after, they receive messages to leave the building immediately: on their way out, Charles and Oliver discover Mabel kneeling over the bloody corpse of the building's owner, with whom the trio had clashed, killed with Mabel's knitting needle as she suddenly stumbled at her from the door. The police arrive and perp-walk the three, as the residents look on.

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