Reunion

This was a very straight-down-the-middle comedy mystery that you will likely completely forget about within days. At a 20 year high school reunion party, the person holding the event winds up murdered, and the killer is one of the guests who crashed overnight due to a snowstorm.

At first, I wasn't even sure I could finish the movie. The first 30 minutes are achingly unfunny. Once the murder happens, the film manages to kick into gear, delivering a couple of mild laughs. I actually thought the murder mystery plot was done well. Performances across the board are all great, with Jillian Bell (who usually annoys me), Jamie Chung, Nina Dobrev and Michael Hitchcock all being standouts.

I'm glad I managed to get a little bit of enjoyment out of it, so I don't feel like I wasted my time. But, with a copyright date of 2022, it's easy to see why this sat around unreleased for two years. Those first 30 minutes are an embarrassingly unfunny slog to get through, and although it improves from that point, it's hardly a laughfest.

A decent and enjoyable whodunit that has its attractive features (the cast, mostly), but it only works if you're not much demanding on the plot and some of its loose ends. I liked it, as there was a fair share of laughs and the mystery was quite involving, but it's one of those things I had to lower my expectations for a little while. If looking for a "Knives Out" kind of experience, better look elsewhere. "Reunion" is more about the awkward humor that comes in a high school friends reunion than it is actually about solving a murder case on an isolated mansion. But the detective story is there in between a series of confusions, attempts of rekindling with old crushes and letting past high school traumas come to surface.

It's hard to go wrong with those kind of films but when the intelligence is a little limited or the excess of cliches and characters stereotypes take over, it can be a problem. The moments at the party were a little annoying and most of the characters fun looked fake, abruptly cut here and there as if the director didn't know what he was trying to show. But when the crime happens and they all begin to investigate, it gets better and fun to watch.

"Reunion" hits a different and positive note as we don't have an outside detective looking for clues, but instead all the characters try to find who killed the host and the reasonings for it. Not exactly a jawdropping mystery but it's amusing anyway.

Its quality lies on the cast, all comfortable in their roles, specially the shy cop played by Billy Magnussen, and Jillian Bell as the least likely person to attend such party, as she was never part of the gang since she was a bully victim. Her creepy character is hilarious and steals the show. Didn't exactly like the loudmouth Ray (Lil Rel Howery), super annoying for the most part and only having his moments of triumph on the bathroom scene and at the end. He just tries too hard to be funny.

If the idea is to kill some time with some laughs and go for a detective mode while trying to solve the case before anybody, "Reunion" serves well exactly for such purposes and nothing more. 6/10.

'Reunion' came out of absolutely nowhere. 24 hours ago I hadn't even heard of it. Tonight I found myself really enjoying it. It was exactly my kind of movie. An isolated mystery/whodunit with a pretty decent cast. Sign me up immediately. And even though it was a little formulaic, it ticked all the boxes that needed to be ticked.

The film leans a lot more towards the comedy side of things than taking itself too seriously. That said, I thought it found a pretty good balance. There was one character played by Jillian Bell who was perhaps a little overly comedic for the overall tone of the film - but she was so funny and got so many laughs out of me that I didn't even mind.

The key thing for a film like this to stick the landing. It needs a good wrap up that makes you think back on everything you've seen and see it in a different light. This film had that. It was a well done ending. 'Reunion' is a really good time and a film I would happily recommend. 7.5/10.

The major reason I watched Reunion is because I like Jillian Bell. She's just a funny person, she can make serious faces that just make you laugh. So I was expecting some good funny moments but it fell a bit short. It's all watchable but it could and should have been funnier. It's basically a whodunit movie, just not the best one in my opinion. It's a genre of movies that needs much more suspense to be good, and although it's not obvious who did the crime I wasn't that entertained. My wife liked it better than me. The acting wasn't bad, some characters were more enjoyable to watch than others. It has just all been done before, and better...

I think the score of 5 is pretty harsh, I actually thought this movie was really good.

True it could have been a bit polished in certain places and packed in even more jokes, but I enjoyed it.

I think Lil Rel Howery is brilliant in this, he almost reminds me of Kevin Hart, who might have been a better lead in this, just due to the fact he is such a great comedian and would have brought more laughs in.

The cast is good; they're all established actors, but I can't help but feel a different cast would have made a massive difference. I like Jamie Chung, I like Nina Dobrev, but not all actors suit comedy roles.

I did like the murder reveal at the end, guessed part of it, but the final reveal was a bit of a surprise.

All in all, had some really good laughs, could have been better but I enjoyed it.