The Thursday Murder Club

Despite a stacked cast, this doesn't quite capture the charm of the novel, but it's still pretty decent. Perhaps a limited series -- maybe 4 episodes or even 2 -- would have allowed for better character development. I like the colorful touches they added to Pierce Brosnan's character but Celia Imrie's role is reduced (Joyce was the book's narrator). Certain things are simplified. David Tennant is a lot of fun, and I really liked Naomi Ackie. Would love to get the sequel adaptations.

I’ve not read the book and most likely won’t but as stand alone TV entertainment of the whodunnit variety I thought this was good. I honestly thought, even hopped, that with such a great cast this would be great. The acting is excellent as are the cinematography, locations and sets. Overall though I think it’s just the plot that lets it down, for such a long movie it could have done with a deeper story and more intrigue, that’s what comes of making a movie based on a book, especially when, as it seems in this case, the book was a lot better.

I'll echo other comments here. The cast is perfect, but the adaptation doesn't have the same charm, and this is largely due to the fact that Joyce isn't the main character here. I know Helen Mirren is a big name, and there are Elizabeth POV chapters in the book, but shifting the focus to her loses all the wide-eyed wonder we get from Joyce being the main POV.

And yes, definitely would have been better as a series. Cutting a whole subplot seemingly has caused a strange change for the fate of a main-ish character.

It's certainly not a departure from the source material in a way like the Percy Jackson films were, but we've recently seen how much better they fared as a TV series too (with more faithful adaptation choices). The Thursday Murder Club's dynamics still shine through enough to make this enjoyable.

I’ve never been a bookworm, but now I understand why people always complain about film releases never matching up to their written counterparts. The film it self is very enjoyable but there is a certain charm of the books that’s been lost with Celia Imrie’s character Joyce, the narrator of the books losing that role in the film and thus it taking away a lot of her funny quips.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the film and I imagine most people will too, especially if they haven’t read the books. The stellar cast performances really make the characters stand out.

Now for the slight spoilers. Changing the killer and motive for the main murder and having it be one of the series more beloved characters is a massive misstep in my opinion. If (or perhaps when) they decide to turn some of the other books into films and how they may go about being them back if they do at all is going to be interesting. Considering how pivotal he is to the TMC team.

On the whole definitely worth a watch, now I’m off to re-read the first book in the series to jog my memory of how it really happened.

I’m really looking forward to this… personally, I try not to miss anything with Helen Mirren!!! (She’s incredible)