SEE HOW THEY RUN

Not only is the pacing of the movie curiously off, the picture never quite knows what kind of film it wants to be.

There is an abundance of charm in See How They Run. In the wonderfully rendered production design. In the embrace of old-fashioned whodunit conventions. In some of the performances of a fine cast as well. And yet it is hard to describe See How They Run as anything even close to a good film.

For starters, the pacing of the movie is curiously off, making it hard to really get swept away by the story. Secondly, the picture never quite knows what kind of film it wants to be. Does it really want to replicate the cheesy, over-the-top stagey whodunits of yesteryear? Or is it a postmodern take on the genre, nodding and winking along the way?

See How They Run wants to do both and thus ends up as a frustrating tonal hodgepodge. I could add the uninspired direction and more than a handful of lazy plot holes, but the one thing that ultimately lets the movie down the most is its denouement.

Mess that up as a whodunit and you're toast ...

release: 2022

director: Tom George

starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson