See How They Run: Film Review
Saoirse Ronan is a terrific dramatic actress and she finally proves she has comedy chops too in the hilarious See How They Run.
Tom George‘s whodunit farce is set in London in 1953 and follows Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and Constable Stalker (Ronan) as they try to find out who murdered American film director Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody), who was in London to direct a movie adaptation of Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap.
Their investigation takes them on a tour of those involved with the film – screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo) and producer John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith) – and the play, from theatre impresario Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson) and lead actors Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) and Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda). Those last two names might ring a bell – that acting couple originated roles in The Mousetrap in real life and Attenborough went on to have a famed career (he’s John Hammond in Jurassic Park). The majority of the characters are fictional though.
This movie feels like it could be a Christie story but it’s very much its own thing. It pays homage to her work and she is acknowledged throughout – and she even appears on screen played by Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle!) Although the whodunit aspect is what drives the story forward, I didn’t care about the reveal too much and felt quite content watching Stoppard and Stalker’s buddy cop comedy. The reveal is rather underwhelming but I didn’t feel too disappointed as I had had lots of fun already.
See How They Run doesn’t take itself seriously and its tongue is firmly in its cheek. It is designed to be a fun, entertaining and light-hearted escape at the cinema. I had a smile on my face throughout and lapped up the amusing, witty and meta dialogue and it made me laugh often, especially when it poked fun at moviemaking.
Ronan has four Oscar nominations for her dramatic roles and she is a reliable dramatic performer so it was so refreshing to see a new side of her. This movie just proves that she can do it all. She’s responsible for a lot of the laughs as the keen and chipper but inexperienced and slightly dim constable.
She has fun chemistry with Rockwell as the weary, alcoholic inspector. They have a lovely buddy cop energy and bounce off each other to great comedic effect. He was perfectly cast as the depressed inspector and I was impressed by his British accent. My other favourites were Oyelowo as the flamboyant screenwriter and Dickinson as the charming Attenborough.
See How They Run is an absolute blast. A delightful cinema outing.
In cinemas from Friday 9th September