A Deadly Invitation

I know it usually called Murder Mystery - so no pun intended as always if you will. That said, you have to have a special humor and a vested interest in the genre - that is crime movies but also the whodunnit aspect of it all. Are you interested? Do you like it when you can keep guessing? Not that this movie is anywhere close to the greats (that includes the recent Daniel Craig movies with Glass Onion and so many others).

The acting is ok, the movie itself knows what it wants to tell - though the pacing could be better I reckon. We do have some flaws and some inconsistencies to overcome. Nothing too major ... but I also reckon many probably will know where this is heading, before it ends up there ... still it is fun and what more could you ask of a movie?

This Mexican murder mystery opens with a variety of people being invited to the home of Olivia Uriarte. They include Olivia's sister Agatha, who runs her own true crime podcast; Olivia's ex-husband and other people she knows. When they arrive they are assigned specific rooms but there is no immediate sign of their host. She meets them later aboard a boat. Once together she tells them how each of them has a motive to kill somebody in the group. In the morning Olivia is found dead. To complicate matters at the time the boat is positioned where two police jurisdictions meet. While it is decided who should investigate the guests stay in the house and a junior police officer along with Agatha start asking questions and exposing secrets.

I thought this will was okay; not terrible but not great either. The mystery is intriguing enough and there are some decent twists but there is also far too much standing around talking. I know some viewers had a problem with the main investigator being an amateur rather than the police officer but that has been a genre staple for about as long as there have been murder mystery stories. Inevitably there are quite a few clichés but the final resolution worked for me and felt somewhat original. The acting is decent enough and the location used is impressive. Overall It is distinctly sub-Christie but is okay if you like the genre and fancy watching something set somewhere more exotic than the typical English village.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.

Booriiiinggg. It is no need to comment too much. I finished 15 minutes and I can say enough fake agatha Christie stories please! This is not convincing. I felt lots of vibes from this movie. Everybody does something very suspicious and also from the beginning in podcast part, she says 'if you look at details, you can solve' and you try to not miss anything and this is really boring. Every scenes are so tiring! I didn't like it. I can say that. I think for this genre, every thing has been said and no new anymore. My words finished here. It was in my list and I think I will not finish the movie. Because it didn't capture me.

I wasn't going to see this movie because I thought it was going to be about divas on a yacht, sex and drugs or something like that. The truth is that I found it very entertaining and different. The story may be somewhat cliché, yes, we already know it, but this one has very unexpected and original twists until the very end, and it is very comfortable to watch, with great landscapes and photography of Mexico, and some good actors, not all. Regina Blandón and Maribel Verdú are the stars!

The reactions of this funny group of friends after a dramatic situation could have been more real, although that gives it that touch of parody and eccentricity, that's what it's all about.

They also could have used more and better humor, since the jokes are somewhat bland.

It's like watching a long episode of the English series 'DEATH IN PARADISE', which I love. Even the movie poster!

Much better than I expected, and I think the rating is too low, this movie it's sarcasm, parody, and adventure with that good feeling of mistery to be solved on the beach and vacation atmosphere that we all like.

I definitely recommend it, very refreshing and original, just to have a good and chill time. And with a totally unexpected ending.

Just boring to watch this whodunit movie. The main lead does all the work and police keeps listening to her just because she has podcast on solving cases. She has authority to call others, go outside and all others are confined in the mansion. After 15 mins you will just want to fast forward it to the end to know the culprit. They tried to copy from knives out but failed badly The cast is total let down. Need to fill in some text to complete the character requirement. Just copying the above.

Just boring to watch this whodunit movie. The main lead does all the work and police keeps listening to her just because she has podcast on solving cases.