Writer: Mark Rozzano
Directors: Jacob Young and Trent Garrett
With Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series delivering three delicious murder thrillers with an all star cast, it was only a matter of time before others tried to emulate their success. Enter Mark Rozzano’s A Murder Between Friends set in a castle during the reunion of a group of college friends that within minutes is ladelling on the exposition as three couples sit down for a drink sharing old enmities, former relationships and plenty of bitterness. But even better than its TV movie style is the pending arrival of legendary Joan Collins playing the star of a television detective show paired with Toby Alexander-Smith (who co-produces with Collins), one of Eastenders greatest villains ahead of his touted return to the show.
A remote castle with no staff, a group of former friends plus their partners are left to their own devices in a quiet country villa. With plenty of angst, secrets and enmity among the faux friendships, the reunion doesn’t go as planned when secrets come to light on the first night and one of the couples goes missing. It’s not too long until someone is murdered. Fortunately, private detective Francesca Carlyle is on hand to sift through the alibis, connect the clues and unmask a killer.
Very aware of its own cheesiness, not everything is as it seems in A Murder Between Friends which wastes very little time getting to the action and before 40-minutes is up reveals a secret plot between two people claiming not to know one another and the first interrogation montage by Dame Joan’s Francesca Carlisle looking every bit her best 80s glamorous self. With only 85-minutes to fill, the screenplay rattles along, not caring a fig for characterisation or credibility but relishing every exaggerated plot twist.
Ultimately, this is pretty exactly the film you expect it to be, staying just on the right side of spoof while the actors ham it up and Dame Joan steals every scene. It’s great fun if not a particularly gripping murder mystery with stunning lines such as “I’m not a psycho,” to which another character responds “Yeah, Norman Bates said that” or describing Francesca Carlyle as “Lady Columbo” – although Kat has a point when she notes “you don’t need a motive when you’re a homicidal maniac.” When characters start to speculate on what happened in dramatic reconstructions, the film hits the height of kitsch, perfect for a Sunday afternoon.
Alexander-Smith as the partner of the murdered woman Louisa, looks like he stepped out of a Ralph Lauren shoot from the 1990s, a sweater constantly draped over his shoulders. Everyone else is equally spruced up with impressive hair and chic outfits but Rozzano’s script offers up a few read herrings and a curveball or two which is all you really need from a murder mystery. Rian Johnson probably has nothing much to worry about but, in the right frame of mind, you’ll have some silly fun with this.
A Murder Between Friends on digital from 15 June 2026 (inc. Amazon, Apple TV, Sky Store, Virgin Movies, Google / YouTube Movies, Rakuten) from Plaion Pictures.
