Die letzte Party

Columbo has been going for over 30 years in some form. The dear detective must be the oldest copper in the world. He also solves all these murder cases and never gets promoted or even a raise. In some ways that is the great charm of Columbo. A new episode is really comfort TV. You basically know what you're gonna get. Any deviations from the formula have been disastrous.This particular one is fairly routine fare with a silly script. Still, the bad folks are totally obnoxious as usual and you are always glad when they get what's coming to them.Peter Falk is magnificent as always, a fantastic seriously underrated star. Nightlife is not great but Falk makes it all work fine.

I have been a huge fan of the Columbo episodes. I liked this episode, it was pretty solid if somewhat ending to a great series, that has had some treasures(especially in the early seasons) as well as the odd disappointment. The story is pretty gripping mostly, but a little too formulaic and offers little new really. I liked the disco music, but felt the background score could at times have been more atmospheric and less obvious. Also Matthew Rhys tries his best but I found Justin one of the blander Columbo murderers for some reason and I can't quite put my finger on why at the moment. However, Jennifer Sky manages to be sexy as well as fun and touching, and while he is a little too old and perhaps too mellow Peter Falk delivers still as Columbo. Columbo Likes the Nightlife is filmed beautifully, looking modern but the darker scenes give it some suspense and foreboding, it is well directed and the script is engaging, not as clever or as intelligent as most of the other Columbo scripts, but above average still. All in all, decent episode but part of me was wanting of a stronger finish. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The greatest detective series in history comes to an end with a fine send-off. What made many (though certainly not all) of the later Columbos disappointing relative to the early ones were a) the turning of Columbo into a caricature - making himself look dumb and comical, and explaining everything five times as if speaking to a two-year old; b) excessive tampering with the tried and true Columbo formula; c) poor writing, with far fewer of the subtle and comic quotes, less successful humor, and wasted stretches with silly chatter or events that have nothing to do with the main plot. Well, this last episode does not have much humor, nor some of the great dialogue between the murderer and Columbo that many of the great episodes had. But it makes up for it by providing a ton of real sleuthing by the master, as he solves the puzzles by noticing the types of things only he would notice, and brilliantly tying it all together. It is a tight and well-written screenplay, with Columbo getting right down to business from the moment he first arrives on the scene until the very end, with the only sideshow being a minor, well done and humorous mafia subplot. After quickly identifying that it is a murder, not a suicide, and finding the suspect through astute observation and a neat detective trick, he sets out to trap the killers - not by acting like a semi-senile old man, but simply by acting naive and acceptive of their explanations - so that they say things they might not have volunteered otherwise - while at the same time dropping subtle hints to make them scared and confused. And while the music and scenery is updated to fit the modernizing times, he stays true to his character throughout. Other than one or two far-fetched things he does in finding clues (like sticking his hands into a toilet bowl), the plots and clues, and the manner in which he solves them, are quite believable. Not one of the very best episodes, but still a highly enjoyable one that honors the series and has very few uneasy or boring moments.

My girlfriend and I watched the premiere of Columbo: Columbo Likes the Nightlife tonight, and we both loved it! She got me hooked on Columbo when I first met her a couple of years ago and now we both try to catch it on TV whenever it's on... which brings me to the newest Columbo movie.

I read that ABC tried to add youth appeal to the ongoing Columbo movies. Since I'm not a teenager or twenty-something anymore, I don't know if it was successful with those demographic groups, but for myself, it was a worthy addition to the Columbo films and kept me glued to the screen.

Kudos to director Jeffrey Reiner and writer Michael Alaimo for creating a believable and gripping story with three-dimensional characters that Columbo could play along with. If you thought recent Columbo movies were still stuck in the 70s and 80s in their style, check this one out! I'm sure it was the director's previous work as an editor that helped create the never-dull-and-always-something-worthwhile-to-watch pacing. The rave scene was a good idea for the background for this story. It contrasts nicely with Columbo's polite and conservative character traits.

And it was fun to see Steve Schirripa (who plays Bobby on the Sopranos) in a small role. I would have liked to see more of him, but that's a minor quibble.

Keep up the excellent work! I would definitely want to see the same director and writer creating future Columbo movies. As for Peter Falk, he's irreplaceable! It's great seeing him in anything.

Catch this movie on DVD if it ever comes out in this format (fingers crossed) or on TV. 9/10

They actually called it 'Columbo Likes the Nightlife.' He didn't seem to be enjoying it much, though. He thought the music in the rave dance clubs was too loud, and so did I. And they even had that same awful music as background in scenes outside the clubs.

An actress has a fight with her ex-husband who was jealous of her new boyfriend, with deadly results. The boyfriend helps the survivor deal with the situation but one of the parties receives an 'I saw what you did' call. As a result of the blackmailing, the movie's murder is committed but made to look like a suicide, complete with a suicide note on a computer. Then the familiar broken-down car shows up at the murder scene with the increasingly elderly detective in his wrinkled raincoat. And he is not fooled. For those new to the 'Columbo' series of movies, the Lieutenant with no first name is very polite and appears sincerely interested in everything (usually, it turns out, because he sees a clue), but also quite obnoxious. And while he didn't appear as completely ignorant as usual to the guilty parties, he seems to know just enough to make them nervous, but he tends to be satisfied with their explanations of why things don't make sense. I have been watching these movies for about 10 years, and while there may be no reason to consider this one anything special, it did not disappoint. Unlike most murder mysteries, the audience nearly always knows who did it, but the fun is in watching the detective solve the crime.