Reunion

With its B-movie cast, director Chris Nelson's murder-mystery comedy "Reunion" should be B-movie standard, but despite not being lol funny its whodunnit plot (from debut writer Willie Block & second-time Jake Emanuel) keep it engaging enough. Small-town douche Chace Crawford is slain at a 'Class of 01' high-school reunion at his mansion, with suspicion falling on those trapped there overnight (and subsequent days) by a huge snow-storm: Lil Rel Howery; politician Nina Dobrev; cop Billy Magnussen (good); reporter Jamie Chung; oddball Jillian Bell (meh); & teacher Michael Hitchcock... but whodunnit? It won't sweep any awards, but it ain't too bad.

This was a very straight-down-the-middle comedy mystery that you will likely completely forget about within days. At a 20 year high school reunion party, the person holding the event winds up murdered, and the killer is one of the guests who crashed overnight due to a snowstorm.

At first, I wasn't even sure I could finish the movie. The first 30 minutes are achingly unfunny. Once the murder happens, the film manages to kick into gear, delivering a couple of mild laughs. I actually thought the murder mystery plot was done well. Performances across the board are all great, with Jillian Bell (who usually annoys me), Jamie Chung, Nina Dobrev and Michael Hitchcock all being standouts.

I'm glad I managed to get a little bit of enjoyment out of it, so I don't feel like I wasted my time. But, with a copyright date of 2022, it's easy to see why this sat around unreleased for two years. Those first 30 minutes are an embarrassingly unfunny slog to get through, and although it improves from that point, it's hardly a laughfest.

What in God's name was this!

Half a movie looking like a bad teenage movie with bad acting and childish humour. Jokes and gags about sex, drinking and more sex are about 20 years old. Arrogant characters putting down weak-willing ones with the odd crazed one making stupid comments is also 20 years old.

Then out of nowhere come the finale and the whole plot of the movie comes out. A crime solved with the motive and murderers blurted out l, with details only the writers knew about. Totally ridiculous and pointless ending. And no reason to care about any of the characters either.

Oh, and there's another black character who just rambles constantly and is incessantly annoying, while throwing in the odd curse like a "tru-bro" does. How unoriginal.

Basically a load of utter rubbish!

I think the score of 5 is pretty harsh, I actually thought this movie was really good.

True it could have been a bit polished in certain places and packed in even more jokes, but I enjoyed it.

I think Lil Rel Howery is brilliant in this, he almost reminds me of Kevin Hart, who might have been a better lead in this, just due to the fact he is such a great comedian and would have brought more laughs in.

The cast is good; they're all established actors, but I can't help but feel a different cast would have made a massive difference. I like Jamie Chung, I like Nina Dobrev, but not all actors suit comedy roles.

I did like the murder reveal at the end, guessed part of it, but the final reveal was a bit of a surprise.

All in all, had some really good laughs, could have been better but I enjoyed it.

The major reason I watched Reunion is because I like Jillian Bell. She's just a funny person, she can make serious faces that just make you laugh. So I was expecting some good funny moments but it fell a bit short. It's all watchable but it could and should have been funnier. It's basically a whodunit movie, just not the best one in my opinion. It's a genre of movies that needs much more suspense to be good, and although it's not obvious who did the crime I wasn't that entertained. My wife liked it better than me. The acting wasn't bad, some characters were more enjoyable to watch than others. It has just all been done before, and better...