Stubs - See How They Run

See How They Run (2022) Starring Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Harris Dickinson and David Oyelowo. Directed by Tom George. Screenplay by Mark Chappell. Produced by Damian Jones, Gina Carter. Run time: 98 minutes. UK/US Color. Mystery. Comedy.

“If you’ve seen one murder mystery, you’ve seen them all,” or that’s what they’d want you to believe. See How They Run, which opened in September, tells one set against the long-running Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which at the time the film opens, in 1953, has just run for 100 performances. (For a reality check, the play, which opened on October 6, 1952, is still running nearly 70 years later. And, by the way, the play has never been made into an English-language film, as that has to wait for the play's run to end.)

John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith), Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson),
and Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo).

There is talk about making a film out of the play and an ex-patriate American director, Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody), has been hired by producer John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith), best known for his work on The African Queen, to prepare for that eventuality. Also brought in on the process is screenwriter  Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo) and he and Leo don’t see eye to eye on the adaptation. Which, when Leo ends up dead, makes Mervyn one of the leading suspects.

Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan).

Brought in to investigate the murder is Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan). She’s relatively new to the squad and has more enthusiasm than experience. He is just the opposite as his enthusiasm for the job is low. She continues to jump to conclusions while he takes a wait-and-see approach.

The film mixes fictional characters like Köpernick, Cocker-Norris, Stoppard and Stalker with real people, like Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickson) and his wife Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda), who starred in the first run of the play, producer John Woolf, and writer Agatha Christie (Shirley Henderson).

The acting is, in the vernacular of the times, top drawer. Rockwell and Ronan do excellent work as the team thrown together to investigate the murder. While both do great jobs of creating likable characters, they also bring a certain depth to each. Ronan displays good comedic timing and the two display good on-screen chemistry.

 American director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) putting the moves on
Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda). Is this what gets him killed?

Adrien Brody does a good job as the unlikable American director, whose murder brings about the events of the film. He serves as an occasional narrator for the film, setting things up and then wrapping up the story afterward.

Not being familiar with what Richard Attenborough or his wife Sheila Sim were like in the early 1950s, it is safe to say that Dickson and Chanda didn’t go overboard in their depictions. Attenborough’s, or Dickie’s as he referred to in the film, habit of calling people “Darling” was a real-life quirk of the actor’s. It was what he called people who’s names he’d forgotten. This is one of the small details captured in the screenplay.

Mark Chappell’s script deserves a lot of credit, writing a murder mystery set against the production of a murder mystery is an interesting premise. He adds just enough of everything from mystery, humor, foreshadowing, and puns to the mix. There are plenty of inside jokes and references if you care to look for them as well. The end result is a very well-told story that is a joy to listen to as well as watch.

One observation, the film seems to try a little too hard to be woke. It appears to have made up at least two characters and repurposed a real person from White to Black to make the cast more diverse. While this doesn’t take away from the story, this seems to be a real trend in cinema these days. The characters, though, do fit in well with the story being told, even if their actions are at times a little too modern for the time the film was set.

I can’t go into any details as to the plot and the outcome, as I’ve been sworn to secrecy by the film not to tell anyone who the real killer is. Telling that now would definitely ruin the film and the fun of watching See How They Run. I would highly recommend that you find out for yourself.