Murder Mystery 2 murdered my faith in Netflix sequels. Netflix has recently come out with two sequels to murder mystery movies that in no way needed a sequel. The first “Knives Out 2” was phenomenal and found a way to build upon the first movie while also creating something completely different. The second of these movies  “Murder Mystery 2” the sequel to “Murder Mystery” starring Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler was simply a copy and paste of the original that tried to convince you that it was something new and original. 

The first movie follows a married couple, Nick Spitz (Adam Sandler) and Audrey Spitz (Jennifer Anniston) when they go on a European vacation to bring back the spark in their marriage, only to be somehow framed for the murder of an elderly billionaire, Malcolm Quince. 

“Murder Mystery 2” takes place four years after the events of the first movie. After solving the mystery in the previous movie Nick and Audrey decided to become private investigators. Albeit not very good ones. One day they get a call from the Maharaja (Adeel Akhtar) whom they met in the first movie – to invite them to his wedding on his private island. During the wedding reception, the Maharaja is kidnapped, and our mystery begins.

As an avid watcher of mystery movies, I thoroughly enjoyed the first installment of this series, so when I found out that a sequel was being released, I was excited to jump back into the world. One of my favorite aspects of the first movie was the humor, which never failed to make me laugh out loud. I expected this same aspect to be present in the sequel but was very disappointed to find that many of the “jokes” fell flat in comparison to those in the first movie. There were small moments when I found myself smiling but it in no way compared to the crying-laughing I did when watching the first movie. 

Various elements of the movie were disappointing when talking about the plot of the movie as well. There was a lack of new ideas for the plot of this movie because a majority of the major events felt as if they were directly copied from the first movie. In the first movie, Nick and Audrey are framed for the murder of Malcolm Quince and have to hide from the police while simultaneously trying to solve his murder. 

Now in the sequel, they are framed for the kidnapping of the Maharaja and have to hide from the police again while trying to save the Maharaja from his kidnappers. They even bring back the same cop that was trying to arrest them in the first movie. I can understand how the writers might have felt that it was a good idea to include cameos from the original cast for the sake of nostalgia, but if they were going to bring the cop back they should have done it in a way that wasn’t so similar to the first movie.
I came into this movie with the mindset that it would resemble the way the “Knives Out” sequel was created, in which the sequel’s only link to the original was the detective, Benoit Blanc. Had “Murder Mystery 2” done this  I believe that this movie would have turned out to be really good but because it relied so heavily on the structure of the first movie I found it to be really hard to enjoy. If you haven’t watched the first movie yet, then I’m sure you can find many components about this movie to enjoy, if you have then you should pass on this movie.