Murder Mystery 2 is a 2023 American action comedy mystery film directed by Jeremy Garelick and written by James Vanderbilt. It is a sequel to the 2019 film Murder Mystery, and it stars Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. 

Murder Mystery 2 was released by Netflix on March 31, 2023. Like the original film, it also received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

One year after their escapade in Monte Carlo,  Nick and Audrey Spitz work as full-time private detectives. Accepting an invitation from their friend, Vikram "The Maharajah" Govindan, to attend his wedding on his private island, they hope their association with him will lend their failing detective agency some professional credibility. 

There, they meet Vik's French fiancée, Claudette Joubert, his flirtatious business partner, Francisco Perez, his former fiancée, Countess Sekou, Sekou's lady-in-waiting, Imani, Vik's reticent sister, Saira, his ruthless bodyguard, Lou, and the couple's old friend, Colonel Ulenga, who is now missing his left arm after saving Vik from an assassination attempt in Mumbai.

At the wedding, Audrey notices a cloaked figure following Vik's elephant. A dead body falls from the elephant and turns out to be Vik's bodyguard, Lou. Nick suspects that it is a diversion and watches Vik's abduction by a mysterious figure. Realizing that they are once again ensnared in a conspiracy, the couple determines that at least two perpetrators must have been involved: one to create the diversion and the other to kidnap Vik. 

The next morning, the group is joined by a team of professional detectives, led by former MI6 hostage negotiator Connor Miller. The kidnapper calls and tasks Nick to deliver a ransom of $70 million to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in exchange for Vik.

Traveling to Paris, Miller takes Nick and Audrey to the exchange point. The kidnappers force the couple into a van at gunpoint. Inside, the couple fights them, ending with the kidnappers dead and the van crashing into Café Procope. They realize they are being framed for Vik's abduction with footage of Nick running out of the tent brandishing a knife; Miller then arrives and clarifies that the footage is a Deepfake. After taking the briefcase of money and asking them to meet him at the La Madeleine, Miller is seemingly killed when his car explodes. A mysterious figure steals the briefcase, only to be robbed of it when hit by a truck.

With the assistance of Inspector Laurent Delacroix, Nick and Audrey trace the truck to a countryside château where they are ambushed by Sekou and Imani, who insist they are not the kidnappers and only want the money. Sekou shoots Imani and attempts to kill the couple by knocking over a candle to ignite the room, but is shot dead by a dying Imani. Nick and Audrey escape and call Delacroix and the others, requesting Vik be brought to the Le Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. Vik appears at the rendezvous, strapped into a bomb vest. Nick reasons that the killer would never jeopardize the ransom. As suspected, the bomb's countdown is suspended, and Miller, the mastermind of the abduction, appears; he had faked his death by hiding in a bomb-proof titanium chamber within the car moments before the explosion. He attempts to kill the group, along with Susan, a lonesome widow who was looking for her long-lost lover Gary, but Audrey clings to his harness and is pulled to the top floor.

Nick pursues them, subdues Miller's men, and destroys the detonator. Miller throws Audrey, who is still connected to his harness, off the tower. The two men engage in hand-to-hand combat, culminating with Nick opening the briefcase and dispersing the money into the wind. 

Meanwhile, the group helps disengage Vik's bomb, and Susan tends to Delacroix, who was shot by Miller. Susan and Delacroix instantly fall in love after Delacroix shows her how to make circles with smoke.

Up on the top floor, Audrey reappears and Nick helps her tie Miller's harness to the tower's elevator mechanism, throwing him into the rotor blades of his getaway helicopter, which explodes and crashes into the Seine.

Returning to the restaurant, Audrey mistakes Saira's darkened arm for blood, but Saira insists that her henna smeared during the commotion. Audrey remarks that once dried, henna does not smear. She recalls that Saira was not present when Vik's elephant was ushered into the reception ceremony, and realizes that the clothes of the cloaked figure who killed Lou were stained by wet henna, not blood. Saira ends up being the second conspirator; she was upset that Vik's parents gave him sole control over the business, and she had previously tried to kill him in Mumbai. She further elaborates that she hires Miller in her scheme and the ransom is actually his payment. Exposed, Saira attempts to shoot Vik, but he is shielded by Ulenga, who takes the bullet in his right arm. Claudette then knocks her out with the briefcase. 

With the commotion concluded, Vik and Claudette decide to elope and later give Nick and Audrey $10 million and the use of Vik's helicopter. On a honeymoon in Greece, they are accosted in air at gunpoint by their supposedly European helicopter pilot, who turns out to be American; he steals the money and jumps out of the helicopter, leaving them scrambling for the controls.

Cast 
 Adam Sandler as Nick Spitz 
 Jennifer Aniston as Audrey Spitz
 Mark Strong as Miller
 Mélanie Laurent as Claudette
 Jodie Turner-Smith as Countess Sekou
 John Kani as Colonel Ulenga
 Kuhoo Verma as Saira
 Dany Boon as Inspector Delacroix
 Adeel Akhtar as The Maharajah
 Enrique Arce as Francisco
 Zurin Villanueva as Imani
 Jillian Bell as Susan
 Tony Goldwyn as Silverfox
 Annie Mumolo as Mrs. Silverfox
 Myo Leong as Mr. Lou
 Carlos Ponce as Shitz helicopter pilot

Production

Development 
In October 2019, it was announced that a sequel to Murder Mystery was in development with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston reprising their roles. In August 2021, Jeremy Garelick was hired as director, from a script by James Vanderbilt, with the filming of the sequel to take place in Paris and in the Caribbean. Sandler and Aniston had confirmed their returns during the September 2021 Tudum Global Fan Event.
 
In January 2022, it was reported that Adeel Akhtar and John Kani would be reprising their roles from the first film, with Mark Strong, Mélanie Laurent, Jodie Turner-Smith, Kuhoo Verma, Enrique Arce, Tony Goldwyn, Annie Mumolo, and Zurin Villanueva joining the film as newcomers.

Filming 
Principal photography began in January 2022 in Hawaii and ended on April 8, 2022 in Paris, France.

The top three levels of the Eiffel Tower were recreated for the movie, but some stunts were actually shot on the tower itself. The Indian wedding dance scene was shot in Paris and choreographed by Mahina Khanum.

Release 
Murder Mystery 2 was released by Netflix on March 31, 2023. It reached Netflix's top 10 in over 90 countries.

Reception

Accolades 
Adam Sandler won the award for Best Comedic Performance at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards.

Notes

References

External links
 
 
 
 

2023 films
2023 comedy films
2020s American films
2020s comedy mystery films
2020s English-language films
American comedy mystery films
American sequel films
Echo Films films
English-language Netflix original films
Films directed by Jeremy Garelick
Films produced by Jennifer Aniston
Films produced by Allen Covert
Films produced by Adam Sandler
Films produced by James Vanderbilt
Films scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams
Films set in the Caribbean
Films set in Paris
Films shot in the Caribbean
Films shot in Hawaii
Films shot in Paris
Films with screenplays by James Vanderbilt
Happy Madison Productions films
Murder mystery films