See How They Run

I saw The Mousetrap once. That puts me fairly common company, I suppose. Millions upon millions have seen it live.  My parents took us on a European vacation (Woo!) when I was a teenager and got tickets to Agatha Christie’s neverending legacy. I found the play good, not great, and mostly wondered how it had lasted on stage since 1952. I still don’t know the answer, but I do love how See How They Run pointed to a contract for The Mousetrap movie to begin filming when the play’s run at the West End expired. For all I know, that’s real contract and it might never get triggered. (Does the pandemic count? Should we have been privy to a Mousetrap movie by now?)

While not quite film noir, See How They Run had the corpse (Adrien Brody) serve as narrator. Adrien gets a healthy ten minutes on screen trying his best to exposit and offend at the same time … which is a difficult double; it asks one to endear themselves well enough that we will pay attention while alienating themselves enough so that homicide is plausible. And who is our narrator? Why he’s the guy who is going to put The Mousetrap on the big screen.

And where is our narrator? At the West End theater in 1952 celebrating the play’s 100th show with the cast and crew who loathe him. Within minutes, he will be found dead, mysteriously, on the stage of a play about mysterious deaths. And the film has set itself up to echo The Mousetrap itself with an inspector (Sam Rockwell) and motives and red herrings and a transparent self-awareness that the film is mirroring its subject. Oh, this thing is just full o’ clever. It would be like a Friday the 13th movie in which every victim of Jason is a machete-wielding serial killer in a hockey mask.

Aiding the inspector’s investigation is Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan), anxiously anticipating her exam to make sergeant. She’s the only one who will be doing any detecting here; the inspector has got his eye perpetually on the local pub … whichever local pub. The Constable is our conduit because she knows nothing, but wants to know everything. So which one of The Mousetrap cast and crew has killed Adrien Brody? All I can say is it’s probably not Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) because I don’t remember The Great Escape being set inside a real life prison … although that would have added a bizarre fourth wall dimension to the film, huh?

I always enjoy when the writer is having fun and it’s pretty clear Mark Chappell had a blast writing this film. There’s a really clever moment in See How They Run involving storyboarding that I will gladly regale to any audience who doesn’t mind a spoiler. As is, all I can hint without aggravation is See How They Run was put together by sharp minds. Is it drop dead funny? No. Is it a must see? No. Will it resonate beyond our current film cycle? Probably not. But the film is clever and people who like clever films shouldn’t quite race, perhaps maybe cavort, amble, or sidle their way towards the See How They Run theater of their choice.

In a London all moody and misty
Spirals a malevolence curled up and twisty
Who fabricated prey
Within the Dame’s play?
The killer is Agatha Christie!

Rated PG-13, 98 Minutes
Director: Tom George
Writer: Mark Chappell
Genre: Am I clever or what?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who appreciate “clever”
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Those who don’t