A whodunnit about a whodunnit, with a wonderful cast in a super slick production. See How They Run is a fast paced period piece set around Agatha Christie’s West End hit The Mousetrap. Adrien Brody is our guide setting the scene as the director Leo Kopernick who’s been hired to adapt the play for the screen. He’s American and generally scathing of the play and its cast. Let’s just say he’s not popular and before long the police are on the scene. I said the cast were wonderful, Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) are a brilliant double act and we hit the laughter quota inside the fifteen minutes. Ronan in particular is pure gold as the over enthusiastic newbie copper, but together with Rockwell, the duo do the heavy lifting. It’s not just a comedy though, this is a crafted crime caper! So, we’ve got a real murder on the set of The Mousetrap with its cast and crew as suspects. But whodunnit? The producer (Reece Shearsmith), the playwright (David Oyelowo), the star Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) who I’ve not seen before, but who’s equally as wonderful. There’s a lot of plates spinning. We’re not stuck in the theatre though. Oh no, this has got legs. With Stoppard and Stalker running around 50s London butting heads with the Police Commissioner (Tim Key), recounting fights at The Savoy and following the trail through the suspects lives and events that lead us to this point. The dialogue is whip smart, zingy with arch comments poking fun at the genre and each other. It’s designed delightfully to draw you in, to make you feel good, make you feel like you know where it’s headed. It looks beautiful too. A hyper real but authentic world in which Stoppard and Stalker duck an dive until a suitably explosive finale. I could tell you more, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy.
7/10
