Only Murders in the Building
Created by Steve Martin & John Hoffman
Starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Aaron Dominguez, Amy Ryan
Music by Siddhartha Khosla
Executive producers Dan Fogelman, Jess Rosenthal, Jamie Babbit, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, John Hoffman
Producers Thembi Banks & Jane Raab
Cinematography Chris Teague
Editors Julie Monroe, JoAnne Yarrow, Matthew Barbato
Running time 26–35 minutes
Production companies Rhode Island Ave. Productions, Another Hoffman Story Productions, 40 Share Productions, 20th Television
Distributor Disney Platform Distribution
I started watching the show for the simple reason that I couldn’t parse the title. Was it a building devoted to murders and no other crimes? There were only a limited number of murders in some particular building? Or was it a place inhabited only by murderers?
Of course, seeing the names Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez was a big selling point. Who doesn’t like any of those three?
As it is (and this is probably the least important thing I’ll say in this review) it means the trio are investigating a murder in their building, and when presented with evidence of another murder nearby in the Manhattan neighborhood, agree that their investigations should be limited only to murders that happen to have occurred in the large apartment building the three inhabit.
Tim Kono (Julian Cihi, aka “the body”) dies under suspicious circumstances. Three other residents (Martin, Short and Gomez) of the Arconia, the huge apartment building in mid-town, happen to be in the lift with Kono when he takes what turns out to be his last few minutes on Earth riding down with them, clutching a white plastic garbage bag. The three, shocked by the murder and their coincidental roles in it, discuss it and discover that all three of them are big fans of a murder/whodunnit podcast called All is Not OK in Oklahoma,(Tina Fey). Martin is a semi-retired actor, Short a failed theatrical producer, and Gomez knows how to operate a smartphone. They decide to have a podcast of their own, “Only Murders in the Building,” to uncover who killed Tim Kono.
As a whodunnit, Only Murders in the Building is fairly pedestrian, containing the requisite number of red herrings, false leads, and plot twists. Anyone remotely genre-savvy will know that Sting (Sting) isn’t the murderer because it’s only episode six, and the dead cat with a missing leg actually is an important clue. It is very competently done, and would be worth watching even without the three high-octane stars.
With Martin, Short, and Gomez, it is a delirious and rousing delight, subtle and hilarious, with three extremely engaging characters who you end up liking a lot despite their manifest flaws. Even when they reach the point in the story where they begin suspecting one another, the chemistry amongst the three actors remains very strong. It has its utterly surreal moments, such as when the three decide to trick Sting into confessing by presenting him with an early-morning fully-dressed roast turkey. (The expression on Sting’s face left me wondering if the directors had told Sting that was coming). The turkey doesn’t work, of course, but the show manages to break genre by presenting a talented member of the Police.
While the murder is solved and the baddie sent off in a police car not owned by Sting, there is a après–scène that suggests a second season is in the works.
Now on Hulu.