“Generally it’s simpler to determine another person’s secret than it’s to cope with your individual.”
That statement by Steve Martin’s character in Hulu’s new comedy Only Murders in the Building is a pleasant little abstract of the present… and of the present true-crime craze, too. Solely Murders — premiering Tuesday, Aug. 31 on the streamer; I’ve seen the primary 4 episodes — takes sq. goal at our unusual collective fascination with different folks’s grisly deaths, and it pummels that concentrate on with a barrage of sharply honed laughs, bolstered by the presence of two comedy legends. Yeah, the homicide thriller stuff is simply OK. However the humor, and the surprising poignancy, right here make it a case value diving into.
Set in a charmingly hostile New York Metropolis, Solely Murders follows three residents of a swanky Higher West Facet residence constructing: Charles (Steve Martin), a barely remembered actor from an outdated TV detective present; Oliver (Martin Brief), a grandiose theater director, full with ever-present scarf; and Mabel (Selena Gomez), a morbidly inclined artist. On the floor, the three appear to have nothing in frequent — however then they study they’re all hooked on the identical true-crime podcast. Their shared love of digging into unsolved crimes kicks in when a lifeless physique is found of their constructing… they usually can’t resist the urge to analyze.
It’s a bit of bit Rear Window, a bit of bit Manhattan Homicide Thriller — and a number of enjoyable, truly. Charles, Oliver and Mabel do make an odd trio, but it surely is sensible: They’re all loners, desperately searching for a objective. All three of them have hit laborious instances in varied methods, and the scripts from Martin and co-creator John Hoffman have a shocking emotional resonance as we regularly study what’s lacking from their lives. At first, I admit that Gomez’s presence felt like stunt casting to stability out the 2 veteran comedians, however she manages to carry her personal properly because the cynical, sharp-tongued Mabel.
Solely Murders actually sings, although, when Martin and Brief are of their comedy wheelhouse. These two are seasoned professionals; with them, it’s easy. The impolite banter between Charles and Oliver is a dependable supply of guffaws, and Brief is particularly hilarious because the loudly assured, deeply insecure Oliver in a pleasant flip that reminds us simply how humorous he could be. (I might hearken to him all day recalling the catastrophe that was Splash: The Musical.) Plus, their constructing is teeming with colourful oddballs and bitter outdated grumps. In New York Metropolis, everybody’s on prime of one another and in one another’s enterprise, and the present makes good use of that overly intimate claustrophobia. No one preferred the homicide sufferer a lot, it seems, so there are many suspects — together with a big-name superstar in a supremely foolish cameo.
The precise homicide thriller plot, although, doesn’t work fairly in addition to the comedy. The preliminary homicide is only the start, revealing a Russian nesting doll of mysteries inside mysteries. However all of the twists and divulges throw a wrench into the comedic momentum, they usually’re sort of predictable — nearly compulsory. (It’d be refreshing to see a TV present that doesn’t tease a homicide thriller with cliffhangers and pink herrings, at this level.) I by no means discovered myself getting all that invested in who the killer is, actually. I simply stored desirous to get again to the comedy bits. But when sitting by means of a mediocre homicide story is what it takes to listen to Martin Brief sing the praises of consuming dips for dinner, I say: Signal me up.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: As a homicide thriller, it’s simply OK, however as a comedy, Hulu’s Solely Murders within the Constructing is a case value investigating.