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Produced by Ron Jackson, Nick and Lana throw cocktail parties in their apartment suite hoping to identify who killed a neighbor. The story features an ensemble cast, including Jessicah Neufeld, Jason Bernardo, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Lucy Boryer, Nerissa Tedesco, Ricardo Molina, Jeff Nimoy, Caroline Amiguet, Brian Lally, and Thurman Dalrymple.
Putting a spin on the whole genre, Murder and Cocktails adds webcam, vox populi, and all-access influencer styles. It definitely suits their characters who are concentrated on gossip and wealth but it also creates an overly commercial feel to the film. Then the way it progresses mixes that with a classic soap opera atmosphere, that balance in itself does work but you can sense that it wants more, which is out of its grasp. There’s an effort to achieve a dark, winding biting tone which is eluded by that very style.
Their foundation is solid. In fact, it resonates with the contemporary trend in TikTok people obsessing over unsolved crimes. Still, it does not stop there. All the main characters are weak, thoroughly insipid, and simply unsympathetic. Some of the choices made are also rather dubious, specifically the somewhat clumsy and overtly voyeuristic “Trans” character. The overly self-conscious score also makes the dialogue sound worse than it actually is.
When that score overshadows the performances, the performances lose any shred of sincerity. Our sleuth couple’s main performances are shot comically with Jessicah Neufeld and Jason Bernardo only tangentially portraying their relationships and even their motivation was rather poor. The same could be said about the ensemble, which consisted of a number of smaller characters who each had very big personalities and some were more convincing than others. The melodrama is strong with this one, so choose wisely if it’s necessary for them to turn everything to 11 or if some restraint is needed.
Murder and Cocktails has a great concept however, its implementation is quite bland. The story feels more like a soap opera than a mystery drama, especially when there is a lack of comedic relief. The writing does not have a good flow, which makes the ending feel unsatisfactory. The direction and plot are good, but it feels extremely generic. The acting is very inconsistent and the overall portrayal of the main characters lacks depth. They don’t seem to take their roles seriously; rather, they come across more like con artists than detectives.
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