Murder Mystery 2 Defies Critics to Become Another Huge Adam Sandler Hit for Netflix

Having landed almost identical mediocre reviews to its predecessor, you would think that Murder Mystery 2 would have struggled to find an audience. However, the pull of free entertainment as part of an already paid-up streaming service subscription has proven too much to resist as the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston movie racked up 42 million views in its first three days. The huge viewership gives Murder Mystery 2 the second biggest opening weekend for a comedy movie on Netflix.

Murder Mystery 2 managed to claim the top spot in Netflix’s movie chart with 64.42 million hours viewed in week ending April 2. In addition to the success of the new movie, the release also saw the original film pull in 24.7 million watched hours. One again the high viewership of the movie has not seemingly been impacted by the mixed to negative reviews that have been coming in from both critics and audiences alike.

While the film has not exactly been met with great enthusiasm on its review side, the viewer numbers will once again make Netflix happy, and someone who has loved being part of the film was director Jeremy Garelick. In an interview with Moviewebs’ Nicki Sun, Garelick shared his pride in many of the movie’s set-piece scenes. He said:

“I’m really proud of the whole movie, but looking at some scenes that I’d never really had the opportunity—I never really had the chance to do some gigantic, action sequences like we did on the Eiffel Tower… that car chase scene was so fun to do—took a lot of preparation. The Bollywood dance was something I really enjoyed doing. The giant scenes were amazing, but also the small intimate scenes that had Adam and Jen making jokes and to me, that was a dream come true.”

Related: Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler Want Something Serious for Their Next Film Together

Adam Sandler Has Struggled More In his Comedy Movies Than Dramatic Roles

While there was a time when Adam Sandler seemed to be able to do no wrong, his most recent comedy offerings have failed to hit the heights of his earliest movies. What has become apparent is that Sandler’s talents as a dramatic actor are equal to anything he has done in comedy movies. This was proven in his role in Uncut Gems, and last year’s Hustle. The latter in particular showed Sandler playing to what seems to be his greatest strength, dropping his tried and tired goofball routine and acting in a role that requires him to really act and deliver a more gentle humor.

As part of his Netflix deal, Sandler has plenty more movies to come, including sci-fi drama Spaceman, animated movie Leo, and The Out-Laws which are both hitting the platform later this year. Whether they will fare better with critics than Murder Mystery 2 seems to be almost a moot point, as regardless of reviews, Sandler’s movies seem almost guaranteed to deliver exactly what Netflix wants; high viewer volumes.

Both Murder Mystery and Murder Mystery 2 are available now to stream on Netflix.