Murder most fun

• Published date: 15 August 2023
• Publication title: Signal

A FEW years ago, when naming a career-best comedy trio featuring Steve Martin and Martin Short, the presumed missing person would be their Three Amigos co-star Chevy Chase. But now, as their hit show Only Murders In the Building enters its third season, Selena Gomez has firmly taken that spot. What seemed like stunt-casting when the series premiered back in 2021, or a cynical ploy to give the show cross-generation appeal, has created one of the most delightful trios on television. In the show’s best season to date, the amateur sleuths/podcasters return to solve another murder, the warm chemistry between them is even more bewitching, and the mysteries and twists are inspired. The dialogue is still silly but sharp, and it truly sings when Martin, Short and Gomez all interact to create an old-school jazzy quality. It is not the easiest narrative to sell, to convincingly keep these very different characters, who have little in common, in each other’s lives — but good news! The old gang have to get back together because, you guessed it, there was a murder, and it was in the building

Technically, the second season of this mystery-comedy series ended on a murder. Oliver (Short) was finally back directing a play on Broadway after a notorious flop landed him ‘‘15 years in Broadway jail’’. Alas, on opening night, his superstar lead Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), collapsed dead, seemingly ending the play, and Oliver’s career, again. Not that the success of that play felt assured, given the show’s tendency to make every element as absurd as possible. On occasion, this is something that has proven grating, but this time round the daftness of the fact that Oliver is directing ‘‘a play called Death Rattle. Set in a lighthouse in a Nova Scotia where the only witness to a murder is a baby’’ never gets old. A particular delight are the scenes where the self-serious actors are giving it their all in rehearsals, and Rudd’s Hollywood blowhard of a character has to brandish a rattle threateningly. Thankfully, he is given more than just a cameo and is phenomenal as a douchebag movie star who swans into rooms, makes a series of penis jokes, lets his co-star Kimber (Ashley Park) know he has ‘‘timber for Kimber’’ and swiftly hands out a series of NDAs. Every detail about Rudd’s Ben is hilariously terrible, from his treatment of his assistant/brother to his strong opinions on the colour palette of his dressing room and his biggest claim to fame being the star of a series of CoBro films...