"Reunion" has a game cast but this whodunit doesn't really kill it

Reunion (2024)

If Rian Johnson’s "Knives Out" films—deliciously entertaining whodunits with all-star ensembles and rich characters to match—are the Lobster Thermidor of contemporary murder mysteries, "Reunion" is like Kraft macaroni and cheese. Maybe that’s too harsh, but we’ve been spoiled in that genre lately. Seemingly piggybacking on the success of Apple TV+ series "The Afterparty" in its two seasons, this comic whodunit based around a high school reunion is more uninspired, even with a game cast.

The graduating class of 2001 at Ridgeview High School is gathering during an incoming snowstorm at the house of hunky, wealthy asshole Mathew Danbury (Chace Crawford). There’s local cop Evan (Billy Magnussen) and best friend Ray (Lil Rel Howery), who both wish their adult lives turned out differently; journalist Jasmine (Jamie Chung), who might have unfinished business with Evan; mean girl turned politician Amanda (Nina Dobrev); peculiar outcast Vivian (Jillian Bell); and alcoholic history teacher Mr. Buckley (Michael Hitchcock). After a successful party, the guests that spend the night wake up to a dead Mathew in his bedroom. One of them has to be a killer, and they’re snowbound without any landline or cell reception. 

Off the top, it just doesn’t help that "Reunion" constantly reminds of other, better movies, including "Clue," "The Hangover," and "Game Night," and can’t really set itself apart. Director Chris Nelson (2014’s sweet, funny, underseen "Date and Switch") corrals an impressively assembled cast, but the single location in screenwriters Willie Block and Jake Emanuel’s script isn’t really used in any interesting way or shot with much style. This leaves it up to the improv-happy actors to keep this thing watchable. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: C +

Republic Pictures released "Reunion" (94 min.) on VOD on June 28, 2024.