The simulation will occasionally throw you a curveball. It doesn't seem good at all for Murder Mystery 2. The Netflix original follows up the completely pointless 2019 Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston comedy Murder Mystery. In it, Sandler and Aniston reprise their roles as Nick and Audrey Spitz. They are a couple from New York who get into the bloody inheritance shenanigans of a wealthy European family in the first movie and tried to solve the mystery.

Now, they’ve formed their own not very successful private-investigation firm and are nearly broke. So, when they recieve invites to the wedding of their gazillionaire pal Vikram they pounce at the opportunity.

It would be reasonable to expect little from the sequel to the first Murder Mystery given its clumsy, point-and-shoot approach. As far as I can remember, Grown Ups 2 was Sandler's only previous live-action sequel.

The first half of the movie takes place on a stunning island and the second half is in Paris. The notion of Sandler and his friends traveling to a different part of the world starts to feel fairly novel. In this moviemaking age, the most costly exotic location is a gigantic LED screen or a converted parking lot.

As does the pleasant spectacle of movie stars simply being movie stars. With Sandler in full untucked beardo zhlub mode and Aniston looking like she’s been preserved in bubble wrap since 1999, each feels like a perfect avatar of a particular strain of stardom; you can imagine a whole inner life and backstory for their characters. Nick and Audrey are extremely familiar with one another’s foibles, but they’re also protective, sweet, and trusting. Their bickering is constant but good-natured. Each knows where the other’s boundaries are. They feel like a real married couple — more so than they did in Murder Mystery, frankly.

The new movie runs on vibes more than plot. Neither the murder nor the mystery in Murder Mystery 2 is of any note, but the film commits in other ways. The throwaway comedy bits actually land this time around. I found myself laughing out loud at many of its dumb little gags, such as Nick’s obsession with a particular kind of cheese served at the wedding (“The cheese has a hold on me!”), one character’s constant references to his sexual prowess, and some grisly fun with an ax stuck in a random goon’s head.

He is also a good actor. The movie picks up after our protagonists arrive in Paris and has thrilling (and genuinely funny) vehicle chases. (In the first film, the weakest scene is a vehicle chase that seems like it is shot with a zoom lens.) One wonders if some of the magic that Netflix France has been working on in recent years has trickled down to this production. Netflix France has established itself with a wonderful run of straightforward, stunt-based action movies. Either that or Sandler sincerely desired to attempt this action-comedy before he grew too old for it.

The Netflix algorithm will toss this content at you even if you never requested it, thus there was no need for this movie to be entertaining. It may be the key to the movie's attractiveness. Murder Mystery 2 is aware of its position.

Murder Mystery 2 is now streaming on Netflix.