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THE BUZZ ON WHAT TO WATCH, READ & LISTEN TO THIS WEEK!

- Tom Gliatto,LIZZ SCHUMER,ANDY ABRAHAMS,RACHEL BURCHFIELD,RENNIE DYBALL,RICHARD EISENBERG,LOUISA ERMELINO,LISA GREISSINGER,KIM HUBBARD,WADZANAI MHUTE,MARION WINIK,PAULA WOODS

The Thursday Murder Club | NETFLIX

You’re never too old to learn … a killer’s identity

COMEDY-DRAMA

We’d like to make a proposal: After a certain age (one that won’t be specified here), hardworking actors should be entitled to the largesse of an arts foundation called the Angela Lansbury Endowment. Inspired by and named for the beloved Murder, She Wrote star, the endowment would create projects—cozy, old-school mysteries—for performers in the mood to kick back and enjoy themselves after decades of earnest, challenging work.

Certainly Helen Mirren, who in just the past year starred in two TV series, MobLand and 1923, deserves such consideration. She’s distinguished herself in a range of unflinchingly tough roles, notably Jane Tennison in the Prime Suspect TV films. None of those was a cozy, old-school mystery—unlike this franchise-friendly Netflix film. It also happens to provide plum roles for Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan and some terrific British character actors, including Celia Imrie, Jonathan Pryce and Ruth Sheen. If they haven’t been in a Harry Potter film, they’re likely to turn up in Club. It’s a happy little entertainment, no more substantial than afternoon tea, but with no shortage of cake, either. Big slabs of cake, thickly festooned with icing. You won’t be left wanting, is the thing.

Based on the novel by Richard Osman, Club is set at Coopers Chase, a British retirement community so ostentatiously turreted it might be where the Crawleys of