Overview

• The film adaptation of Richard Osman's bestseller premiered on Netflix on Aug. 28, led by Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie.
• Reviews highlight the performers and Columbus’s blend of comedy, emotion and light suspense, noting an emphasis on character over flashy twists.
• The screenplay follows the novel’s main mystery but trims red herrings and several side characters, with notable backstory cuts to streamline a roughly two-hour runtime.
• The movie reframes parts of the book’s criminal underpinnings, shifting away from a drug-focused thread to a scheme involving coerced labor and withheld passports.
• Production took place in the U.K. in 2024, including Shepperton Studios and locations in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and the Englefield Estate, and Netflix has not announced further adaptations.