Streaming tip: Nobody has seen one of the top films of 2022

“See How They Run” is simply a film adaptation of the crime drama “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie – but not at the same time. The play has been performed daily in London’s West End since 1952 and is considered the longest running play in the world. And that’s it unfilmable. A clause in the rights holder’s contract states: “The Mousetrap” may only be filmed if the play has not been played for at least six months. That has never been the case.

So had to producer Damian Jones, who really wanted to film the play, think of something else. He hired screenwriter Mark Chappell to give him a meta movie wrote, whose brilliant idea is tongue-clicking. Instead of filming “The Mousetrap”, it’s in the crime comedy by director Tom George about a director who would have liked to film “The Mousetrap” as early as 1953 – but then became a murder victim himself.

This director (played by Adrien Brody) should have filmed “The Mousetrap” if an unknown person hadn’t murdered him and cut out his corpse’s tongue. The murder case is entrusted to conservative Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell). To his annoyance, he has to consider the young, motivated policewoman Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) as a partner. Among their suspects are various participants in the play and the planned film productionsuch as screenwriter Merv (David Oyelowo) or usher Dennis (Charlie Cooper).

But there are also real people among the suspects, for example Richard Attenborough. The actor and director is still known today as the founder of “Jurassic Park” in the film of the same name. In fact he was employed at London’s St Martin’s Theater in 1953 and is therefore included here as well, played by Harris Dickinson. And the play “Die Mausefalle” itself and its author also play one surprising role in the course of the entertaining 98 minutes.

Meta is as good as everything here: the young policewoman, for example, is a film enthusiast and, based on her cinema experience, likes to jump to conclusions that the experienced inspector can only shake his head at. Of the Film-in-film approach is also becoming more and more crazy: So you not only have the plot of the film, but also the planned “The Mousetrap” film and the theatrical performances of the play, and the boundaries between these levels tend to blur before the eyes of the viewer.

humorous detective stories are currently booming: “Knives Out” was a huge hit with audiences in 2020, and its sequel “Glass Onion” has been on Netflix since December 2022. Disney+ also has a crime comedy series “Only Murders in the Building” that critics and viewers love and often hits the same slapstick notch as “See How They Run” – although before this film you have probably never seen such a rough and sprawling cake fight as it is offered here.

You can quickly dismiss these characters, some of which are really wildly characterized, as bangers, but in the end “See How They Run” is a film that’s a big heart for everything weird and unusual Has. In its macabre comedy it is sometimes reminiscent of masterpieces such as “Ladykillers”, the staging and the music by Daniel Pemberton, on the other hand, evoke associations with “Grand Budapest Hotel” by Wes Anderson – especially in the many loving details with which a bygone era (here the opulent 1950s in London) is brought back to life.

So it’s a shame that Disney+ didn’t release this film, the Witty, silly, exciting and aesthetic at the same time is, has hardly advertised. After it went down mercilessly in the cinemas, at least streaming users should have been made more aware of this highlight of the 2022 film year. Anyone who likes crime movies, Agatha Christie, theatrical stories, meta-narratives, or just well-acted slapstick should really see how they run.