Weekend Watch: The Princess, Only Murders In The Building Season 2

A royal fights for freedom and the podcasters take on another case...

Image Credit: Hulu

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Joey King is ready to fight and the Arconia trio has another mystery to solve. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite

The Princess showed plenty of potential in its trailer, which emphasised Joey King kicking ass as a young royal who is ready to battle against her fate to marry a snide, power-hungry local lord (Dominic Cooper). It seemed to promise a blend of The Princess Bride and John Wick.

The reality, sadly, is that it falls well short of either. All credit to King, the stunt team and director Le-Van Kiet for making the movie’s star look like a badass who takes down any number of scowling/smarmy/grinning blokes who threaten her. Yet the movie is really nothing more than that, coming across as a live-action video game where the unnamed Princess battles through levels of baddies to achieve her aims.

Story-wise, there’s not much else to it: Cooper’s ambitious Lord thinks that the Princess’s father is a weakling who has diluted the country’s power base by reaching out to other nations. Figuring he’d be a better ruler, he aims to take control by marrying the princess or invading by force.

When the Princess flees the wedding, she’s captured and stuck in a tower, but promptly escapes, kicking off her fight. And that’s essentially it in terms of story. There is an overreliance on flashbacks to explain why she’s such an accomplished warrior (she was trained from a young age by Veronica Ngo’s Linh) and a lot of mealy-mouthed talk about what’s in your heart and why it’s not about fighting, but why you fight.

Cooper sneers like a panto villain, clearly understanding the assignment, but King – who has proved herself in other roles – only really has two modes here, angry and worried about her family.

This film is under no illusions as to what it is and what it’s trying to deliver, but it never quite hits the target – unlike the Princess herself.

The Princess is on Hulu in the States and Disney+ in the UK now.

Image Credit: Hulu

For reasons beyond my recollection and understanding – perhaps it was simply that there was too much to watch at the time – I wasn’t immediately driven to watch Only Murders In The Building upon seeing the first glimpses.

Yet I did end up watching it when the first three episodes of the initial season hit Hulu, and I’m really glad I did. Because this is one of the best series out there. Obviously, Steve Martin and Martin Short’s connection and comedy qualifications are beyond reproach, but Selena Gomez was the real surprise here, showing a nice like in snarky comedy and working perfectly against the older pair.

Set in a beautiful old apartment building called the Arconia in New York, the darkly comic murder mystery finds three unlikely partners – nervy actor Charles Hayden Savage (Martin), showy, ambitious (but between jobs) theatre director Oliver Putnam (Short) and the closed-off, lonely Mabel Mora (Gomez) – thrust into the middle of a case involving the suspicious death of someone close to Mabel. Charles and Oliver’s idea is to start a podcast in the style of Serial to document their investigation. The case twists and turns, but they persevere, sometimes at great personal cost.

Murders works so well because every detail is so considered, not just the tricky mystery at its heart. The characters are incredibly specific and yet totally universal, with that quality stretching beyond the core trio to the oddballs, cops, friends and family that surround them. It’s smart humour that is also unafraid to be silly when needed (a moment of physical comedy from Martin in the first season finale is inspired). Egos are puffed and popped, secrets revealed and there’s more talk about dips than anything outside of a hummus restaurant advert.

Following some flashbacks to other time periods that will become more narratively tied in down the line, the second season picks the story up after the cliffhanger of the first, with our core trio as persons of interest in the slaying of grumpy building manager Bunny (Jayne Houdyshell).

Martin, Hoffman and the creative team here smartly realise that what worked last year – clever writing, jokes that cross generations and an interesting mystery – still works here, so it’s more of the same, even if there isn’t (so far) an episode as truly groundbreaking as the near spoken dialogue-free example of last year.

Around the core cast, there’s a sumptuous supporting ensemble, including Cara Delevigne as a mysterious artist who takes a shine to Mabel, Shirley MacLaine as Leonora Folger, Bunny’s mother and, as herself (or a version), Amy Schumer, filling the Sting role (and his apartment).

Martin, Short and Gomez continue to be the glue that holds it all together, and Only Murders In The Building remains a show you should absolutely find time for. I’m glad I did.

The first two episodes of Only Murders In The Building Season 2 are on Hulu in the States and Disney+ in the UK now. New episodes will arrive weekly. I’ve seen the first eight of 10.