Only Murders in the Building is back for a fourth instalment of cosy crime solving, complete with a brand new murder victim and a host of fresh famous faces peppered throughout the cast list. Sadly, there is nothing else novel about it.
Our main trio, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) all return, this time their goal is to solve the murder of Sazz Patacki, Charles’ eccentric stunt double, played by the brilliant Jane Lynch. And as with every Only Murders series, each episode proceeds to investigate a new suspect, from the peculiar residents of the Arconia’s West Tower all the way to Sazz’s stunt-injury doctor.
Meanwhile, the gang are having a movie made about them and the actors who are playing them want to do character studies. It’s the May-December-ification of Only Murders, if you will. This brings with it a plentiful supply of guest stars, with Eva Longoria playing Mabel, Eugene Levy as Charles and Zach Galifianakis reluctantly taking on the role of Oliver, all of whom want to spend time with the main trio to nail down their impressions.
Unfortunately this brilliant triumvirate is largely underused, especially Levy, though Galifianakis and Longoria do have their laugh out loud moments, including one where Longoria lists everything she has done since acting (“I wanted to produce, I wanted to direct, I wanted to sell skin cream and ice cream, underwear, sportswear, beer, computers, tequila and gin. And I did.”)
While this film set could have been a brilliant narrative device for a murder mystery - think Scream 3 but better - the writers instead waste time flitting between the movie, the Arconia’s residents (been there, done that!) and examining Sazz’s stunt background. Done correctly, this season could have examined and lampooned the world of film-making, just as season three did for theatre with Oliver’s play. But instead it’s loose and strange, like the movie making aspect is an unnecessary add-on, not a core theme.
Moreover, the stakes feel lower than ever, and it also gets a bit lazy. The show’s storytelling switches to rely on old, tired tropes (as a rule, dead characters stalking live ones to represent guilt is one of the most boring things you can do on screen in 2024) and Mabel, Charles and Oliver have little growth or character development.
I hate to say it, but I have always found Gomez’s performance as Mabel to be wooden, and this season it is particularly so. She barely varies her facial expression between each scene or episode, and her lack of emotion really adds to that sense of low-stakes drama. Does it really matter if they solve Sazz’s death? She doesn’t seem to think so.
Steve Martin is neither better nor worse than previous seasons, but at least Martin Short is, as ever, endlessly enjoyable to watch and the best performer of the three. His scenes with Meryl Streep, though limited, are unsurprisingly the best bits of acting in the series.
There are still some pleasing moments to be found here. A prominent season three character returns, in a much funnier role than the previous series, and Melissa McCarthy plays a phenomenally entertaining Long Island-based family member of the trio. For a background watch it’s fine, but honestly, I think this building may have finally had one too many murders. Perhaps it’s finally time to call “that’s a wrap” - much to Oliver’s undoubted horror.
