Reunion is a satisfying murder mystery with a wonderful cast at its core, yet it’s still missing a little push to make it excel. What’s become a craze of murder mysteries is added onto yet again, with a reunion gone sour, something that fans of Apple TV+’s once alive show The Afterparty did in stride during its first season. While not as complexly written as that, Reunion manages to make these seven main individuals strong enough to care if one of them meets their demise. 

 

Sadly, while the murder may turn a few heads with its casual simplicity, it’s in the investigation that things feel almost a little rushed. Sitting at only 90 minutes, this film is a breeze and lacks any stress of others being brutally murdered. It’s a script that makes the chemistry in the room explode, with obvious turns throughout the night that change the overall moods of all involved. 

 

From a weak love connection between Billy Magnussen’s Evan and Jamie Chung’s Jasmine to the tightly bound friendship between Evan and Lil Rel Howery’s Ray. There’s a few fascinating connections and few to be instantly wary of, with those in the way of political underlying intentions and mysterious actions enforced by a woman most have forgotten from high school. 

 

The chemistry feels genuine between all involved and up for suspicion in this murder investigation but it’s in the comedy I wish it had a bit more snap. While jokes come rapidly, they often end with enough time to include a laugh track effect and that makes the film suffer from a delay in actual laughter. 

 

As mentioned, the case itself has a bit of a rushed intent behind it and where the solution to it all does come off quite clever as it goes, the rationality of one character coming to this complex answer is rather insane. 

 

As Reunion possesses an exclusive tone to its story, with a reunion of minimal guests that somehow included a mysterious woman from their past, this film is at fault merely for not delivering a true feeling high school reunion. The film takes on the identity of a house party more than a reunion. 

 

Where the film does properly utilize its hilarious cast, it also notably numbs the experience in comparison to what these performers generally bring elsewhere. Lacking brutal kills and being a tame film about a murderer hiding amongst friends, Reunion suffers from squandering its potential. A talented cast should have brought even more to this mystery, but as it is, it’s an entertaining piece of cinema that’ll ultimately be forgotten amongst the ever growing genre fad.