“Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery” (2022) starring Will Arnett, Jason Bateman & Maya Rudolph / Z-View

Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery (2022)

Director:  Laura Murphy

Screenplay: Krister Johnson

Stars: Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Pete Davidson, Maya Rudolph, Sean Hayes and Dennice Cisneros

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Detective Terry Seattle (Arnett) and his new partner in training, Jason Bateman, have an easy shift. They’re providing security for a photo op at city hall with Santa, the mayor and some orphans.  It’s a cakewalk assignment until the lights go out and Santa is killed.  Seattle and Bateman have until sunrise to solve the crime.  Luckily there are two surprise guests coming to help…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Murderville has a great set-up.  The guests on the show don’t ever see a script.  They don’t even get to see the sets until filming starts.  Then there is a murder. The guest stars try to solve who did it using real clues as they adlib their way through the episode.  At the end, each guest star is given three suspects.  The star then picks the suspect he/she believes is the killer as well as the clues that led to the decision.  It’s fun to play along as a viewer.

Jason Bateman, Maya Rudolph and Pete Davidson are the guest stars.  It’s hilarious that not one of the stars thinks a provided suspect is the killer.  At one point Pete Davidson does something unexpected and Arnett quickly adlibs to keep the bit working.  Oh and Sean Hayes as Santa cannot stop cracking up… even after he’s been murdered!

Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery earns 3 of 5 stars.