Hulu's Only Murders in the Building hits the sweet spot of being entertaining without trying too hard

TIME

"We ask a lot from television these days," says Judy Berman. "As evidenced by the weird intensity of the current debate around Ted Lasso, a performatively gentle, emotionally aspirational Apple TV+ sitcom that once seemed controversy-proof, the discourse leaves little space for shows to be anything besides brilliant or terrible. Which is a shame, because sometimes a mild, witty, middlebrow comedy that isn’t trying too hard to be virtuous or subversive or timely really hits the spot. Only Murders in the Building is precisely that kind of show, and it arrives—with the first three episodes streaming Aug. 31 on Hulu—in time to soothe our Delta-era, back-to-school-and-work anxieties. Created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman (Grace and Frankie), it casts Martin, his frequent collaborator Martin Short and a sparkling Selena Gomez as strangers living in a Dakota-like Upper West Side luxury building who become amateur sleuths when one of their neighbors is found dead in his apartment. It won’t expand your mind or change your life, but it might temporarily lower your blood pressure a few points." Berman adds: "The main item on Only Murders’ agenda is entertainment, and it provides, in the same mannered, urbane, slightly old-fashioned comic style that characterizes Martin’s fiction and contributions to the New Yorker. (So synergistic is this series with that magazine that the animated title sequence could actually be a New Yorker cover, down to the title font.) This is 'Shouts & Murmurs' meets 'Talk of the Town' meets cozy murder mystery, a ’90s Woody Allen crime caper without the Woody Allen ick factor. Its dialogue is fizzy like a mimosa rather than explosive like a Molotov cocktail; violence mostly takes place offscreen. And if it’s hard to imagine the show setting social media ablaze, well, maybe that’s just another reason to watch."

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• Only Murders in the Building is sharp, scary and surprisingly sad: "There is a depth to Only Murders in the Building not inherent in its premise, a willingness to slow and burrow and muck around in tonal complexities," says Gregory Lawrence. "If Search Party is the TV comedy-thriller as a shot of espresso, Only Murders is a caffé macchiato in a tall mug. It's rife with melancholy, heaviness, and outright sadness, even as performers we know and love for their broad comedy center the action (Martin and Short, obviously, but also Nathan Lane, whose committed performance and character journey dropped my jaw more than once). It's intriguing and intoxicating to see how Martin and Short find new corners of their well-established personae, gifting themselves with the range to play wide, physical gags right next to prickly, even unlikeable emotional explorations. And Gomez delivers excellent work alongside them; while her character's range is designedly more muted than Martin and Short, it yields a welcome contrast, giving the show its welcomed darkness and stakes, both physically and emotionally (and when Gomez gets to cut her scene partners with a sharp, deadpan joke, look out)."
• Only Murders struggles to incorporate Selena Gomez into the show: "Gomez is an odd fit as Mabel, a mysterious resident of the show’s titular building, but there’s pleasure in watching her clash against the show’s broader style; she’s destabilizing as one part of a triad where Steve Martin and Martin Short are the other two members," says Kathryn VanArendonk. "But eight episodes into the ten-episode season (the number of screeners sent to critics), I still hadn’t adjusted to the rhythmic differences between her performance and that of her co-stars. Only Murders tries to write its way through that problem: It’s generational! They come from different worlds! But the show never figures out how to integrate the stylistic glossiness and emotional bluntness of the Mabel sections with the rest of the series, which is all comic lightness and sharp, quiet moments of sadness. In some ways, for some episodes and scenes, it just doesn’t work. And yet the spirit that seems to be animating everything in the series — don’t you think it’d be fun to try, though? — pulses through it all anyhow, as though Martin and the show’s other creator John Hoffman are sitting next to you on the sofa, smiling at the mismatched performance styles and enjoying themselves immensely. It doesn’t hurt that there’s a rollicking quality to the whole thing, a playful energy that seeps into everything from the set designs to the casting to the chemistry between longtime creative partners Martin and Short."
• Only Murders is at its best when it’s not mimicking a genre so much finding a sweet spot of its own where it can be funny: "Only Murders delights in its many (rather predictable) twists, but moreso in the chemistry between its three leads," says Caroline Framke. "That Martin and Short immediately click into a partnership that’s as amiable as it is prickly should be no surprise to anyone who’s experienced them as a pair in the Father of the Bride movies, in which they play similar roles opposite each other (i.e. Martin as the outwardly grounded voice of reason who quickly spirals out of control and Short as the already histrionic wild card). Gomez, whose character has more ties to the mystery than meet the eye, gets the more obviously weighty material at the series’ start, and does her best to make the most of Mabel’s scattered exposition. But she, too, shines brightest when playing detective alongside Short and, especially, Martin. Oliver has his melancholic moments, but Mabel and Charles’ friendship becomes richer as their equal skepticism of being vulnerable blossoming into a shared experience of learning to trust each other, anyway. The intricacies of the people and setting of Only Murders are what ultimately make the show such a pleasure to dive into, and so easy to marathon without necessarily intending to."
• The premise of Only Murders is elegantly, addictively simple: "If creators Steve Martin and John Hoffman were content just to play it for laughs, making fun of true-crime podcasts and the people who obsess over them, it would already be one of this year’s greatest TV delights," says Alan Sepinwall. "Between the podcast-specific comedy (an exasperated cop, played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, responds to their questions by asking, 'Goddammit, what f*cking podcast are y’all hooked on?'); the insults hurled between Charles and Oliver (Oliver compares Charles’ podcast narration to “a Ken Burns documentary on the history of boredom”); the generation gap separating those two from Mabel (Oliver to Charles: '‘Rando’ is a slang for a person of no significance'); and some extremely New York-specific jokes (Charles is incredulous that Oliver pays to park in their building), it runs the gamut of high and low comedy. Sometimes it is keenly self-aware; at others blessedly silly, like a running gag about how cheapskate Oliver subsists almost entirely on dips and sauces...But the series soon turns out to be — like The Princess Bride, Galaxy Quest, or Jane the Virgin — that rare and wonderful thing: the parody that also offers a great example of the genuine article."
• Only Murders may have less slapstick humor than fans are expecting, but it is still light and airy despite its dark subject: "The central trio embodies their odd, age-spanning friendship with few hiccups. The sincerity with which the characters want to solve crime help others and make connections (and maybe gain, or regain) fame along the way) is what propels the comedy," says Kelly Lawler. "So does a mystery with solid twists and turns, multiple suspects and many absurdities to keep the amateur investigators busy. Martin, Short and Gomez are all excellent in their roles, and they're surrounded by an equally impressive supporting cast that includes Nathan Lane as a Greek deli magnate who's also a resident in the building; Amy Ryan as a bassoonist who catches Charles' eye; and Tina Fey as a Sarah Koenig-like podcast celebrity."
• Only Murders has the privileged, erudite preciousness of a New Yorker piece: "Hulu’s star-studded new comedy Only Murders in the Building is a pleasant, fizzy trifle with dashes of semi-compatible substance," says Daniel Fienberg. "The series feels a bit like if you asked Paul Rudnick to adapt one of Paul Auster’s novels of mysterious existential alienation, replacing some, but not all, of its richer undercurrents with pop-culture-savvy quips. Maybe the pieces don’t completely mesh, but with a cast this special and an effective enough whodunit to keep viewers charging ahead from one episode to the next, it’s a quibble, not a condemnation, to lament the prioritizing of flailing comedy over opportunities for depth."
• Selena Gomez's casting brings a new dimension on the generational divide into the mix: "The addition of Gomez—who plays Mabel, a sardonic artist and fellow tenant with a shared podcast obsession—might seem discordant," says Shirley Li. "Yet in pitting Martin and Short’s established routine opposite her wild-card casting, the show evolves from a straightforward parody of true-crime podcasts and their devoted listeners into a goofy yet endearing examination of the generational divide. Oliver still calls the internet the 'World Wide Web.' Charles believes that it’s possible to 'check all the websites' for clues. Mabel thinks that Sting—another denizen of their building, and at one point a hilariously unsuspecting suspect—is a member of U2. Somehow, these three will solve a crime. But Only Murders is more than just quippy one-liners demonstrating the obvious knowledge gaps between people born decades apart. Instead, Martin and his co-creator, John Hoffman (Grace and Frankie), mine comedy from the blind spots and insecurities shared by two generations so prone to blaming each other for cultural angst. Charles, Oliver, and Mabel are all supremely confident that they know what’s best for their investigation, and for one another."
• The murder mystery stuff is just OK, but the humor, and the unexpected poignancy, make it a case worth diving into: "It’s a little bit Rear Window, a little bit Manhattan Murder Mystery — and a lot of fun, actually," says Dave Nemetz. "Charles, Oliver and Mabel do make an odd trio, but it makes sense: They’re all loners, desperately in search of a purpose. All three of them have hit hard times in various ways, and the scripts from Martin and co-creator John Hoffman have a surprising emotional resonance as we gradually learn what’s missing from their lives. At first, I admit that Gomez’s presence felt like stunt casting to balance out the two veteran comedians, but she manages to hold her own nicely as the cynical, sharp-tongued Mabel. Only Murders really sings, though, when Martin and Short are in their comedy wheelhouse. These two are seasoned pros; with them, it’s effortless."
• Only Murders isn’t only about true crime -- there’s a heartfelt story of friendship in here: "Whoever thought to cast Steve Martin as a has-been TV actor and Martin Short as a foolhardy Broadway director deserves serious kudos — the characters can be strangers to each other, which helps the show tease out information about their pasts, but the actor/director dynamic preserves the duo’s good-natured sniping, which they’ve honed so finely they took it on tour," says Ben Travers. "Short giving notes to Martin, and Martin poking at Short’s pretension provide some of show’s the liveliest jokes.) Gomez plays their practical foil (with secrets all her own), and the leads endear themselves to the audience in a way that only serialized television can reward. (I have no way of knowing if Only Murders in the Building will extend beyond its self-contained debut season, but it could, given how powerful a draw its essential elements become."
• Only Murders has a great deal of fun with its unique true-crime angle and its expanding list of potential suspects, and it doesn’t worry about plotting so much as goofy character development: "Every episode begins with a new voice, whether or not the character play a big role in the story. It’s a striking narrative approach that expands the character roster, including cop who initially investigated the case (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the podcaster who inspires them, or a certain outsider played by Jaboukie Young-White. The expanding of the character roster can sometimes work against it—as if it loses some edge by throwing out so many possibilities—but it does inspire a meaningful and unexpected seventh episode that takes place entirely from one character’s perspective, and has the writing building clever parts of the plot around it," says Nick Allen. "There’s a free-spirited mindset to the show that keeps it amusing, especially in how it fills in the backstories of its main characters."
• Only Murders is the acting equivalent of a Kennedy Center Honors or Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony: "It’s always pretty cool when they have one of those all-star, multi-generational sessions at the Kennedy Center Honors or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony or the Grammys, with pop/rock/soul pioneers from the 1960s and 1970s jamming with musicians half their age," says Richard Roeper. "They come from different generations and different worlds, but what they have in common is a love for what they do — and of course they can all play. We get the acting equivalent of that in the 10-part Hulu comedy/drama crime series Only Murders in the Building, a whip-smart and wryly observational gem starring longtime amigos and frequent collaborators, the 76-year-old Steve Martin and the 71-year-old Martin Short, who are as sharp and funny and brilliant as we’d expect them to be. The two comedic legends are joined by Selena Gomez in what turns out to be inspired casting. The 29-year-old Gomez is a true co-star in the series and does a superb job of meshing with Martin and Short to form one of the more entertaining albeit unlikely friendship trios in recent memory. They’re just a ball to watch together."
• Only Murders in the Building isn't the wacky farce suggested by its stars and plot, and that's a good thing:  "It's more muted, more real, and it's shrewdly knowing about who its characters are, and what they want," says Glen Wheldon. "It's also very funny, which isn't particularly surprising — but it features grounded, satisfyingly nuanced performances from Martin and Short, which is."
• Martin Short is onscreen enough to carry you through Only Murders, an otherwise benign grab bag of familiar elements: "Martin Short gives a master class in Only Murders in the Building....It’s not a class in acting or comedy so much as it is a seminar in agelessness and professionalism, and in Short’s unmatched ability to turn self-absorption into a virtue," says Mike Hale, adding: "It is Short, his frequent collaborator, who gives the show some comic spark and humanity, making Martin and Gomez his foils, in the most charming way possible. He steals every scene, not through grandstanding but with the steady skill of an old pro." However, Hale says, Only Murders is "a lampoon of New York eccentricity, an ever so slightly mawkish tale of golden-agers getting their mojo back, and a cozy mystery of the closed-room variety, though in this case the room is a hulking co-op apartment building. The one original ingredient in this blend is showbiz comedy: the three lead characters are all obsessed with true-crime podcasts, and when a fellow resident of their building is murdered in his apartment, they whip up their own broadcast titled 'Only Murders in the Building.' (The series has some vanity-project vibes, and the inscrutability of the title doesn’t help dispel them. It refers to one character’s insistence that their podcast remain strictly local; imagine Martin saying, 'Only murders IN THE BUILDING.')"
• Only Murders in the Building's Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez form an appealing trio: "Yes, the show is about three investigator-podcasters, and Gomez fits in just fine," says Matthew Gilbert. "They have some chemistry, and her dry stylings help balance out the more extroverted modes of her costars. And as Mabel’s backstory gradually emerges, linking her to the man who was murdered, she becomes more interesting and layered. At times, Gomez can be a bit too bland and monotone, as she brings generation gap humor to the mix. But still, the three form an appealing trio, together serving as a lifeboat for one another in a building, and a city, and a world, where loneliness and isolation can take over."
• Only Murders is a celebration of gentle, inoffensive weirdness: "Mabel may be the most serious person of the podcast threesome, but she too is funny," says Nina Metz. "That’s important, because Short and Martin have an established chemistry that they’ve honed over the years, from Three Amigos! to Father of the Bride to their live comedy tours together. Here, they’re leaning into a flailing Boomer aesthetic and it works in all kinds of interesting ways with the addition of Gomez’s gimlet-eyed Millennial energy. Their collective sleuthing is focused on unraveling the show’s central mystery, but there’s so much more going on that manages to be deeply, movingly serious. Ultimately Only Murders in the Building is an investigation of friendship. And grief. And regret."
• The Only Murders writers have a bit too much fun with their red herrings, resulting in episode-long detours: "Ultimately, the most powerful moments don't have anything to do with the (alleged) murder," says Kristen Baldwin. "I found myself more invested in the fraught, tragicomic tale behind Oliver's notorious Broadway flop, 'Splash! The Musical,' which cost him far more than his career. Or Charles' relationship baggage, which he frantically empties on Jan's doorstep in an effort to salvage their disastrous first date."
• Selena Gomez is right at home in a cast with two comedic legends, even as she stakes out territory all her own: "The Disney alum’s deadpan is more fearsome than whatever’s going on at the Arconia," says Danette Chavez. "When she cracks that 'old white guys are only afraid of colon cancer and societal change,' you kind of want to offer Oliver and Charles some salve. All the ribbing is ultimately good-natured, no matter whose turn it is to be taken down a peg."
• For a series about obsession, Only Murders in the Building has curiously shallow hold on one’s attention: "The show’s comedic rhythm is that of a steep, banked turn – smooth, but never snappy," says Adrian Horton. "The jokes often boil down to 'older person attempts to relate to millennial' that is at best mildly amusing. Still, fans of either Martin, Short or Gomez (myself included) will probably find enough to keep going. Those who do will be rewarded by the show’s more expansive and surprising later episodes. Like High Fidelity, another half-hour Hulu series set in New York, Only Murders benefits when it shifts perspective away from its central trio – to Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s true crime wary police detective; to the adult deaf son (James Caverly) of podcast sponsor and neighbor Teddy Dimas (Nathan Lane), in a nearly dialogue-less episode that is easily the series’ most absorbing; to superfans of the Only Murders podcast, led by The Daily Show’s Jaboukie Young-White. Those shifts provide enough novelty to suspend disbelief on some hanging threads – namely, a subplot involving a character wrongfully incarcerated for 10 years, which the scripts flag often but barely explore."
• How Dan Fogelman got Steve Martin to co-create and star in Only Murders: "We had just been chasing a general meeting with Steve forever," says the This Is Us creator, who serves as executive producer. "You kind of hate those things, because unless you have a point, it can be a disappointing way to meet one of your idols." Martin’s idea provided the point. “Right at that lunch, we started talking about it. We started shaping it,” says Fogelman. “We started trying to convince Steve to act in it, which he hadn’t been thinking about when he told us the idea.”
• Co-creator John Hoffman explains how real life influenced Only Murders: “In crafting this story, there’s a personal connection I have to a mystery like this,” says Hoffman. “And it just so happened that in tragic form, a year before I started writing this show, a friend of mine was found dead on his floor with someone else and it was deemed a murder-suicide. And, with my friend being the one who had committed suicide and committed murder, I couldn’t fathom that at all based on the person I knew. But I hadn’t spoken to him in over 20 years, and he was very dear to me when I was growing up. So I went on a mission to find out what the hell has happened here. And my gut told me, that is impossible. And by the end of the year of truly investigating, going to Wisconsin, meeting his family, meeting his kids, learning what his life had become, the whole case had been investigated and reversed. And the truth was, he was killed… That sounds very dark for a lovely comedy series like this. But it was close to Mabel’s experience.” 
• Martin Short on bonding with his co-stars: "An actor can only control the experience of working on it. They can’t control the end result," he says. "You never know. And I think we all appreciated that. Everyone was there to have a great time, to make the crew laugh, to make the atmosphere seductively positive. I think we all share that instinct. Also, there’s a saying in weightlifting called, 'No pain, no gain,' but it’s the opposite in movies, of pain, no gain. We made it a point to get together and get along, and get the job done and have fun while we’re doing it."
• Selena Gomez admits being intimidated working with Steve Martin and Martin Short: “They don’t know what to expect from a 29-year-old, and they don’t know much about me,” she says. “We were getting to know each other.” But she arrived with her own wry sensibility and a genuine enthusiasm for the crime genre, and, like her character, forged a surprising connection with her partners. “In real life, if I had met two older men that were into solving mysteries, I would totally bond with them in the same manner,” she says.
• Steve Martin co-created Only Murders after being interested in true-crime shows -- not podcasts: "I had, not an obsession, but a casual interest in true crime," he says. "Not podcasts, because I didn’t even know there were podcasts, but television shows. My introduction was Forensic Files, which I felt was good because it’s really about the solving of the cases. It’s about the science and the introduction of new methods of technology. I’m really interested in that. I just avoided the actual truth of it, which always involves a horrible, hideous crime. As I tell Marty in the show, 'These stories are actually about people.' He says, 'You’re just figuring that out now?' When the opportunity came to develop a show, my mind just went to, 'I live in one of these buildings.' I thought about the three people who don’t know each other. I’m talking too much. You got the rest. You can just make it up …" Did he write with Martin Short in mind? "No, not at all," says Martin. "It was three different people, and then it was suggested to me, 'Would you like to do it?' I said, 'Well, I mean, if Marty did it, maybe I’d do it.' Then Selena came in as the cherry on top, and it started to seem like a better idea than it originally was."