The Hallmark Mystery movie The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death Is Listening is the second movie in this particular franchise, and hopefully not the last. The Cases are a married couple whose obsession with true crime has turned them into amateur sleuths. When a local podcaster is murdered, the Cases use their investigative skills to help with the investigation. On paper, it might sound a lot like Only Murders In The Building, but what sets this movie apart is just how far it leans into the absurd comedy of its characters and how much that works to its advantage.
Opening Shot: It’s a dark, moonlit night in 1994, and a young woman races through her town, running from a hooded man who’s chasing her. It looks like the opening sequence from any given episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The woman arrives at an apartment building but fumbles with her keys just long enough for the man to pull out a gun and shoot her. We cut to the present day, and a man and a woman are intently listening to the story of this poor woman’s death as part of a true crime podcast.
The Gist: Alden and Birdie Case (Paul Campbell and Aimee Garcia) are a married couple who work together as private investigators. Birdie is actually a lawyer and Alden is, I don’t know, a bon vivant? Stay at home root beer brewer? He’s just a quirky guy with a lot of hobbies, but his true passion is murrrderrr. Their current favorite podcast, thanks for asking, is called Whodunnit, and it’s hosted by an author named Laurel St. James (Samantha Ferris). The podcast tells the story of the Roxdale Killer, a serial killer whose identity has never been revealed… until now.
When Birdie runs into an old high school friend named Kristen (Meghan Heffern), Kristen invites her and Alden to a double date with her boyfriend Tom (who turns out to be their old adversary, Officer Newton, from the first Cases of Mystery Lane movie). Birdie and Alden aren’t fans of Tom, but on the plus side, Kristen reveals that she’s a book publisher and she knows Laurel St. James, so she says she’ll introduce them. The Cases, who are unbelievably dorky in the best way possible, completely nerd out at the idea of meeting their hero, but they’ll never get the chance to because St. James is murdered in her studio just as she’s about to record a podcast revealing the identity of the Roxdale Killer.
Tom is assigned as the lead investigator on the case but it proves too much for him to handle, so he brings Birdie and Alden in to help. Soon, they’re interviewing suspects, breaking into storage units, and piecing together the fact that Laurel might actually made up the Roxdale Killer and someone wanted her dead because of that.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There’s a definite riff on Only Murders In The Building here, but I also can’t help but feel like Birdie and Alden are a parody of Joanna and Chip Gaines if they were private eyes. Not only do they look like the Fixer Upper couple, but they refer to each other as “Babe” non-stop.
Our Take: The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death Is Listening is fully unhinged and leans so far into being silly that it comes back out the other side. Which is to say, I love it.
Garcia and Campbell complement each other perfectly as the couple who embrace each others’ strange (not a euphemism), even when it’s over the top. Alden’s obsession with making homemade root beer and his fear of mice, stemming from an incident at summer camp, is all completely ridiculous, and yet it’s fully fleshed out and incorporated into the plot itself. At one point, when Birdie admits that she has an online poker addiction (!), Alden explains, “I love you for your weird, the same way that you love me for mine,” and that’s that. These people’s quirks and vices are mostly harmless, but define them as lovable weirdos. The same goes for the film’s supporting characters and list of suspects who all have a “thing” and that thing is generally unexpected and pretty funny. Consider Nigel, the British guy who runs the recording studio where St. James was killed and claims he’s he one who got Stevie Nicks into scarves. Yes, more of that, please. It’s just so random and adds just the right about of humor and weirdness. (Officer Tom serves as the straight foil to them all, a job he performs well.)
As for the plot, it’s standard fare and the mystery comes second to the relationship and personality traits of the Cases. While there are a few twists to throw viewers off the scent, ultimately that’s not the reason to watch. This movie is not so much cozy mystery as it is quirky mystery, but if that’s a new genre, it’s one I’d absolutely want to watch more of.
Parting Shot: After the Cases solve their big case, after they catch the mouse that had outwitted them for the entire movie, it seems like everything is resolved and the movie is going to end on a sweet kiss between the couple, as most Hallmark movies do. But after the couple kisses, the doorbell rings. It’s the FBI. “Birdie Case?” the agent asks. “When was the last time you saw your father?” Birdie explains that her father has been dead since she was a child, and the agent responds, “That’s not exactly true,” and he invites himself inside. A cliffhanger!
Performance Worth Watching: I’m probably more surprised than anyone that I’ve become the type of person with a “favorite Hallmark actor” but as I grow gray at the temples and weary of consuming any content that doesn’t feel like a warm bath, here I am. With that being said, Paul Campbell has become my Hallmark guy. While he typically plays the guy with the gruff exterior who turns out to be a softie, here he is channeling Tom Hanks as 12-year-old Josh Baskin in Big, a grown man with Peter Pan syndrome, but it’s his defining feature, not a bug and he strikes a balance that never comes off as irritating.
Memorable Dialogue: “Wait, we’re not ‘that murder couple,’ right?” Birdie asks Alden. Indeed, they are.
Our Call: STREAM IT, not because you’re looking for a nuanced mystery or a thrill-ride, but because you want to watch a movie that truly looks like the actors had a blast making it and delivers genuine laughs throughout.
