Maggie Moore(s) has a promising premise but unfortunately the different parts of the film never come together in a way that makes any sense.
Maggie Moore(s) is a movie that claims to be inspired by true events, although the writer has not revealed any details of said events. Still, the premise sounds promising. Two women with the same name end up murdered a week apart which sends the small town police officers into a frenzy as they try to piece everything together.
The audience knows the truth from the start, while the officers scramble to figure out if the first Maggie was killed on accident, or if the second Maggie was killed to help cover up for the first Maggie. Each Maggie has a husband who has their own issues and storylines, which makes it hard for them to decipher if they were involved or not. At the same time, the police chief, played by Jon Hamm, meets and strikes up a friendship with the neighbor of Maggie number one, played by Tina Fey.
On paper this sounds like an extremely intriguing film, at least in my opinion. I went into this movie very excited. On top of the murder mystery aspect, the cast is filled with talented actors. I wasn’t expecting to immediately be let in on the murderer. Still, there was promise here. However, once the Jon Hamm and Tina Fey will they or won’t they relationship started unfolding, I was all but checked out.
Here’s the problem with Maggie Moore(s). There are what feels like several different films smashed into one, none of which work all that well. The murder component is interesting, but since we actually know what is happening, there is no mystery to keep us on the edge of our seats.
I love a good romance but Jon and Tina seem like they are in a completely separate movie from the rest of the cast. They star in a romantic comedy that never meshes well with the murder aspect of Maggie Moore(s).
As if the movie isn’t already too convoluted, they throw in some sandwich store drama that involves a rogue employee and expired products. Just for good measure, a very unlikable criminal pops in and out of the movie, although at least he ends up where audiences will want to see him.
Despite the messy script, Maggie Moore(s) is at least well acted for the most part. However even this stellar cast cannot save what seems to be several different ideas crammed together in a way that never works.
At just ninety minutes you would think it would be a quick watch, but it drags on and becomes quite the struggle to get through. Every once in a while I found myself laughing out loud, but it was too few and far between to make this a movie I ever care to revisit.
Maggie Moore(s) tries to save itself with a truly bonkers and off the wall ending. There are twists and turns thrown in that can only have been added to try to make the viewers feel like they never really knew what was going on. Except we pretty much did so it doesn’t work as a big reveal, but rather a rushed mess filled with confusion.
There was likely a good movie somewhere inside of Maggie Moore(s), it just never comes together in a way that makes it worth watching.
This movie has no idea what it is — murder mystery (where the viewers already know the killer) or romantic comedy? It becomes neither, feeling like a convoluted mess by the end.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
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About Maggie Moore(s)
When two women with the same name are murdered days apart, small-town police chief Jordan Sanders (Hamm) finds himself wading through an unlikely collection of cheating husbands, lonely hearts, nosy neighbors and contract killers in an effort to put the pieces of the case, and his life, together.
Maggie Moore(s) premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. On Camera personality and TV / Film Critic with 10+ years of experience in video editing, writing, editing, moderating, and hosting.