Only Hilarity in the Building

Last night's season finale of Only Murders in the Building was one of the funniest things I've seen in years, following from an exceptionally funny season. I can't remember the last time a movie or show made me laugh so much. The teleplay was by series co-creator John Hoffman and newcomer J.J. Philbin, which sounds like a pseudonym to me but I couldn't guess for whom. Regis Philbin? I doubt it.

The story picks up with Mabel (Selena Gomez) being held hostage by the imposter screenwriter, Marshall P. Pope (Jin Ha), in the apartment across from Charles' (Steve Martin). Mabel tries to stall by criticising a joke Marshall made in his screenplay about America Online. Like many of the effective comedic moments in the episode (not that screenplay), it hinged a lot on the timing of the performers and Jamie Babbit's direction. But there were a lot of clever lines in the script.

Oliver (Martin Short) goes downstairs to meet briefly with his fiancee, Loretta (Meryl Streep), who says the movie she's making is moving production to New Zealand because "the algorithm says it's newer." Streep's delivery on that line was pitch perfect. I'm laughing just thinking about it now. It was one of two digs in the episode at Hollywood studios becoming mindlessly reliant on algorithms.

The second half of the episode felt oddly truncated, being mainly a denouement for this season and setup for the next. There were a few moments I got the distinct impression were edited down from something much longer.

I look forward to next season. Though, if they want to get their ratings up, I think they're going to have to find Mabel another boyfriend or girlfriend.

Only Murders in the Building is available on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ elsewhere.