If you’re browsing your Netflix account for something to watch over the July 4th holiday weekend, Adam Sandler is starring in a new direct-to-video comedy alongside Jennifer Aniston. Murder Mystery is the latest movie offering from the exclusive deal between his Happy Madison Productions and the online streaming service.

The Netflix-Sanders combo has already given the audience the unwatchable Ridiculous 6 and the semi-unwatchable Sandy Wexler. You have to give the virtually unstoppable Saturday Night Live alum his due, though. He keeps cranking out cheesy content no matter what, making a nice living playing what amounts to the same character in every film.

Murder Mystery is an Agatha Christie send-up with a touch of My Cousin Vinnie. Sandler and his co-star — who seem to have minimal chemistry — play a NYPD officer and a hairdresser, respectively, who go on a long-delayed (15 years) European honeymoon.

After a rich playboy invites the couple on a luxury yacht, they are in the room during the lights-out murder of a billionaire (Terence Stamp, a fine actor who unfortunately is in only one scene) for which they become the primary suspects. So, of course, they have to solve the case for vindication. Expect the usual Adam Sandler schtick.

For a comedy, Murder Mystery has a high body count, perhaps because the characters seldom think to call for an ambulance.

While there are very few belly laughs in Muder Mystery, you’ll get some chuckles out of it because it is engaging, especially if you’re seeking some light, Sandler-style entertainment around the holiday weekend. It also seems tailor-made for a sequel.

So far, the comedy has received a lackluster 45 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, however, but more importantly, an ever more modest 37 percent from the streaming audience.

Netflix claims that a record-setting 30 million households supposedly watched Murder Mystery in its opening weekend. If those numbers are accurate, which some industry observers question, Murder Mystery is killing it.

‘Dueling’ Zombie Epics from Korea

For an alternative form of killing, if you are a zombie genre fan, check out Rampant (a feature film) and Kingdom (a six-episode Netflix original series that has already been renewed for season 2) with subtitles.

With storylines situated in medieval Korea, both have similar plots involving political intrigue and horror: In the midst of a zombie epidemic, power-hungry officials in the king’s court try to prevent the crown prince from ascending to the throne.

This blog recommends Rampant and Kingdom, again, if you are into the subject matter.

Rampant has some continuity lapses but the sword-fighting choreography is outstanding, as are the action set pieces generally.

Kingdom starts off slowly, is similarly action packed, but seems a lot more scary. Even the heroic good guys in the show are terrified.

In both, zombies attack like speed demons, unlike the shambling, decrepit creatures that appear in other movies and TV shows. Rampant even refers to the undead as “demons.”

What/If is Iffy

Kingdom might restore your faith in anything with the Netflix original brand. What/If is another matter.

What/If is a 10-episode Neflix “noir thriller” (with neither noir nor thrills). It stars Rene Zellweger as ice queen Silicon Valley mogul Anne Montgomery who proposes a deal similar to Indecent Proposal, the 1993 potboiler with Robert Redford, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson.

If the show was really about infighting and scandalous behavior among hard-core venture capitalists, that might have been one thing. Within about 15 minutes, What/If gifts the audience with perhaps every PC trope imaginable.

From there, the main narrative descends into an implausible, embarrassing soap opera, with several irrelevant subplots as fillers, one of which is extremely cringeworthy. It makes you wonder about whether any Netflix executive read the script before What/If got the green light. “Most of the writing is nonsensical, the plotting ludicrous, and the acting more wooden than a forest of Sam Worthingtons,” The Daily Dot opined.

Does What/If resolve its various plot threads in the end? Who knows. Some shows are so bad that you can’t stop watching. What/If is not one of them. The performance by actor Louis Herthum as Montgomery’s personal assistant is one of the few highlights.

[Featured image credit: Netflix]