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| Tony Shalhoub and James Purefoy |
MR. MONK'S LAST CASE: A MONK MOVIE (2023 telefilm). Director: Randy Zisk.
Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) comes out of retirement to investigate when his stepdaughter Molly's (Caitlin McGee) fiance, Griffin (Auston Scott), dies in a bungee jumping accident. Molly is convinced that Rick Eden (James Purefoy of
Injustice), an Elon Musk-type who runs a vast Amazon-style corporation, is somehow behind the man's death and possibly others. In fact Griffin was sure that Eden had murdered his late business partner and was attempting to get some solid information when he died.
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| Tony Shalhoub and Caitlin McGee |
It's a delight to see Monk again, although some of the fun is vitiated by the fact that Adrian spends much of the movie contemplating suicide, and the recurring appearances by his late wife, Trudy, become tiresome (in fact the sentimental after-life sequences, meant to be poignant, come dangerously close to being sappy). At least Shalhoub is in good trim, and it's a pleasure to see Natalie (Traylor Howard), Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Randy (Jason Gray-Stanford) again. James Purefoy makes a sexy and compelling adversary as well, liming the role of a narcissistic sociopath with chilling understatement. The solution to this is quite clever as well. As usual, some of the grimmer aspects of the story don't quite jell with the light-hearted approach.
Verdict: Despite some annoying aspects, this is a very good bet for
Monk fans. ***.
Not a big Monk fan but AM a James Purefoy devotee. Boy, is he hot! Loved him on the series Rome and in that Heather Graham thriller with Stella Stevens, Blessed. Good-looking man.
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Yes, he looks terrific in that beard. I'll look for the ones you mention. I had forgotten that I had also seen him in a British mini-series where he played a lawyer or a cop -- or something, LOL!
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