'Reunion' ultimately a forgettable murder mystery comedy

Feeling like a good laugh? Maybe you'll find "Reunion" funny. It's a mediocre comedy and murder mystery that is available to rent on Amazon Prime for only $1.49 (for now). It's certainly worth a watch at such a low price. You won't find entertainment any cheaper these days.Welcome Ridgeview High School Class of 2001! The year is 2021 and it's time for their 20-year reunion. The group who returns for the reunion in a mansion in the countryside is an eclectic bunch. Best friends Ray (Lil Rel Howery) and Evan (Billy Magnussen) still live in town, with Evan being a deputy sheriff.Jasmine (Jamie Chung) returns for the reunion as an investigative journalist for the New York Times, and someone Evan has been in love with for more than 20 years. Amanda (Nina Dobrev) is an aspiring Congresswoman from their district. Vivian (Jillian Bell) is a very strange person who no one can remember from high school, and she has a score to settle with almost everyone. Matthew (Chace Crawford) is the hedge fund manager hosting the reunion. Even their former teacher, Mr. Buckley (Michael Hitchcock), attends the party.Everything is going great at first, except for the fact that Ray's ex-girlfriend clearly wants to hook up with Matthew. Everyone else is drinking and dancing and having a good time. Jasmine even appears to have a strong interest in Evan, which he finds hard to handle because of his generally shy nature.Then a snowstorm hits. Everyone leaves the party except for the group mentioned above. They all get wasted and spend the night in Matthew's mansion. The next morning one partygoer is found dead with two bullet holes in the chest. From this point on things take a turn.The phone lines, wi-fi and cell service are all down. They have no way to contact the authorities. They are snowed in under three feet of snow and have no way of leaving. And one of them is a killer."Reunion" is different from your normal murder mystery. For the first half of the film, it's not a mystery at all. The movie is more of a screwball comedy where you can see people making bad decisions before they even happen on the screen. After the murder, things get serious and there is much less comedy. But there's still a degree of goofiness.The movie has some elements of locked-room murder mystery. The characters are all trapped in one location, a huge mansion, and someone is murdered. This means that one of the characters who were snowed in at the mansion must be the killer. The fun part is trying to unravel the mystery before the characters do it for you.The mystery was middling until it was resolved. The big reveal was a bit of a letdown because it felt like there was no way a viewer could have unraveled the plot. In the best mysteries when the detective reveals all you want to kick yourself because you should have known all along. All the clues were there staring you in the face. That's the feeling from the top mysteries. I wouldn't say all the clues aren't available in the movie, but the solution is so convoluted it is nearly impossible to unravel.The cast is not exactly stellar, but the movie boasts several well-known actors like Nina Dobrev, Chace Crawford, Jamie Chung, Lil Rel Howery and Billy Magnussen. Well, you may not know their names, but you probably know their faces. While they all perform well, Howery is the star that shines the brightest. He brings most of the comedy and even tries his hand as a detective to solve the mystery. Howery is always fun to watch.There's not much more to say about "Reunion." It's an average movie that provides some distraction for an hour and a half, but by Christmas you will have forgotten that it even exists.Grade: BRated R for language throughout, sexual content, some violent images and brief graphic nudity.•••Bradley Griffith is local attorney and longtime film buff.