Lack of good storyline.

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

As a definite Agatha Christie addict, I was intrigued to stumble across this little film, offbeat is definitely a word I'd use to describe it. It's an almost comical take on the fact that Christie wrote Curtain many years before it was published. The demand for Poirot novels remained huge, people just loved him, the only fictional character to receive an obituary in the New York times says it all.Dame Peggy Ashcroft is rather charming as Agatha Christie, and Ian Holm does a surprisingly good job as Poirot, very reminiscent of Albert Finney. It's a jolly, frivolous watch, not to be taken too seriously, but it does make you think about Curtain. I've only managed to watch Suchet's 'Curtain' the once, as I hate goodbyes, Christie gave us Poirot, David Suchet kept him alive, now it falls on Sarah Phelps and the BBC to return him this Christmas (2018) and Kenneth Branagh in Death on the Nile (2019.) What this drama shows is that we all love Poirot. Fun, 7/10

Anybody who is a fan of Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot or both will jump for joy at the idea of Murder by the Book. And there is very little to be disappointed by either. The opening and closing scenes are not bad but I agree not as interesting or as relevant as the rest of the film. However, the period detail is evocative and very competently shot, neither cinematic or cheap-looking. Howard Goodall's music is good as well, it is atmospherically orchestrated and has a haunting undercurrent that is perfect for Murder by the Book. What I also liked was that it actually sounds like the sort of music you'd find in an Agatha Christie adaptation. The story makes the most of the great idea it stemmed from, is paced very much an Agatha Christie adaptation- I did like that they made an effort to make a film about Christie and one of her detectives and stick to the spirit of how she wrote and the adaptations of her books- and throughout is very entertaining. The script is knowing, with some nice nods, subtle humour and genuine poignancy. Peggy Ashcroft and Ian Holm(made up to look like one of the more faithful recreations of this iconic literary detective) are respectively wonderful as Agatha and Poirot, and the rest of the cast do solidly. All in all, a very nice film and does a good job with the interesting idea it had. 8/10 Bethany Cox

(The real) Christie meets (the fictional) Poirot! Talk about "high concept"! And although this fascinating idea does not result in a film as great as it could have possibly been, "Murder By The Book" is still a treat for fans of either, or both, of these legendary figures. It's filled with knowing moments and (as far as I know) accurate comments about both, and you can actually see both sides of their conflict: Christie feels burdened by the necessity to include Poirot in many more stories than she would like, while Poirot can't understand why he has to face such a humiliating literary death (for those, like me, who haven't read "Curtain", this film possibly reveals more than they would like to know, though still not too much). Peggy Ashcroft is a fine Agatha and Ian Holm makes a superb Poirot - from the screen portrayals I've seen, he's the one closer to the "definitive" David Suchet. I would say, however, that it's not that hard to guess what's really going on, and that the opening and closing scenes with Christie's husband and her agent are not as engaging as the rest of the film. *** out of 4.

Interesting and offbeat look at Agatha Christie and her decision to 'murder' Poirot, who is on hand to question her motives. Not as good as it sounds, but deserves viewing by the faithful. Ian Holm's interpretation of Poirot fits somewhere between Albert Finney and David Suchet's definitive performance.