The original movie "The Thin Man" starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles is a marvelous comedy-mystery about a retired detective (Powell) and his rich wife (Loy) who find themselves solving a mystery. Powell and Loy had a great chemistry and were wonderful together. Of course, the box office success of the first movie called for a sequel ...

For those not familiar with the series: "the thin man" of the title was the victim in the first movie, not Nick Charles the detective. So the extension of the "Thin Man" part of the title to all the Nick and Nora Charles mysteries doesn't actually make much sense - except of course to marketers.

This begins right after the ending of the last one, with Nick and Nora arriving back in San Francisco on New Year's Eve. For added comedic value, there's a massive party at their house to welcome them back ... except nobody recognizes them. For more comedic value, their dog Asta finds that Mrs. Asta has apparently been having an affair with the dog next door. Neither of these subplots generated much in the way of laughs, and they don't add to the mystery plot you knew would appear shortly. Which it does, in the form of Nora's cousin Selma - whose husband Robert has disappeared. Nick - as in the last movie - isn't interested in playing detective. And - again as in the last movie - is badgered into doing so by his wife.

Finding Robert proves easy, and we find out he's a liar and a cheat. But when he's shot shortly after that, there are multiple suspects because of the complex web of relationships surrounding him, and suddenly Nick has a murder to solve.

The mystery was fairly interesting - although there were one or two minor but suspicious players / red herrings whose motivations didn't seem to ever be explained. Sadly, they fell back on "gather them all together at the end and see which suspect buckles," same as in the last movie. While Nick and Nora are still charming, they weren't as funny as in the original and a couple added subplots meant for comedy weren't terribly funny and felt unnecessary. I'm going to give the rest of the series (there are four more) a miss.