Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie
Not even COVID-19 can slow down Adrian Monk as he investigates the murder of his stepdaughter’s fiancé inMr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie. Actor Tony Shalhoub returns as everyone’s favorite genius-level, OCD detective, in order to discover if the world’s richest man, Rick Eden (James Purefoy), orchestrated the bungee-jumping tragedy. And Shalhoub discussed the dark tone of the Peacock original film, which is based on the TV seriesMonk, in an exclusive interview withEntertainment Weekly:
“When Andy [Breckman] first pitched the idea, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s not something I would’ve anticipated.’ But it didn’t take long for it to lock in. I thought, ‘You know what? This is really right because we want it to be different.’ Why do this at all? Why revisit these characters unless we’re treading on new ground? It’s very real.
The biggest challenge in my mind was, ‘Can we pull this off and do it justice while balancing the comedic elements?’ We want to go dark. But we don’t want the darkness to undercut the comedy we need in there. We’ve always done a balancing act. We’ve always walked the tightrope. This was a higher rope, and it’s a lot thinner, and there’s a volcano beneath us.”
Related:The Cast of Monk: Where They Are Today
Mr. Monk’s Last Case: Beyond the Darkness
Tony Shalhoubwon three Emmys during the eight seasons that he portrayed the OCD detective in the television seriesMonk. The actor is undoubtedly the straw that stirs the drink in the Peacock original film, according toMovieWeb’s review ofMr. Monk’s Last Case. And while Shalhoub was taken aback by the movie’s dark tone, the thespian was also delighted to discover Adrian gets to interact with some of his victims from the great beyond — in his mind, anyway — at the end of the picture. Shalhoub said in the same interview:
“I always loved the idea. There’s a certain surreal element to it. It’s taking place all in Monk’s head. Trudy represents to him a tiny, tiny intestinal glimmer of hope that exists way in the recesses of his mind that he’s not even aware of. That leads him to conjuring Griffin, who talks about closure and is grateful. That triggers this idea that possibly it was not for naught and that the others got some benefit from it too.”
It’s arguably the most moving scene in the entire film when Adrian sees not only Trudy (Melora Hardin) near the conclusion, but the detective witnesses a whole host of those victims whose murder cases he has solved over the years. And there are even indications that the unorthodox crime fighter is going back to work as another spirit tells him that her death hasn’t been solved yet.Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movieis now available to stream on Peacock. And fans can whet their appetites before viewing the new movie by checking outthe trailer forMr. Monk’s Last Caseright now.
