The Sheep Detectives – Movie Review
Imagine Babe, but it’s all sheep, and these sheep are inside of a Knives Out murder mystery that forces them to go on a journey of existential self-discovery. On paper, and to anyone who is seemingly sane, the ludicrousness of the idea should not work. However, in The Sheep Detectives, not only do screenwriter Craig Mazin (The Last of Us) and director Kyle Balda make this premise coherently work, they also bring to life a hilarious and surprisingly touching story that can be easily enjoyed by audiences, young and old.
Set in the beautiful English countryside, on the outskirts of a small village, George (Hugh Jackman) is a farmer who lovingly tends to his large flock of sheep. Each day, his rigorous routine is focused on keeping his beloved herd happy and healthy. Then at the end of each day, he gathers the sheep around his home to read them a murder mystery story as the sun goes down. However, one morning George is found dead in his paddock, with all signs pointing towards foul play, and multiple people suspected of the crime. With no faith in the small town community to properly solve the case, George’s sheep, led by Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), use everything they’ve learnt from the stories they’ve been told to figure out who murdered their shepherd.
Boasting a huge cast of comedic powerhouses, both human and sheep alike, The Sheep Detectives succeeds in grounding its insane premise into some form of reality with performances that both lean into the fun of it all, but also the sincerity that is explored throughout the story. Even though Jackman’s accent in the opening monologue that details his farming routine slips into 3 or 4 different tones and dialects, getting the movie off to a slightly shaky start, he soon kicks off the mysteriousness of the plot when he swaps his sheep-caring demeanour for a more sinister and nasty attitude towards the humans in the tale, all who become suspects in the mystery.
There is a butcher who chastises George’s decision to be vegetarian (Conneth Hill), a rival farmer looking to buy George’s land (Tosin Cole), a short-tempered innkeeper who could “just kill that man” (Hong Chau), a shady minister (Kobna Holbrook-Smith), plus the arrival of a newspaper journalist (Nicholas Galtizine), and George’s daughter (Molly Gordon) and her lawyer (Emma Thompson), are all investigated by the well-meaning, but rather inept singular police officer in this town (Nicholas Braun). Each performer does a great job of keeping the audience on their toes when it comes to trying to figure out who the culprit is, and a lot of the banter between the suspects and Braun’s police officer character lead to some very funny moments. The plot doesn’t delve into the intricacies of say a Knives Out style mystery, but it has enough twists and turns to serve as a story worth investing in.
But this is ultimately a tale of sheep going on a journey of discovery – both in the large world that exists outside of the comfy confines of the farm and internally with the battles of bravery, courage, and purpose. Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Dowd and Bryan Cranston do a wonderful job of bringing a lot of humanity and sincerity to their characters, but also weaponise their comedic sensibilities to play a very tongue-in-cheek tone that constantly reminds the audience not to forget that these are actually sheep.
Through the sheep’s journey, the story delves into a lot of unexpectedly emotional and heavy themes. There is a massive focus on grief and navigating those emotions, which is played out through in a very smart way – by having the sheep constantly forget bad things that have happened to them as a group. It’s an interesting narrative device for that emotional exploration and also for the murder mystery itself. There are also plenty of farm related jokes that for the most part do land, especially a chicken crossing the road bit and a sheep’s explanation of what a church is that hit all the right comedic notes.
Once the sheep-shenanigans and murder mystery really kick off, The Sheep Detectives becomes a genuinely hilarious and surprisingly touching movie that will make the younger audiences laugh at the chaos, and the older audiences will connect with it’s more emotional themes.
The Sheep Detectives is in Australian cinemas May 7
