"Cozy Mysteries"
A fairly new classification or Genre.
While the name is fairly new, the type of movie is not.
What I believe to be a real "Cozy Mystery" is a movie, where some kind of crime has been committed. Somebody (Usually an untrained amateur, will start investigating and frequently bump in to a police detective in charge of the police investigation. The amateur sleuth will often arrive before the police. The police usually keep telling them to stay away or they will be arrested for interfering with an official police investigation. If you are lucky (which, since COVID and the emergence of Gac, we haven't been very lucky so far) it will evolve in to a series of movies.
If that is the case, the detective will start to appreciate, admire, respect and often fall for the sleuth.
Anyway, somebody gets murdered, the amateur sleuth will normally get to the clues and suspects first, investigate, talk to friends, often a murder board, get to the killer first, end up in danger and get rescued in the nick of time, by the police detective, all with no, or very little, minor swearing, no nudity, no gore and scenes of mild violence (Apart from the whole murder thing)
As nice a murder as you will ever find.
And, despite the familiarity, I actually love them!
Nice, easy watching. Almost family friendly (Again, apart from the whole cunning evil murderer thing) most people wouldn't need to grab the remote to pause if children arrive. Most people wouldn't get embarrassed and quickly change channels if the mother in-law arrived unexpectedly.
Just a great mystery movie with very polite murder.
Light a fire ( but only if you have an actual fireplace of course! Otherwise it's arson!) Grab a blanket, cuddle up with love ones and see if you can figure out, Whodunnit before they do.
Obviously some people may find it unsuitable for younger viewers (Because of the whole..... Yeah, ok, ok, I have mentioned it) but I would be happy, telling the children that it is a game with his friends. The person fell asleep while dipping his fries in tomato sauce etc.
Good, clean, friendly MURDER! Or Arson, mayhem, or all of them.
For the older folk, think Jessica Fletcher (I would not want to be around that lady! Wherever she goes, people ALWAYS die! I swear she is a secret serial killer! She frames someone else, hypnotizes someone to confess after the frame job is complete!)
But I would say that was one of the most successful cozy mysteries ever.
Hallmark generally, not only lead the genre. But pretty much OWN it!
There are a few others that "Pop up" here and there.
But for me, it is a very under served genre.
While I totally appreciate that most murder movies, go for making it more "Real" with the likely swearing, violence, gore and possible nudity and sex. More realistic.
However, I think there is enough reality, the other side of my front door.
It isn't really necessary to make a great film. As Hallmark have proved. Over and over again.
I just can't understand why there isn't more. Doesn't take a genius super high price writer. Doesn't need Hollywood block buster stars (Although, as Miss Lacey shows, the actors are important. But it isn't the hardest genre to work in. I am not being nasty. I have tread a board or two myself. I find the intimacy of the character can hurt you the most. Being nasty really hurts too. People just cannot understand how much of a toll, acting can take. You have to convincingly become someone else. It is very difficult to switch on and off and on and off. Part of the actor, becomes part of the character and you have a part of each character the blends in to you. So I am not saying acting is easy. It can be, if you don't really get in to the role. But then your character isn't very convincing. You are just the same person in every role you have. In which case, is it acting at all? Or just reading lines? But this is an easier role than most, because you don't have to leave your whole soul on set. Mostly playing nice people. Even the killer is generally pretty sociable! Where as in a horror, you need to be scary, evil, twisted. I am quite a big bloke. But playing someone like that? Become a convincing, evil, twisted serial killer... It hurts. Between me and... Nobody, because they all stopped reading and started watching the cozy mystery, I would cry like a baby in the shower, trying to wash off the feeling of guilt and disgust. It really was not a fun part to play. So yes, in ways you can't even imagine, unless you have been there, like your career depends on it, like your next meal depends on it. Acting is hard. It is notoriously hard to make a living. You never know when your next job will be. Unless you hit the big time of course! But even then, one movie flops, your value flops. As you age, you start to lose your star status and become the parent of the star. Roller coaster ride)
Anyway, doesn't have to be an expensive set. Get actors that have worked together and still like each other! You already have the bonding and comfort working together off the bat.
You could be knocking them out quite quickly on a small budget.
I know all of the directors and actors of course! They all love to read my rant and will certainly follow my advice. . . . . Ok, you can say that was a lie. But it wasn't! It was acting! And nobody would still be reading anyway, so I can say anything! Wow. Even I have stopped reading........