Five movies into any series and the novelty will start wearing off. Unfortunately, that’s as true of The Thin Man series as anything else. Nick and Nora are as charming as ever in The Thin Man Goes Home, but this entry doesn’t bring a lot that’s new in the way of laughs.

It tries. The story’s about Nick and Nora’s going to visit his parents in the small town where he grew up (the series titles having cleverly transferred the Thin Man nickname to Nick with Another Thin Man). His folks aren’t rich, but they’re respectable; especially Nick’s pop, who’s an influential doctor in the community. While the folks are pleasant and genuinely happy to see their son and daughter-in-law, Nick clearly has daddy issues right from the start. He’s giving up drinking for the duration of the visit and instead pulls swigs from a flask of apple cider. It’s a ballsy move to rob the main character of his funniest trait. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pay off comedically.

Nick’s best gags have always been his search for the next drink and his drunken endurance of insufferable people. Here, he soberly faces likable people and tries to get them to like him. It’s a sad position for the once great detective to be in.

At least the movie leaves Nick Jr. back in New York for the trip. And the mystery is a fun one featuring a mysterious painting and a murder that takes place literally on Nick’s doorstep. Murder mysteries of the 1940s are cheap, however. What sets this series above the others is Nick’s being at the top of his game, and The Thin Man Goes Home doesn’t offer that. I wish he’d stayed in New York. —Michael May

Buy it at Amazon.

Four movies in, most series start to show signs of wear and tear, and the Thin Man series was no exception. It’s only partly the fault of Nick and Nora’s kid. He was all right in After the Thin Man, but he poses a bit of a problem in Shadow, as love and chemistry have been replaced with precociousness. That can be annoying, but fortunately, Nick Jr. doesn’t have a lot of screen time. Yay again for nannies! (On the other hand, boo for racially stereotypical ones: “Yas’m, Mrs. Charles! Mr. Charles knew you was makin’ that drink! He must have telegraphy!”)

On the other other hand, Junior does provide one of Shadow’s best bits when he refuses to drink his milk unless Daddy drinks some, too. That horrifies Nick Sr., who’s already on his 12th martini of the day. It’s funny, but it also brings up the real problem with having the tot around. Nick’s alcoholism was amusing before he had a son, but it’s frickin’ uncomfortable to watch him take the boy on a merry-go-round while needing to lean against a horse just to stand upright.

The mystery’s not particularly inspired, either. It has to do with organized crime and betting on sporting events. I yawned just typing that. Nick gets involved because a buddy of his is the prime suspect when someone turns up dead. Barry Nelson, the original James Bond, plays the friend, so that’s cool. And a very young Donna Reed plays Barry’s girlfriend.

Although things are starting to look tired, there are still plenty of laughs to be had. As usual, Nora gets in some great lines and even pitches in on the detective work more than she has before. There’s obviously still life in the series, but — like Nick’s drink — it needs some freshening. With two films left in the franchise, I hope it got some. —Michael May

Buy it at Amazon.

Adding a baby into a successful series is usually a shark-jump. You might think that would especially be the case when the series is about a jet-setting couple comprised of a drunken detective and his hot, angelically understanding wife, but you’d be underestimating two things.
 
First, never sell short the power of rich people to get other folks to raise their kids. It works on Days of Our Lives, and there’s no reason it can’t work for Nick and Nora Charles. I always loved how you could watch a soap opera for three months and not realize that one of the main characters had kids until the nanny escorted the little darlings into the room for a check-in. Likewise, the Thin Man series is about Nick’s swigging vodka and solving crimes, not spooning baby food and changing diapers. No one wants to see that; least of all Nick.

Of course, this being a mystery series, the nanny has a secret past. And it may just be connected to the person who’s threatening the life of the grumpy, old colonel who manages Nora’s money. Since the Colonel doesn’t want the police involved (rich people never want the police involved, making it convenient for the writers), he asks Nick to help.

Second, don’t underestimate the chemistry. Nick and Nora have loads of it, and by God, so do they and their kid. He may only get trotted out occasionally, but when he does, William Powell and Myrna Loy make you believe that they love that squishy baby. There’s genuine, unironic fondness when Nick kisses his son or when all three family members crash on the bed for a snooze. And that makes Nick’s concern over his family’s safety feel very real when it’s threatened.
 
In many ways, Another Thin Man is the darkest of the series so far. This third installment is still very, very funny — especially Nick’s battle with the Colonel over whether or not Nick’s going to be sober — but the stakes are higher with family involved. For the first time, Nick becomes personally invested in a case instead of just seeing it as a fun mental exercise, and that makes Another Thin Man extremely interesting to watch. —Michael May

Buy it at Amazon.

The sequel to 1934’s The Thin Man features the return of William Powell’s hard-quipping and even harder-drinking detective Nick Charles and his hot, extremely understanding wife, Nora (Myrna Loy). Like in the first movie, Nick spends the entirety of After the Thin Man smashed while still running investigative circles around the police. To be fair, the story does take place at New Year.

This time, the murder is a family affair when one of Nora’s cousins is accused of murdering her no-good, philandering bum of a husband. The death doesn’t occur until about halfway through the movie, however. The first half is all about re-establishing Nick and Nora’s relationship as they move back to San Francisco after their New York adventure in the first movie. Not that that’s at all dull.

No matter how good your own relationship is, Powell and Loy will still make you jealous of theirs. That’s even more remarkable once the movie reveals just how far their individual sides of the tracks are from each other. The Thin Man hinted at it by showing Nick’s getting reacquainted with old crooks he’d put away, but it really comes into focus in the sequel. As Nick and Nora ride home from the train station, she greets people with big hats and monocles; Nick says “hello” to a pickpocket and the guy who delivers his booze.

That makes it all the more fun when their two worlds collide, and Nora’s stuffy aunt has to ask “Nicholas” (as she insists on calling him) to quietly help the family out. Hilarity ensues (especially in a scene where Nick carries a conversation all by himself in a smoking room full of snoring, old codgers), but like The Thin Man, there’s also a great mystery with plenty of diverse suspects, one of whom is a very young Jimmy Stewart as the Nice Guy in love with Nora’s newly widowed cousin. —Michael May

Buy it at Amazon.

The White House whodunit Murder at 1600 came out about the same time as the similarly themed Clint Eastwood film Absolute Power, which was also about a philandering president and his dead mistress. Eastwood may have the critical heat, but I prefer this pulpier, more action-oriented version.

Wesley Snipes — then the king of other enjoyable-yet-middling vehicles like The Art of War, Passenger 57 and U.S. Marshals — is a D.C. detective, named Regis of all things! He’s called to the White House when a pretty young employee is found dead in the bathroom following a round of hot, late-night sex. His investigation is compromised by the White House’s unwillingness to participate, despite him being assigned a Secret Service liaison (Diane Lane).

What exactly is the president’s administration covering up? And for whom? You’ll find out toward the end of a slightly bloated running time. Dennis Miller co-stars as Snipes’ co-worker, and while he may have been a great comedian once upon a time, he’s grating as a dramatic actor, so it’s hard not to applaud when he takes a bullet. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.