Film

The Thin Man

Name: The Thin Man
Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Crime
Released: 1934
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell

The Thin Man isn't really about the murder — it's about watching two people who adore each other solve one while staying cheerfully, continuously drunk. Nick and Nora Charles trade wisecracks instead of declarations of love, and the mystery is mostly an excuse to keep them in the same room. Glamorous, quick, and startlingly modern for 1934.

TMDb rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love snappy, bantering screwball-style romance where the sleuthing is almost a excuse for two sharp people to spar over martinis and each other.

Skip it if you want a tense, grim whodunit with mounting dread; this is breezy, talky, and happy to let the mystery sit in the background while the jokes take over.

What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes and quick on its feet, it rewards close listening to the dialogue more than sustained suspense, and it stays light even when bodies turn up.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

After the Thin Man1936

The immediate sequel reunites Powell and Loy at their sharpest, banter intact, cocktails flowing, chasing a new murder without missing a beat. Pure, undiluted more-of-the-same, which is exactly the point.

But The mystery is thinner than the original's, and the whole thing rests on how much you loved that specific chemistry the first time.

The Maltese Falcon1941

Same author, same hard-boiled Hammett DNA, but stripped of the champagne and jokes. Bogart's Spade is what Nick Charles looks like with the charm curdled into cynicism.

But No marriage, no comedy, no warmth — if you came for the banter, this is a much colder, meaner room.

His Girl Friday1940

The same rapid-fire, overlapping wit, redirected at newsrooms instead of murders. Russell and Grant volley dialogue like champions, and it may be the funniest script of the whole era.

But It moves so fast you'll miss jokes on first watch, and there's no crime plot to anchor the momentum.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Thin Man

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Trouble in Paradise1932

The same Depression-era appetite for glamorous banter between witty, morally loose partners, made two years before Nick and Nora and arguably the blueprint for that whole tone.

Two years before The Thin Man, this pre-Code gem serves the same tuxedo-and-champagne sophistication and razor wit — except the charming couple are jewel thieves instead of detectives. Lubitsch directs it like silk.

But It's a heist romance, not a mystery — nobody's solving a murder, and the plot is thinner than the style.

Adam's Rib1949

Tracy and Hepburn as married lawyers on opposite sides of a case, needling each other with the same affectionate combativeness Nick and Nora perfected. Proof the formula outlived the '30s.

But It's courtroom comedy more than mystery, and its gender politics show their age even as the leads charm you past it.

Charade1963

Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Paris, a murder, and dialogue this light shouldn't work this well over a genuinely twisty plot. The glossy 1960s heir to the Thin Man's tone.

But It leans harder into thriller territory in its back half, and some of the romantic dynamics feel dated now.

Knives Out2019

A modern whodunit that remembers mysteries can be funny, with a cast clearly having a blast and a puzzle underneath the jokes that actually satisfies.

But The humor is broader and more contemporary-cynical — nobody here is sipping martinis and calling each other darling.

The Nice Guys2016

Gosling and Crowe as a mismatched detective duo trading insults over a genuinely twisted case — proof the wisecracking-investigator format still works, just louder and bloodier.

But It's violent and profane in ways the 1934 film never approaches — this is the R-rated descendant, not the polite one.

Bringing Up Baby1938

Grant and Hepburn at full screwball throttle, with a leopard standing in for a corpse — the same manic energy and quotable dialogue, minus the murder.

But There's no mystery plot at all, just pure farce, so if you wanted crime-solving this won't scratch that itch.

Murder by Death1976

A gleeful spoof gathering thinly-disguised parodies of every great fictional detective under one roof for a murder, written by Neil Simon at his silliest.

But The jokes lean broad and dated, and it works best if you already know the detective tropes it's mocking.

Moonlighting1985

Nick and Nora's chemistry minus the marriage, spread across a whole series — the same idea that murder plots are really just scaffolding for two people enjoying each other.

A detective agency run by two people who can't stop bickering and clearly, maddeningly, love each other — the will-they/won't-they banter that defined network TV, stretched across an entire courtship.

But Later seasons got messy behind the scenes and it shows on screen; the early run is the good stuff, and there's a lot of it to get through.

Gone Girl2014

Both make a marriage the engine of a murder plot; one plays it as the happiest partnership in cinema, the other as its inversion — same structure, opposite temperature.

Take the idea that a marriage itself can be the central mystery — the thing The Thin Man treats as a delight — and curdle it into something genuinely unnerving. Pike and Affleck are terrifying where Powell and Loy are warm.

But It's cold, cynical, and occasionally cruel where the original is affectionate — this is the nightmare version of the same premise.