Directed by Chris Nelson, the whodunit comedy thriller “Reunion” attempts to emulate the success of “Knives Out,” but falls short due to a lack of confidence in its writing, particularly in the first half of the film. However, the revelation of the killer’s identity in the latter portion sends shivers down the spine, thanks to its clever design. Crafting a successful whodunit hinges on skillfully concealing the culprit’s intentions to create a truly engaging and unpredictable twist. Unfortunately, in this case, the audience’s astute observation renders the killer’s identity somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, let’s delve into the plot and uncover the events leading to the death of the host, Mathew.
Spoilers Ahead
Reunion (2024) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
The film starts with Evan waiting in his police car for his friend Ray. They are invited to join the reunion party organized by their high school friend Mathew. Mathew comes from a rich background, and with time, he has become more rich and famous. When Ray stops Evan from playing word games on his phone, a car crosses them at high speed. Ray tells Evan to follow the car and stop it because, as a police officer, it is Evan’s responsibility anyway.
Later, when Evan sees the driver of the car, he realizes that she is Jasmine from high school, and she is also going to Mathew’s place. By that time, Ray had also come and remembered her from the old days. Together, they head toward Mathew’s house, where they meet with other friends from the past, like Megan, Amanda, and Vivian. Mathew lets everyone meet with his wife, Lisa, through video call.
What Awkward Events take place at the Party?
Evan is trying to get close to Jasmine, and Jasmine finds no one but Evan to share the moment with because most of her friends from High School are either married now or pregnant. She does not share the same interests as them, so she starts spending most of her time with Evan. In the meantime, Ray and Megan engage in a spat that turns into a huge brawl in the party. Megan used to date Ray, and now, when Ray sees her getting intimate with Mathew, he feels very jealous.
So, he stirs up a fight with Megan which results in Megan being very angry and leaving the floor. Evan tries to make Ray understand that it was his fault as he started to piss her off. Later, a mysterious woman comes to Evan and says he was one of the good ones in High School, so he is safe. But he must make sure to entertain himself for whatever is going to happen later. Moments later, that same woman introduces herself as Vivian in front of everyone.
Vivian tells everyone that during high school, everyone believed that she would never get a hold in her life, but now she is successful (to her, wearing a $62 shoe equals success). Everyone realizes that Vivian is too drunk to control her emotions, so they let her speak. She curses Mathew because he used to make fun of how she used to look and had given some names that hurt her back then.
What happens to Mathew?
When the party hits its peak, suddenly, the power goes out, and Mathew takes Evan with him to get it back on. Later, Mathew shows Evan the bear costume he is about to wear at the party. There is a storm approaching, so everyone leaves the party apart from Evan, Ray, Jasmine, Amanda, Vivian, and their old history teacher, Theodore Buckley. The following morning, Jasmine finds Mathew’s dead body lying there on his bed, and she screams her heart out.
Evan and others come running to the spot, and Amanda points a finger at Vivian because she has been behaving awkwardly ever since she appeared at the party. Soon, everyone starts pointing fingers at each other when Evan takes charge of the situation and asks everyone to remain calm. The landline is not working, and since there is no reception inside the house, perhaps because of the storm last night, Evan decides to stay inside the house for a while until the landline service comes back, and then they can call for help.
What role does Amanda play in this Murder?
Evan and Ray go back to Mathew’s room to close the window that has been open since last night, and the whole house is getting cold because of it. They find bullet holes in the wardrobe. Later, Evan finds Megan’s body outside the house. Evan tells everyone that to find the killer, they must find the weapon first, and this brings to a situation where we see Amanda trying to destroy a video cassette.
Later, everyone finds out that the contents inside the video cassette were recorded by Mathew himself in the past. Now, they believe that since Amanda needs this content to be destroyed, she has the perfect motive to kill Mathew. However, later, Amanda explains that she was being blackmailed for this cassette and she was told to cut the power at a certain time during the party. If she did that, then the blackmailer would have told her about the cassette.
Soon after, Jasmine finds out that Mathew was frauding a lot of people who trusted them with their savings, and Theodore Buckley was one of those people. So, he, too, has a reason to kill Mathew. Jasmine is also here because she is sent by her media agency to investigate Mathew’s case. So, overall, multiple persons have reasons to kill Mathew.
Also, Evan used to be a great player during his high school days, and he could easily be selected for the greater prospect. However, before a crucial game, Mathew tackled him so badly that he failed as a sportsman. Now, Mathew is successful in life, but on the other hand, Evan is just a police officer, who hardly meets his ends. Anyway, no one among these people has the guts to kill Mathew because they all seem to be coming from a humble background.
Reunion (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Who is the Killer?
At the end of the film, we see Evan find Ray’s shoe matching the footprint outside, and previously, Megan’s earrings were discovered in his pocket as well. Ray explains that he does not want Megan to get involved in this because no matter how much he hates her, he knows that she cannot kill Mathew. But, since he fails to explain anything about the shoe and Jasmine has already been attacked by the killer last night, no one takes any risk but to hand Ray over to the police. The landline is working fine now, and Mathew’s wife, Lisa, is home as well, along with the police.
However, Ray suddenly takes the gun from the police officer and asks everyone to sit quietly because he has now understood who actually killed Mathew. Ray explains that during the power cut, thanks to Amanda, Lisa comes back to the house and keeps herself hidden until she confronts Mathew. Mathew is about to wear the bear costume for the party, and Lisa shoots him right before that. Later, she finds Megan inside the closet because, after her spat with Ray, she decides to make out with Mathew and is waiting for him when she sees Lisa shooting him.
Now, the only question that remains is why? What was the motive behind Mathew’s murder? Ray says that Lisa has an accomplice throughout, and that is Evan. Evan and Lisa were having an affair, and they planned to kill Mathew, take all the money, and then leave for good. Evan takes Ray’s shoes, wears them, and puts Megan’s body outside the house, in the back of a car. Both Lisa and Evan have their motives to kill Mathew, and at the end of the film, we see Evan saying that he finally had the chance to be someone in life.
So, perhaps, it is the jealousy and anger that inspired Evan to plan Mathew’s murder because, quite honestly, Evan was denied the opportunity to become a successful player, and the reason behind it was Mathew. Maybe that is the reason he falls in love with Lisa in the first place because somewhere down the line, Evan has always believed that he should have lived the same life as Mathew. For Lisa, the reason is however unclear, but it is probably just Mathew’s lifestyle that forced her to take such drastic steps.
