Fans of the TV show, MONK, were no doubt gleefully wiping their hands with wet wipes when they heard that a MONK TV movie was finally being made. The idea was first floated back in 2012 but was shelved due to budgetary reasons. Fourteen years after the show ended its successful eight-year, 125-episode run, the obsessive-compulsive detective, all his old friends and even a song by Randy Newman, are back in MR. MONK’S LAST CASE: A MONK MOVIE.

It’s now 2023 and a lot has changed both in the world and in Adrian Monk’s (Tony Shalhoub, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL) life since we last saw him. No longer solving cases for the SFPD (the pandemic put him out of action), he’s been writing a book. That hasn’t gone too well though, and his publisher, Beth (Shalhoub’s real-life wife, Brooke Adams, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS; DAYS OF HEAVEN), has lost her patience with him. She tells Monk that her company wants their advance back, but that poses a bit of a problem for Monk because he had planned to spend it on a large wedding for his stepdaughter, Molly (Caitlin McGee, TV’s HOME ECONOMICS). Molly, we learn, has been very good to him over the years, even moving into his house and looking after him during Covid. Molly’s not upset though. She and her investigative journalist fiancé, Griffin Briggs (Austin Scott, TV’s SISTAS), wanted a small wedding anyways and she’s more than happy that Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) and Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) are able to fly in for the nuptials. For Monk, however, he sees the situation differently. The pandemic hit him hard and once the wedding is over, he’s plans to pack it in and finally be with his beloved late wife, Trudy (Melora Hardin). As fate would have it, the day before the wedding, Griffin goes bungee jumping and suffers a fatal, freak accident. Attention quickly turns to multi-billionaire, Jeff Bezos-type, Rick Eden (James Purefoy, TV’s PENNYWORTH) but there’s a slight problem. Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) is Eden’s head of security and he’s not too keen on losing his cushy job by having Monk poking around and trying figure out if Eden had Griffin killed and how he did it.

MR. MONK’S LAST CASE: A MONK MOVIE is pure fan service, not that that’s a bad thing but it’s not going to find any converts among the viewers. The movie is a fitting coda to the popular series, although working out how Griffin was murdered was rather easy for this armchair detective. Mrs. Fletcher would have had a more difficult case to solve than this one.

Though all the actors have gotten a bit greyer and bit pudgier since we last saw them, they all fell back into character as if the TV series had only ended last year. Even in the serious scenes, you can see in their eyes that they were loving working together again. Not surprisingly, Monk’s biggest obsession — his germaphobia — is on full display here but we’re now living in a post-pandemic age and Monk isn’t the only one who is preoccupied with personal hygiene. There are a few amusing scenes involving wet wipes and a contactless hand sanitizer dispenser. MR. MONK’S LAST CASE also has a dark side with Monk soberly contemplating suicide. Although he always missed Trudy in the series, I don’t recall him ever planning to kill himself but I suppose that three years of isolation can drive some people to that point. Fortunately, Griffin Briggs’ murder is probably not Monk’s last case and Shalhoub has said in recent days that he’s up for a sequel should one come along.

MR. MONK’S LAST CASE: A MONK MOVIE is streaming now on Peacock. If you’re a MONK fan, you’ll certainly enjoy this TV movie. If you’re not, or if you never watched the series, I can’t imagine that it will be of interest to you.

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