In Reunion, a group of former classmates are celebrating their twenty-year high school reunion when a snowstorm hits. Although most leave, a few are unable to drive home and crash at their very rich former classmate Matthew’s home. Things take a shocking turn when Matthew’s body is discovered the next morning. Everyone in the house has a motive and they must find who among them is the killer.

Reunion leans into the nostalgia and elevated emotions of a high school reunion while delivering a hilariously inept investigation with the mystery of who killed Matthew at the center of the story. Each character has their own secrets, many of which are tied all the way back to high school. The stacked cast includes Nina Dobrev, Chase Crawford, Billy Magnussen, Jillian Bell, Jamie Chung, and Lil Rel Howery, who each deliver phenomenal performances. Chris Nelson helmed Reunion, shooting the movie in only a few weeks.

Screen Rant interviewed stars Lil Rel Howery and Micheal Hitchcock about their new movie Reunion. They shared insight into each of their characters and praised the chemistry of the cast on and off screen. Howery explained how Reunion sets itself apart from other murder mysteries and the pair revealed who from they cast they would want by their side in an escape room.

Lil Rel Howery On His Reunion Character: “Ray Is Somebody Who’s Still Caught Up In That Time”

Howery explained how his character, Ray, stands out from the other former students with his excitement for the reunion. He revealed that Ray sees high school as the glory days and is excited to revisit them, especially with where his life is at the start of Reunion.

Lil Rel Howery: Well, you could tell that they were both like those two guys who just loved the same music, probably played video games together, hung out all the time. But Ray was kind of like, you could tell he was a Kanye West fan, so that’s where he got his style from with the early Kanye stuff. But then also Ray is somebody who’s still caught up in that time. He’s still stuck in that time.

I think that’s what he felt like was his best years. And he’s not necessarily proud of who he has become in this present time, so he can’t wait for this reunion. That’s what I love about the opening of the movie is him getting ready for it. Everybody else is just showing up. He’s actually, he got the outfit put out. It’s laid out you, I mean, got the Axe spray. He’s really getting ready for this thing.

This was an event for Ray.

Lil Rel Howery: It’s an event for him. It’s a really event. And so I think that’s what makes him stand out in this movie is that he’s the one that’s taking this way too serious and you’ll see why.

Michael, why is Mr. Buckley at the reunion? Tell us a little bit about the character and how he was remembered in high school.

Michael Hitchcock: First of all, Mr. Buckley was invited. He didn’t just show up. However, it is curious because everyone hates Mr. Buckley, hated him 20 years ago. Hates him now. So it’s a little bit of a mystery of why he would be there, but as the film goes on, you figure that out. That’s part of the murder mystery. Also he likes his liquor, and I’m sure part of the reason he came is because there’s free booze. Yeah, free booze, maybe a free, whatever those little things are those quiches. There’s free food.

Reunion Stars Praise The Movie’s Tone

“It Was Great To Bring A Version Of A Whodunit Movies With Humor To The Table”

Reunion has a powerhouse cast, but the chemistry between them is magnetic. Great comedic timing and the feeling of history between each character show how in sync this cast was. Howery shared that the cast quickly bonded and spent a ton of time together behind the scenes which isn’t always the case.

Lil Rel Howery: Yeah, I mean, this was so much fun and I love the fact that even you watching a movie, you can see how we all hung out off screen, translated on screen. So much fun. I mean, it was a lot of laughing, a lot of laughing. We eat lunch together, we hung out together, we went out and it was interesting because it was kind of like things was starting to open back up a little bit.

So everything was still outside. But man, we would just be around each other all the time. We were literally having lunch in that mansion all the time. All of us. They’d just be sitting down, talking, and just laughing. It was a lot of laughing and I’m so grateful that I feel like I met another great group of friends that I didn’t even expect to meet because it doesn’t happen like that all the time with projects.

Sometimes you kind of go in and out and then whoever came in, we embraced, even if it was the first group that was together most of the time, and as people came in, we all just hit it off.

Michael, I love the blending of the suspense and the comedy in this film. It works so well together. Can you talk about the director, Chris Nelson and what his directing style added to Reunion?

Michael Hitchcock: He was very good with always letting us, well, we would always do the scripted part of it, obviously, and then we would get to improvise and he was very, very supportive of that. And we also had discussions with him about the actual plot and to make sure that everything stayed on track and that if there was a little something missing to let’s try to get to that. So there was a lot of collaboration, which I really appreciated.

That’s incredible. Now with Knives Out, Only Murders In The Building, The Afterparty, and Poker Face, we’re seeing the murder mystery genre make a resurgence. Lil Rel, what is it about that genre that people connect with and what are some of your favorite murder mysteries?

Lil Rel Howery: First of all, Murder She Wrote, Columbo, now, Poker Face, honestly, it’s so crazy. Even with Poker Face, we only shot our episode. So, I had to watch stuff. I watched the show because I didn’t know what else, they didn’t tell us anything. It was all secretive. You only knew what you did. So, I became a fan of the show. I was watching it every week with everybody else, but I just think it’s just something very fun about the whodunit, genre. It’s always had been.

I mean, that’s why I was able to become a game you buy at home, you know what I mean? That’s why Clue was so popular. And so I think us adding on to that, I like that we brought a different spin to it. I feel like ours, I think it’s one of the funnier ones you’ve ever seen, really. And so it was great to bring a version of a whodunit movies with humor to the table, and I hope people really enjoy it.

Michel Hitchcock & Lil Rel Howery Reveal Who They’d Team Up With In An Escape Room

Reunion leans into the antics, be they dramatic or comedic, of returning to the mindset of high school. With that nostalgic state of mind, Hitchcock revealed which songs were his go-tos when he was in high school including Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”

Michael Hitchcock: Well, I’m older than the rest. So it would’ve probably been “Tiny Dancer” or something from Elton John, “Saturday Nights All Right For Fighting” those kinds of songs. It was just the dawn of disco, which is weird. So some of the early disco songs were starting to happen, which everyone was like, Huh, I don’t know about this. Yeah, so that’s kind of what was going on. Little Elton John, a little disco.

How about you, Lil Rel? I know in the beginning of the film we hear some Big Pun, but is that what you would’ve been listening to back in high school?

Lil Rel Howery: Nah. I’m going to tell you what I had on Repeat “Triumph” by Wu-Tang Clan was one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard. At that time we in Chicago, so we became the New York Head. That’s what they call it, the New York Heads. I’m like, because we love hip hop. It’s not just New York, just because we not listening to Master P we the New York Heads. Okay. But yeah, Wu-Tang “Triumph” on repeat.

Who would be the most helpful in an escape room in your cast?

Lil Rel Howery: Nina.

Michael Hitchcock: I would say Nina would be a good one. Yeah, she puts two and two together pretty well. I think Jillian would just probably wander off. I think Jillian would just be making fun of the whole thing and just sort of, although she’s pretty competitive, she’s got a competitive streak to her?

I love doing double features at home. So when you download this film on the 28th, what film would you pair with the reunion to watch back to back?

Michael Hitchcock: Probably Singing In The Rain. That’d be horrible. I dunno, maybe one of the true crime things like The Jinx or something like that.

Lil Rel Howery: That’s a tough one. Let’s see you watch Reunion. Then after that you should watch, dang. Do you go back with Murder Mystery or do you keep it funny?

Or you could do another high school reunion type of film.

Lil Rel Howery: Alright, well not reunion. Watch Reunion then watch The Breakfast Club.

Michael Hitchcock: Oh, that’s great. That’s really good.

About Reunion

Snowbound at their high school reunion, former classmates uncover a murder and scramble to identify the killer among them before they’re all iced out for good.

Check out our other Reunion interviews:

• Nina Dobrev
• Chris Nelson

Source: Screen Rant Plus