Mystery Island: Play for Keeps is the third installment of the Hallmark Channel’s Mystery Island film series, revolving around a murder-mystery-themed resort where actual surprise whodunits take place during their pre-planned games. Following the first film released in 2023 and the second (Mystery Island: Winner Takes All) in March 2025, Play for Keeps welcomes back Elizabeth Henstridge, Charlie Weber, and Kezia Burrows as the Mystery Island game planners and organizers who are forced to do some sleuthing of their own after a difficult V.I.P. client ends up dead, making everyone a potential suspect. Does this title continue to build on the first film’s success, or has this third installment killed the series’ momentum? Keep reading to find out!
The Gist: There’s a new high-stakes whodunnit game to play on Mystery Island, and this one involves some serious baggage! Mystery Island COO Baroness Jane Alcott (Kezia Burrows) breaks the news to her psychiatrist pal and employee, Dr. Emilia Priestly (Elizabeth Henstridge), that their upcoming client is a V.I.P. party led by affluent married couple Ainsley (Emily Eaton-Plowright) and Franklin Trask (Kris Mochrie). The awkward part, however, is that Franklin is Emilia’s ex-fiancé, and as much as she wants to escape this situation, Ainsley has specifically requested that Emilia be present for the duration of her party’s stay. Emilia’s coworker and fellow game writer, Detective Jason Trent (Charlie Weber), says that Ainsley is likely insecure and wants to make sure Franklin isn’t still carrying a torch for Emilia. Sounds like a very fun person for Emilia to be stuck on an island with!
Unfortunately for Emilia, she isn’t exactly in a position to turn this down due to the high-profile nature of the Trask party. Franklin runs the affluent hedge fund, Trask Global Management, while his wife of one year, Ainsley, is a powerhouse corporate attorney who sits on the board of Trask Global. Rounding out the V.I.P. group are Franklin’s right-hand-woman and Trask Global COO, Viveca Bentley (Victoria Bolt), former NFL tight-end and ex-Trask Global VP, Spencer Trask (John MacDonald), Spencer’s “model girlfriend” (who is later called his wife?), Patricia Collacello (Nisha Aaliya), and Ainsley’s childhood bestie and high school sweetheart turned frienzoned reconnection, schoolteacher Mickey Carlyle (Barney White). Jane and Jason will be sneaking into the party as well to play disguised characters as part of their planned murder mystery game.
Tensions immediately flare upon the Trask party’s arrival. Upon hitting the island, Ainsley is abrasive and confrontational towards Emilia, while Franklin is a bit too friendly. Ainsley ends up single-handedly cracking the mystery in just a day, a verdict reached so record-breakingly fast that Emilia immediately suspects her of cheating. Franklin gets Emilia alone and confesses that he’s still in love with her, which Ainsley overhears before angrily demanding a divorce.
The next day, Ainsley and one of her bags are missing, only for Ainsley to be found dead with a severed carotid artery and an “S” written in blood near her body. Her missing bag is later found (with bundles of cash inside) in the room of Mystery Island employee Simons (Ben McKeown), making him a potential suspect. As the case unfolds, several more people are deemed suspicious, including even Emilia herself, due to her past connection to Franklin, launching a winding case that throws our ace murder mystery-planning crew for a loop. Love and money intertwine as major motives for the crime, and through it all, Emilia tries to sort through her own old, complicated feelings towards Franklin and budding new ones for Jason. There truly is never a dull day on Mystery Island!
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Mystery Island: Play for Keeps is kind of like if you combined Rian Johnson’s 2022 satirical whodunnit movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery with the hit anthology dark dramedy series The White Lotus and then subtracted most of the two titles’ originality, self-awareness, and wit.
Performance Worth Watching: Kezia Burrows stands out as Baroness Jane Alcott. She injects enough earnestness and whimsy to add the fun and personality that this movie could truly use more of across the board from all of its characters.
Memorable Dialogue: After Ainsley’s death, her travel companions have a lot to say, and not all of it is flattering… For example:
Mickey (Ainsley’s literal best friend): “Ains was the president of the theater club in high school. She’s a drama queen.”
Patricia: “I mean, Ainsley was totally brilliant, but she was a horrible person.”
Spencer: “I mean, look, I don’t want to speak ill about the dead, okay? But she was a controlling monster.”
It’s almost enough to make you feel bad for her. Almost.
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: I know that Mystery Island: Play for Keeps is part of a franchise, so some people who enjoyed the previous two titles might already be predisposed to feeling fond of this one. But as someone who hasn’t seen the other films and is just viewing this as a standalone, I have to say that Play for Keeps doesn’t charm me or hit in the way that it might for a returning Mystery Island fan. This movie doesn’t take much time to get viewers acquainted with and attached to the characters, perhaps because there’s the assumption that many will already know and like main players like Emilia, Jason, and Jane from the prior films. Instead, it just launches in, and the result is some confusion and disconnection.
Even with the new characters in the Trask party, it’s hard to care much about them or feel invested in their stories. They all come across as fairly two-dimensional, and like they barely exist outside of the story that’s being told here and now. I feel like a good mystery is dependent on having interesting characters who keep the story fresh and colorful, but with these mostly half-baked characters and their somewhat uninspiring performances, the whole world and story end up feeling a bit dull and boring. I mean, if this movie really cared about its characters and story, then you wouldn’t have Patricia referred to first as Spencer’s girlfriend and then later as his wife later in the movie. That just feels a bit like lazy writing.
As a result, it was hard to care much about Emilia or Jason as individuals throughout the film, due to their less-than-fleshed-out nature. This also makes it hard to feel excited about or invested in their budding romance, which felt more forced due to plot convenience than a natural result of chemistry. Without vibrant characters to pull viewers in and get them hooked (Ainsley was probably the most engaging, and they quickly killed her off, so…), the movie heavily relies on the mystery plotline to carry the film’s weight. Unfortunately, even without spoiling anything, the end result was pretty predictable, and while that’s not a cardinal sin in and of itself, it’s definitely neither original nor entertaining enough to stake the entire movie on.
Our Call: Mystery Island: Play for Keeps isn’t terrible, but it isn’t that good either. It’s just somewhere in the middle, not managing to be especially affecting either way. Perhaps some returning Mystery Island fans will enjoy this out of loyalty, but if you’re looking for a solid mystery or romance movie, this title may be too boring and forgettable to fit the bill. SKIP IT.