Sunday, December 29, 2019

Knives Out (2019)

This film was at least filled with quirky characters and a somewhat fresh plot.
Christopher Plummer is found dead the morning after his eighty-fifth birthday party. And his entire family is a suspect despite his death being ruled a suicide. Each one of his family members has reason for killing him, Richard (Don Johnson), his son-in-law, was discovered to have cheated on his wife, Walt (Michael Shannon), his son, and the manager of his publishing company was just told to find another job and his other daughter-in-law, Joni (Toni Colette) was found to have double-dipped for her daughter's tuition. Only wealthy daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) doesn't seem to have any motivation.
And then there is the nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas) who is found to have inherited everything, though she didn't know it. She believes that she accidentally mixed up Harlan's medications but that was not the case. Turns out Harlan, wasn't murdered at all, it was a suicide but grandson, the nasty jerkface Ransom (Chris Evans, playing against type) did in fact, end up murdering the housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson) so there are plenty of twists and turns throughout the film and everything ties up nicely in the end. It is nice having a fresh film other now and again and this one had a little bit of everything, suspense, thrill and most of all mystery, with great, nature performances sprinkled in throughout. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-While billed also as a comedy, this film was surprisingly unfunny, despite the stupid bit with the doughnut.
-Daniel Craig is top-billed as the private investigator hired by Ransom to find the murdered when it would have actually been him the whole time.
-Lakeith Stanfield is wasted as the head detective, which is just unfortunate.
-The dogs play a cool role in the film.
-And Christopher Plummer's mother (K Callan), no one knows how old she is, also plays a vital role in the film.

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