☆☆☆☆½
If Knives Out is ignored by the awards, just know it made me laugh harder, louder and more frequently than any other 2019 film that comes to mind. It wasn't just me. I can't recall a more boisterous, appreciative audience.
Knives Out is written and directed by Rian Johnson, whose wild talent is on display in ways that his last directing job may have hidden. It begins with a grand tradition: the "whodunnit." There's a dead body in a gothic countryside mansion, no end to the suspects; swirling motives; and, in the midst of it all, a suspicious detective.
Johnson "upgrades" that old trope with a delicious style, and a fabulous cast led by Daniel Craig as Det. Benoit Blanc; Christopher Plummer as the corpse; Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon and Chris Evans as the greedy family; and, briefly, Frank Oz as a beleaguered attorney. The family gathers to hear the will of the corpse, who while living had built a $60 million empire writing mystery novels. The family wants that money.
Joined by two hilariously strait-laced police officers (Lakeith Stanfield, Noah Segan), the detective is given to drawling cliches like, "The game is afoot" -- and it most certainly is.
Superficially similar to the rich-family-in-a-house thriller Ready or Not, Knives Out is far more fun, far less sadistic, and more prodigiously satisfying. Knives Out may not be awarded as the "best" movie, but it's bound to be the best time you'll have at the movies. That's a much more wonderful accomplishment.
Viewed November 23, 2019 -- ArcLight Sherman Oaks
1900
Knives Out is written and directed by Rian Johnson, whose wild talent is on display in ways that his last directing job may have hidden. It begins with a grand tradition: the "whodunnit." There's a dead body in a gothic countryside mansion, no end to the suspects; swirling motives; and, in the midst of it all, a suspicious detective.
Johnson "upgrades" that old trope with a delicious style, and a fabulous cast led by Daniel Craig as Det. Benoit Blanc; Christopher Plummer as the corpse; Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon and Chris Evans as the greedy family; and, briefly, Frank Oz as a beleaguered attorney. The family gathers to hear the will of the corpse, who while living had built a $60 million empire writing mystery novels. The family wants that money.
Joined by two hilariously strait-laced police officers (Lakeith Stanfield, Noah Segan), the detective is given to drawling cliches like, "The game is afoot" -- and it most certainly is.
Superficially similar to the rich-family-in-a-house thriller Ready or Not, Knives Out is far more fun, far less sadistic, and more prodigiously satisfying. Knives Out may not be awarded as the "best" movie, but it's bound to be the best time you'll have at the movies. That's a much more wonderful accomplishment.
Viewed November 23, 2019 -- ArcLight Sherman Oaks
1900
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