Tonight's Movie: Knives Out (2019)

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (2022) is due in theaters later this month, with a brief theatrical run to be followed by streaming on Netflix beginning Christmas week.

My family has tickets to see GLASS ONION Thanksgiving weekend, but unlike the rest of the family, I hadn't yet seen the original KNIVES OUT (2019), so it was time for me to finally catch up with it.

I'll mention at the outset that I will necessarily be vague about the plot specifics of KNIVES OUT so as not to spoil the mystery for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Christopher Plummer plays the irascible Harlan Thrombey, a mystery writer presiding over a fractious family. His relatives include daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis), her husband Richard (Don Johnson), and their son Ransom (Chris Evans); his widowed daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette); and son Walt (Michael Shannon).

Harlan manages to tick off every member of the family and then very unexpectedly commits suicide following his 85th birthday celebration. The death seems cut-and-dried to Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan)...but famed private investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), hired by an anonymous party, has questions.

And Harlan's sweet young nurse Marta (Ana de Armas) knows more about the night in question than she's telling...

KNIVES OUT is an Agatha Christie style whodunit with a large cast of suspects and an oddball detective solving the mystery. Instead of Christie's Hercule Poirot, we have "007" British actor Craig putting on an exaggerated Southern accent as a detective, who, COLUMBO-like, always seems to have just one more friendly question.

The movie is quite well plotted with one glaring exception; even at a moment of high drama an experienced mystery writer like Harlan would have known there was a major flaw in his instructions. Most of the issues surrounding that angle are resolved as the film goes on, but the fact the problem didn't even occur to him is glossed over. I'm not sure if there was a "fix" for it, but it kept me puzzled for the duration of the movie.

Other than that vague criticism I had a couple other minor issues with the film; a couple tasteless references to a grandson were completely unnecessary, and I also wish they had come up with a less gross "tell" which gives away when one of the characters is lying.

Those are all relatively minor problems, however. On the whole I found KNIVES OUT consistently entertaining; it's an old-fashioned mystery in the best sense.

Craig seems to be having a grand time as the detective, and his enthusiasm makes the film a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to seeing him play this character again in the near future.

I also especially enjoyed Stanfield as the police detective, who is perfectly intelligent but lacks Blanc's ability to quickly grasp key issues. He's sort of an admiring Dr. Watson to Craig's Holmes, so to speak.

The actors playing the avaricious family members likewise have fun chewing the scenery; Curtis is particularly good as the edgy Linda. de Armas also does well as the innocent yet guilt-stricken young nurse who keeps finding herself in Blanc's path.

The smart script has some very good dialogue; I was particularly amused by a couple cute references to the plot of a cable TV-movie with actress Danica McKellar.

KNIVES OUT was written and directed by Rian Johnson, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Did the film deserve it? Possibly, but I think the movie does suffer a bit from what I think of as LA LA LAND (2016) syndrome, where it's so relatively rare to see a well-crafted, enjoyable movie these days that critics go into overdrive.

It's a good film I recommend, and I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel, but it's not one of the best mysteries ever made -- particularly with the mysterious plot flaw I previously mentioned.

KNIVES OUT was filmed by Steve Yedlin, with exteriors shot in Massachusetts. The running time is 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. Along with the issues I obliquely referred to above, there is cursing and also very brief visuals of a bloody body.

KNIVES OUT is available on Blu-ray and DVD. The Blu-ray has a commentary track and featurettes.

A trailer is here.

Update: Here is my review of the sequel, GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (2022).

Tweet