Director: Rian Johnson

I love a good, old-fashioned cozy mystery. Knives Out isn’t a good one, however. It’s a great one. Writer/Director Rian Johnson channels his inner Agatha Christie to bring us the story of a dysfunctional family who discovers, the morning after the family patriarch’s birthday party, that said patriarch lies dead, his throat cut, in what appears to be a gruesome suicide. But this is no ordinary patriarch; this is Harlan Thrombey, multi-millionaire mystery writer, played by Christopher Plummer. And it soon becomes evident that it may not be a suicide, thanks to the presence of Consulting Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, doing Sherlock Holmes, by way of Hercule Poiroit, by way of…well, someone with an outrageous southern accent).

There is certainly no dearth of potential suspects in the Thrombey family, what with various party-night arguments between Harlan and his daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis), son Walt (Michael Shannon), and grandson Ransom (Chris Evans), among others. To root the murderer out, Blanc recruits Harlan’s nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas) as his Watson, partly because she has no motive to murder Harlan, and partly because she has an unfortunate condition which causes her to vomit whenever she tells a lie. And that’s about all I can tell you, other than Johnson gives us a few well-executed twists and turns throughout, creating a really entertaining mystery.

The performances are all well done, although there are a few that are chewing a little scenery (Don Johnson, I’m talking to you!), and a few that are really worthy of note. De Armas is great as Marta, and it’s good to see her finally get to take center stage. As the mystery begins to revolve around her character, she keeps everything moving, but keeps us centered. Craig is very good as well (but that accent….), and the two have some solid (non-romantic) chemistry together.

Investigating IMDb, I see that they give this film an 8.1. Since I use half-point increments, I’d say an 8.5. This was one of the most enjoyable films I’ve seen this year, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of a well-plotted, old-fashioned mystery. The game is afoot! (running time 2:10)

NOTE: Until I just looked up the running time, I had no idea it was over 2 hours. I felt like it moved right along. That’s always a good sign for me.