ReelBob: ‘Knives Out’ ★★★
By Bob Bloom
Writer-director Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” dabs a toe into a pool of satire in his fun-filled murder-mystery that is more a tribute to the works of Agatha Christie than a spoof of her stories.
The movie is filled with genre tropes — an old mansion, a greedy family filled with secrets, red herrings and surprise revelations.
“Knives Out” centers on the death of famed mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). Was his demise suicide, as the police believe, or murder, which is what debonair private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is hired to uncover.
The charm of “Knives Out” is that it does not take itself too seriously. It’s a lot of fun, thanks to a top-heavy cast — notably, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Toni Collette and Katherine Langford as the vulture-like family members eagerly awaiting to devour the will of the late Thrombey to learn their shares of his fortune — and Ana de Armas as his caretaker-nurse.
Like the film itself, the cast members are not taking the proceedings deadly seriously. Their performances are tongue-in-cheek, but not enough to push the movie into comedy.
The most colorful character is Craig’s Benoit Blanc. He is a combination of Col. Harlan Sanders and Hercule Poirot, oozing enough Southern charm to give you diabetes, yet astute enough to know when he is being led down the garden path.
The most human is de Armas’ Marta. She is warm and engaging, but also frightened by the predicament in which she finds herself — since she was the last person to see Thrombey alive.
Rian Johnson keeps shifting the suspect spotlight from one family member to another; thus, each actor gets his moment to shine.
Curtis is the acerbic daughter, Linda Drysdale, who, as the oldest Thrombey offspring, expects to inherit the biggest part of her father’s estate; Don Johnson is Richard Drysdale, her philandering husband; Shannon is Walt Thrombey, who has run his father’s publishing company, but wants out of the old man’s shadow; Langford is Meg, his pushy wife; Collette is Joni, the greedy widow of Thrombey’s other son, who has been embezzling from her father-in-law; and Evans is Ransom Drysdale, Thrombey’s entitled and sarcastic grandson.
All seem to have the means and motive for murder. So, who done it?
Suspicion immediately falls on Marta, Thrombey’s loyal nurse. She is an immigrant — the family takes her so much for granted that various members tell Blanc that she is from various South American countries — and, because her mother, with whom she lives, is undocumented.
One of the insights writer-director Johnson brings to the movie is a political and cultural awareness of what is going on in today’s society — a denigration and suspicion of outsiders.
On one hand, various family members console and embrace Marta, telling her she is one of the family. But, when new circumstances are revealed, they turn on her like a pack of hungry hyenas.
“Knives Out,” at 130 minutes, could have been trimmed to a bit under two hours. It does, despite all its plot twists, contain a few dead spots.
Still, it is a nicely paced throwback that will keep you guessing until the final reveal. It’s a solid offering that plays fair with its premise, and in which a delightful cast of characters are having the times of their lives — or deaths.
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
KNIVES OUT
3 stars out of 4
(PG-13) adult themes, violence, language, sexual references, drug material