Hooray! It's a Whodunnit!

Film: Knives Out

Director: Rian Johnson

Cast: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer

Agatha Christie instilled in me a love of crime fiction that continues to this day. There is only one Queen of Crime. Her plots followed a familiar process. There is a murder (sometimes even more than one). There are a few suspects, all of whom, at first glance, could have done it. In the last couple of pages the murderer is revealed, almost always in the presence of all the suspects. This form of whodunnits have become a staple of modern-day crime fiction.

Knives Out is writer-director Rian Johnson’s all-out homage to Agatha Christie. We are in the present day, but we might as well be in the 20s. it is a family mansion in the countryside that bore witnessed to the eventful birthday party and eventual murder of crime writer Harlan Thrombey (Plummer). In attendance were his eldest daughter Linda (Curtis), her husband Don, their son Ransom (Evans). Joni (Collette), the widow of the second son, and her daughter Meg (Katherine Langford) are there. As also the youngest son Walt (Shannon), his wife Donna (Riki Lindhomme) and their young son Jacob (Jaeden Martell). Adding up the group is Harlan’s nurse (de Armas) and his housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson). Oh, and Harlan’s aged mother (K Callan).

The death was almost closed as a suicide when the family is called back for another set of interviews. You see, the New Yorker-profiled private detective, the impossibly named Benoit Blanc (Craig) is interested in the case. Suddenly everyone is a suspect and they all have motives, as we find out. The thing is, will Benoit? And can he solve the crime before the will is read out?

The performances are spot on. It almost seems like the cast are trying to outdo each other in terms of who has more fun. Jamie Lee Curtis chews scenery, while Chris Evans throws away the Captain America persona for something really sleazy. The “Eat shit” sequence that you might have seen in the trailers is even funnier in the movie. While there is no doubting the kind of man he is portraying, it is kind of hard to imagine him as the son of Curtis and Johnson. Toni Collette and Michael Shannon keep their restraint in characters unlike what they are known for.

But the movie is mainly a two-hander for a wicked Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas, who holds her own against the other stalwarts. Craig adopts a Southern accent and the name Benoit Blanc. Rian Johnson is clearly having too much fun to care what you think of that.

In addition to being a first-rate mystery story, Knives Out is also extremely funny. It doesn’t overstay its welcome even for a minute. My only issue with it is there is one family member who doesn’t get any love. That strikes a slightly jarring note. Other than that, this is one of most rewarding two hours you spend in a theatre this year. Agatha Christie would have approved.