A Try Hard Farce

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2019)

While not anywhere near as clever as it would like to think it is, there's a lot to like about Rian Johnson's Knives Out. There's an almost comic book pantomime quality to it all, a farcical Agatha Christie filled with Cluedo styled characters who serve their limited purpose as red herrings with aching archness.
There's the bitterly cynical rich old man, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) who dies on a night when he is surrounded by his children, their partners, grandchildren, and caretakers, most of whom have a higher opinion of themselves and their achievements than Harlan does.
It's obvious everyone's enjoying themselves, most of all Daniel Craig. Chris Evans chews up his bad boy role. Toni Collette is fabulously OTT as a sleepy eyed health guru. Jamie Lee Curtis sneers derisively at everything she disagrees with, which is mostly everything, including husband Don Johnson. Ana de Armas flitters about as the hapless caretaker. Christopher Plummer enjoys himself immensely as the man with all the money in the world who laughs last before he pops his clogs.
Then there's a will.
There's a dispute over whether Harlan's death is suicide or murder.
And there's Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc, who deserves another run out as the Southern fried consulting investigator. Everyone involved gets their moment to shine, with the initial questioning session giving them all the chance to show how good and decent they are which may come back to haunt them as the story plays out.
It does sag in the second third before gathering pace and racing towards the finale, one of those intricate Agatha Christie double-triple twists in the tail that really doesn't feel as though it's anything more than a handy way to tidy things up despite relying on far too many coincidences. There's few things more frustrating in cinema than watching a movie that tries to be so very smart and then trips up over its own laces as it approaches the finish line.
There's no shock in the revelation that it was this thing all along, you just go along with it because this is where you've been led and it's just not entirely satisfying. Pity.