Overrated - trying to be a coen bros film

Rating: 5/10 (29 February 2020)

When not spoon-feeding you its plot through lots and lots of dialog and flashbacks, Knives Out takes ridiculous short cuts, the dumbest of which is a main character who throws up anytime she lies. In its better moments its obviously meticulously crafted but your ability to enjoy it will hinge on whether these amateur crutches sprinkled throughout are tolerable to you or not.
There's another problem with this murder-mystery comedy. Neither of the main characters are very funny. Daniel Craig is trying too hard to stay on top of his (bad) southern accent and Ana de Armas basically has one facial expression the entire film: worry. All the funny is in Toni Collette, Don Johnson and Jamie Lee Curtis, who are completely underused and eliminated from the list of suspects far too early in the film. They never even elevate to credible threats to the protagonist by blunderingly interfering.
Knives also can't help but wade into the current Hollywood vogue of jamming politics into literally everything. Exploration of political or social issues is a wonderful thing in film... when it's done right. Knives just hamfistedly tacks it on, and not in a subtle way. 40+ years after Blazing Saddles and this is what passes for progressive today. Of course she's poor and hardworking and can't even lie without throwing up. And because of her unrelenting honesty she wins in the end. But you know, those are generally *good* stereotypes so you critics better give it a good rating or else.
Beyond its politicizing, Knives Out unfolds with a kind of smugness that's irritating. A self-assuredness of it's wit and writing it never quite achieves. What it does achieve is something approaching a diet cola version of a Coen Bros film. I'll be surprised if anyone still remembers this film once its early shine, and especially it's politics, wears off.