A Fine B Movie

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 2019)

The mystery writer Christopher Plummer has died. Although the police have just about wrapped up their investigation, his nurse, Ana de Armas is nervous; she knows that she had given him the wrong doses of medicine, the antidote was missing from her bag, and he had slashed his throat after arranging with her an elaborate charade so she would would not be suspected. The family and police were satisfied, yet here is the great detective Daniel Craig, holding it open. He has been hired to investigate, although he does not know by whom. The plot thickens when the will is read, and the heir to Plummer's vast fortune is Miss de Armas.
Once upon a time, the movie theaters ran full programs of selected short subjects, a feature film, and quite often a second feature. The second features were generally lower-budgeted movies, meant to be rented out to the theaters at a flat rate, and often genre films.... like mystery films. Some of these second features were series, and quite popular; it was no unknown for people to go to a show specifically for the second feature, a Sherlock Holmes mystery, or a Charlie Chan mystery, featuring stars who perhaps did not shine brightly enough for the major studios' A pictures, but would bring in the customers.
Eventually, the program shortened: no more selected short subjects, no more second feature. Nowadays, a movie show usually consists of a feature film and previews of coming attractions. Yet, long as it is, and with such a varied and interesting cast as it has -- Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, and half a dozen others -- this movie strikes me as a B picture, with an ornate plot, some small and gratifying witticisms.... in short, a superior example of the form.
If you are wise enough to see this movie, you will be sorely confused, as mystery is piled atop mystery, and how to untangle them all. I know I was. At the end, all will be revealed, and the journey from start to finish will have turned out to be worthwhile.