More twists than a bagful of pretzels; Evans is a hoot and de Armas steals everyone's thunder

Rating: 9/10 (1 July 2020)

KNIVES OUT (2019) ***1/2 Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, Frank Oz, K Callan, Noah Segan, M. Emmett Walsh, Marlene Forte, (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt) Filmmaker Rian Johson's mystery black comedy about the investigation of the apparent suicide of the affluent patriarch of a squabbling, self-entitled brood resulting in a twisty-turny parable of the wants and have nots with societal ills underpinning with deliciously outrageous plot points sprinkled along the way. A game ensemble cast acts the hell out of a shopworn parlor drama with aplomb particularly Evans as the black sheep of the family and kind-hearted but very implicated caregiver de Armas.