Pure Entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2019)

2019 has blessed movie fans with an impressively strong finish to the year in film. Among the excellent movies released in the past few months, "Knives Out" is perhaps the most purely entertaining. The star-studded cast pairing with a virtuoso director of consistently compelling movies served as powerful ingredients in the recipe for an entertaining movie, and the dish was prepared to perfection.
Despite what a few angry Star Wars fanboys will tell you about Rian Johnson and his sacrilegious creation, "The Last Jedi" Johnson is one of the better writer/directors in Hollywood. In my humble opinion, Johnson's Star Wars movie is perhaps the best in the saga.
Nevertheless, Johnson's latest romp should please all audiences. This film boasts one of the most impressive casts in recent memory, each member of which plays against type in a delightfully over-the-top fashion. Leading the pack is Daniel Craig (James Bond himself) playing a brilliant investigator named Benoit Blanc and flashing the same accent he would if he became the new KFC Colonel in the latest commercial. Yes, his southern drawl is comically exaggerated, but that is completely intentional. Many the best lines in the movie come with an implied wink at the camera, letting us know that everyone is in on the joke. Even Chris Evans (the beloved Captain America and the perhaps more beloved Twitter voice of good) plays a loathsome spoiled child of an entitled upbringing, who ruthlessly insults his family and hates dogs. I'll let you decide which of those traits is worse.
As a whodunnit, the movie is effective in ways you might not see coming and in plenty of ways you will. Even though the events leading to the death are revealed 40 minutes into the movie, Johnson manages to subvert expectations and remain steps ahead of viewers until the very end. I dare you to guess every twist and solve the puzzle before Blanc. The character often looks to be underwhelming as a detective, but that is also intentional. He eventually reveals himself to be multiple steps ahead the entire time.
Raw humor, suspense, and caustic social commentary combine to elicit one of the best screenplays of the year, one that deserves serious Oscar consideration. When the dust settles and mystery has been solved, the end result is a charming and satisfying mystery/comedy. We all deserve more movies like this, and we can thank Johnson for giving us one.