Surprising New Twist on Mystery Genre

Rating: 8/10 (14 April 2020)

Benoit Blanc - you would think that a lead character with a strange accent would sound more like a Frenchman who draws escargo into the plot. Nope, this might be one of the best tung-in-cheek characters ever on the trail of a murder. There's Comedy afoot here but it is not realized immediately. In fact so many viewers are misled by Rian Johnson's plot that a lot of the reviews I have read here don't even realize the classic comedy put into this which is actually funnier than the all-star Murder By Death where Obi One Kanobe is a blind butler.
When I started this film, I thought well an opening scene murder is not new. Then it seemed like it was a night mare of sorts. Then I got a Columbo twist as it seems too obvious who guilty and thought this was going to be a comedy more than mystery as Benoit Blanc appears befuddled despite obvious facts and guilt right in front of him. Then the twists come into play.
The party on the night of the murder-suicide is replayed like layers of an onion several times in the film. Each time as it is unwound there is a different aspect of the party revealed. It's actually darned fine writing, a surprise to be sure. Could it have worked if there was another ending? Possibly, but this ending is so funny and a little twisted that the entertainment for this genre film is way above average.
Folks here tend to look at the names in that cast and think that they should have been given better dialogue? Benoit Blanc gets some of the best humor lines ever in a film like this. When you make a comedy and disguise it by making it a mystery as well, you have to remember casts do not get a lot of great lines or acting in a comedy. So while handing out an Oscar for Best Supporting role in a Mystery film, you have to ask yourself why back ground characters would get great dialogue? Not gonna happen, though the caretakers role here is the best played. Daniel Craig proves he is great at subtle comedy as Benoit Blanc.
When all is said and done, this film grabbed my attention because it is different. I like it because by making the comedy so understated it twists the plot into a neat mystery within some classic lines. If your not entertained here by the holes in the donut, then your missing the point. Rian Johnson is laughing at you as a viewer if you do not get what he has done here. Considering a Benoit Blanc sequel is on the way, he is laughing all the way to the bank. I am laughing with him, because I am wondering how the sequel is gonna be anywhere near as entertaining or as funny as this one is? I am looking forward to finding that one out.
It's obvious who the murderer is only this one sets a trap that a few viewers got out of. They didn't seem to get the jokes. Maybe the sequel should just use the same cast and locales and rewrite the will? No, that would really be confusing though Benoit Blanc could then bring in the knives?