Would have been an order of magnitue better without Johnston's warbled symbolism

Rating: 6/10 (26 February 2020)

The idea of it mattering more what you do with the truth than the pursuit of it is a clever one, but instead of shining a light on prejudice, bias, and arrogance, it actually encourages all of these things in the audience by confirming all of those things in the end instead of destroying them.
We're led to hate everyone who deserves hating right off the bat, and that never changes. What's worse, the people we're led to find innocuous only become more so as the story progresses. In short nobody grows and it ends up being a somewhat terrible mystery. It gets points for twists and turns, but none of those happen because of changes in the characters behavior or outlook. Johnston put all of the characters in their place from the get-go and never let them even wiggle slightly.
The acting saves this movie. It is definitely worth watching just for the magnificent performances by everyone involved. It is just sad that they had to 'pay the pound' for Johnston's gross soapboxing, while the penny was the movie and mystery itself.
It's interesting that there was an attempt to make fun of both SJWs and Nazis in this, while it so blatantly implied that rich entitled Americans are everything bad and illegal immigrants are everything good and hard-working. Such an unnecessary subtext in a murder mystery. especially considering it doesn't change throughout the movie...it's actually the one thing that's consistent.