Knives Out was enjoyable. I had a theory, but I was wrong. There really was a lot going on in this whodunit. If you appreciate mystery stories you will like Knives Out.
This movie could have been timeless, except they included too much current political nonsense.
They could have kept all the name calling, the nonsense about illegal immigration, and the complaining of the current administration out of the movie and this movie could apply to any time-frame, but now it’s doomed to only live in the present.
The family members in this story are:
- Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) patriarch of the family
- Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis) his daughter
- Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon) his son
- Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette) his daughter-in-law and wife of his deceased son Neil
- Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson) Linda’s husband
- Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans) Richard and Linda’s son
- Meg Thrombey (Katherine Langford) Joni’s daughter
- Donna Thrombey (Riki Lindhome) Walt’s Wife
- Jacob Thrombey (Jaeden Martell) Walt and Donna’s son
- Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) Harlan’s nursing aid who became friends with him.
When Harlan is discovered dead after his lavish 85th birthday party, an eccentric private investigator, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) shows up with the police to investigate.
Nobody knows who hired him or really why he’s there. I thought he was delightful though.
As Harlan was a successful crime novelist, his estate is worth millions and there is a lot at stake. While Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan) are interviewing the family members, we learn that everyone has a secret and everyone has a motive for Harlan’s death.
Except the great grandson. I’m not really sure why he was there. He didn’t have much to do.
Eventually, Blanc enlists Marta to help him with the investigation, which puts her in an awkward position as she might inadvertently have something to do with Harlan’s death.
She half-heartedly tries to help Blanc, while trying to cover up her involvement, then she learns more information about what happened and instead of going to Blanc with all the information, she goes on her own to try to solve the mystery. I don’t know why people do things like that.
I thought that Knives Out was fun with some odd parts (such as the way Marta reacted when she lied). I enjoy mystery stories, so I knew I would appreciate this one. With a running time of 2 hours and 10 minutes, it was a bit on the long side, but it kept my attention for the most part.
