***/**** (3.5 stars)
When renowned crime writer Harlan Thrombey is found dead in his rooms following a tumultuous 85th birthday party, a private detective is mysteriously called to investigate the deceased's eclectic family...
It's been a while since we've had a whodunnit that didn't feature the untimely, violent death of a woman, a crazed murderer and a long-suffering detective battling his own demons, so it's very refreshing for a murder mystery to come along with none of these tropes. Cue Knives Out, Rian Johnson's first writing/directorial outing since he was (wrongly, in my opinion) chastised for The Last Jedi. The set up is simple - the family patriarch (Christopher Plummer) has been found dead after his birthday party and, although suicide seems to be the most likely explanation, his nearest and dearest are now all suspects - sort of like a real life version of Cluedo. And, of course, they all had a motive, as private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, clearly relishing the chance to pay a more humorous role) discovers. Amongst the suspects are Linda and Walt (Jamie Lee Curtis, on top form, and Michael Shannon, less scary than usual) and Joni (Toni Collette). All three are clearly unlikeable people with their own scenarios as to what happened the previous night, which Johnson cleverly interweaves. These opening scenes, in which the main players are introduced, are the most entertaining, with Johnson relishing the chance to write damning, witty lines - there are multiple quips about social media, politics and pop culture, as well as more familial digs. It's very entertaining and sometimes the jokes are added with such subtly that they pass by faster than you can laugh at it!
For all its strengths, however, there are a couple of missteps that prevent the film from becoming truly remarkable. For starters, our main character, Marta (Ana de Amaris) is by far the least interesting character of the whole group - a girl with a 'good heart' who is so pure that it's almost unbelievable. With so many multi-faceted characters surrounding her, she feels like an empty vessel and, despite Amaris' best attempts, rather wet. For all the witty one-liners and acerbic quips, the story itself is rather empty and there was no plot twist, apart from the first initial surprise, that I didn't see coming. Similarly, despite hiring the prime acting talent of Collette, Shannon and Curtis et la, the film moves to focus on the relationship between Marta and Ransom (a wildly miscast Chris Evans) after the opening few scenes and leaves the rest of the cast out in the cold. It's a shame because, not only are these actors engaging and immensely talented, their characters are by far more interesting - it feels as though Johnson created them and then ran out of inspiration with regards to their story arch. It's a real shame, as the first act is all the stronger for having that cast and their characters. In the end, Knives Out just ends up feeling too 'samey samey', which is a real shame because there's a great deal of potential here.
Despite my reservations, however, I can't say that I didn't laugh out loud throughout, or inwardly chuckle to myself about some of the one-liners after the credits rolled. There's also something undeniably charming about the film, from the eclectic family that's somehow strangely familiar, to the excellent, quick-witted script that's packed with both subtle and knowing asides - it's the sort of film that might actually benefit from having subtitles so that you catch every clever snippet. All in all, an enjoyable farce that's got plenty of heart but somehow misses that fatal blow.
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