Knives Out (2019) might be the best Murder She Wrote episode ever
Director/Writer: Rian Johnson (Bricks and Star Wars)
Starring: Daniel Craig (Bond, Joe Bang Bond), Chris Evans (Captain Torch), Ana de Armas (upcoming Bond, Blade Runner Bond)
Director Rian Johnson loves cozy, drama-filled mysteries. It shows in his new story about a rich bunch of assholes who's benefactor dies. A clever, well-acted and well-directed story, Knives Out spins around the tropes of an Agatha Christie-style whodunit while staying current.
Mystery author Harlon Thromby (Plummer) has been found with his throat slit, a clear case of suicide. Except, a southern detective named Benoit Blanc (Craig) has arrived claiming foul play. Now the Thromby family, especially Harlon's nurse Marta (Armas), are fighting against each other and the detective to find out who could be responsible and who will walk away with a fortune.
Everyone on the screen kicked ass and took names. To go through everyone would take too long, so I will just point out my favorites. Armas as the nervous nurse Marta, struggling to keep herself and her family safe, deserves any and every award she gets. After his turn as a West Virginia redneck in Logan Lucky, Daniel Craig succeeds again in pulling off a ridiculous southern accent to the point where I want to make him an honorary southerner. He at least gets a nomination. Chris Evans and Michael Shannon play the best assholes with hearts of gold on the planet. Finally, Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Johnson play the best patriarchs of a rich, faux-woke family since the couple in Get Out.
But of course the plot is the thing. Right off we learn that the old man did not kill himself because otherwise why all the knives? The beginning scenes recounting the night before the death give a masterful overview of everyone's motives and inconsistencies through introductions. We get a great view that we can trust what we see (flashbacks) and not trust anything anyone says. Marta gets pegged as the protagonist right away with some choice information, and we are off. As the story gets more and more complex, Blanc's detective hat comes on with the greatest drawing room detective asset: talking people to their doom.
If you have any interest in well-told, funny, and charming mysteries, check this one out right away.