Knives Out (2019)

Elevator Pitch: The family Thrombey are gathered together at the mansion of the patriarch Harlan Thrombey who is a milionaire writer of mystery novels. All are in some way hanging on to his coat tails, and when he dies apparently of suicide, they gather expectantly to hear the will read. But the recipient of his legacy is Marta Cabrera an immigrant who is the author’s nurse, and who we know made an error in administering his daily drugs, and who Harlan has quickly fabricated an effective scenario which involved his death, to protect her.

Content: We roam about the interior of the mansion which is festooned with all sorts of very expensive bric-a-brac.  We see Marta and Harlan together (in the nicest possible way) and her making the mistake which is to result in the author’s death. When the police arrive they interview people ineffectively and it is left to super detective Beniot Blanc to unravel the mystery, but not before we are taken down a number of blind alleys and handed evidence,  or is it evidence. Finally we have a good fifteen minutes of summing up as the detective reveals the truth.

A View: The critics liked this, nearly all being under the impression that the actors were having a good time, and it looked like that to me as well. Most have quoted Agatha Christie as a source, but to me it absolutely followed the format of “Death in Paradise” where the murder always seem to be impossible until the detective reveals the actual criminal as if he was telling us the workings of a complex magic trick. I think there is some dodgy stuff in the machinations of the plot, but I won’t spoil your enjoyment by telling you what it is. So worth the ticket price – for a couple of hours of fun.

Additional Info: One of those films to have made its production cost, $40 million, back on its first weekend – $63 million.