Directing: B+
Acting: B+
Writing: A-
Cinematography: B+
Editing: A-

You can’t say much about Knives Out without ruining all the fun. Suffice it to say that it’s a mystery-comedy (in that order) in which the central question is “Who did it?”, and while writer-director Rian Johnson adheres to every trope of the mystery genre with virtually every story beat, he also does it with his own fun twist every step of the way.

At first, you may be asking yourself why so much is being revealed so early. Surely this isn’t the whole story? Of course not! But then, just when you think you’re actually finding what comes next predictable, without fail, Johnson manages to do it in an unpredictable way. That, precisely, is what makes this movie worth experiencing.

That said, to be honest, the trailers and marketing made it easy to expect this movie would be funnier. This is not a rip-roaring comedy. To be honest, Ready or Not was a lot funnier, more consistently, not to mention much darker and far more biting in its satire. But let’s be fair, that kind of movie is my jam, and mysteries never really have been. Which is to say: if you do like mystery movies, Knives Out is probably the best one to come along in ages. And if by some miracle you happen to watch it without predetermined expectations of comedy, in that case you really would find it surprisingly funny. It’s certainly clever as hell.

The setup takes a while at the start, which is perhaps par for the course in a mystery, where we must be introduced to all of the characters and see the myriad ways in which they all have motives. And the casting is this movie’s greatest achievement, with Christopher Plummer as Harlan Thrombey, the wealthy patriarch of a large, combative family, who dies the evening of his 85th birthday. The family here spans four generations, Harlan not even the oldest: “Nana” (K Callan), is Harlan’s mother. When one of the detectives marvels that an 85-year-old man’s mother is still alive by asking, “How old is she?” the answer is, “Nobody knows.” Some mysteries just remain unsolved.

As for the many suspects, there are Harlan’s four entitled grown children, Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis); Walt (Michael Shannon); Ransom (Chris Evans); and Joni, who is actually Harlan’s widowed daughter-in-law (Toni Collette); two grandchildren, Meg (Katherine Langford) and alt-right teen troll Jacob (Jaeden Martell); we also get Linda’s husband Richard (Don Johnson); Walt’s wife Donna (Riki Lindholme); and Harlan’s nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas). Marta is part of an immigrant family, and we never find out what country she really comes from because every single family member mentions a different one.

In any event, Knives Out is stacked with star power, all of the cast at the top of their game. Jamie Lee Curtis is especially delightful, and Toni Collette’s vast talents are slightly wasted on the vapid woman she plays, but still, there’s never an off note with any of these performances. I haven’t even mentioned Daniel Craig as Private Investigator Benoit Blanc, whose deep southern accent is a bit jarring at first, but then I found it to be impressively consistent. Maybe actual southerners would feel differently, but I thought he was excellent. Rounding out the cast are the two detectives, Lieutenant Elliott (Sorry to Bother You’s LaKeith Stanfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan, who has secondary parts in all of Rian Johnson’s films); and Fran the Housekeeper (Edi Patterson), whose part is small but key, like a whole lot of them. Even all the bigger parts are key, really. In contrast to Toni Collette’s talents, when it comes to the writing, nothing gets wasted here. Knives Out has a fairly long 130 minute run time, but not one second of it is pointless.

I should also note that the set is fantastic, this huge, quasi-gothic mansion’s interior design based on the tastes of an eccentric novelist’s tastes rendered in intricate detail. Much is made of the family’s expectations of Harlan’s fortune, even after all four of the grown children have lived in one way or another off of it for years already. This is one movie where, the more you consider it, the more impressive its massive attention to detail becomes. Occasionally some elements are on the nose, such as the overtness of the ornate sculpture of countless knives arranged in a circle and pointed at its center, with a chair in front of it so characters can sit and get perfectly framed by this kaleidoscope of knives.

It’s still fun to look at. As is every part of this movie, which has an increasing velocity of entertainment. It will surprise and delight many, but especially fans of mystery thrillers. At least those who don’t take the genre too seriously.

Overall: B+