Either I have been going to the movies far too long or I have become jaded--maybe a combination of both!



I've seen at least a dozen different films in this genre with one of my favorites being "Murder On The Orient Express" with Ingrid Bergman and Lauren Bacall . It was an Agatha Christie movie made with a group of stars revolving around who committed a murder. In this case the screenplay and direction is by Rian Johnson which brings in some current hot topics like immigrants with references to Lin-Manuel Miranda and a snippet of a song by Steven Sondheim among other things.



The story is basically about patriarch Harlan Thrombey, played by Christopher Plummer, has become a multimillionaire by writing novels. We meet him at his 85th birthday on the night before he accidentally killed himself or was accidentally killed by his Latina immigrant nurse Marta, whose mother is here illegally. She is played by Ana de Armas who, as Marta, is filled with kindness and always throws up when she tells a lie.



In the cast are Daniel Craig who appears as private detective Blanc, hired secretly, and uses a horrible southern accent without reason, Jamie Lee Curtis as Harlan's daughter Linda, married to Don Johnson and they are the parents of 'Ransom' played by Chris Evans. Curtis gives the best performance in the movie, Michael Shannon as Walt is Harlan's youngest son, is married to Riki Lindhome, playing Donna, and they have a child, Jacob, played by Jaeden Martell, who is sort of an 'odd' bird. Toni Collette is Harlan's daughter-in-law who was married to his deceased son and Harlan's granddaughter Megan, played by Katherine Langford. The latter's character was completely unnecessary to the movie and whose major scene could have been cut without an effect one way or the other except cutting the film down to a 2 hour running time.




Lakeith Stanfield and Noah Segan are detectives involved in the mystery who seem to allow Craig's detective take charge though it really doesn't make sense that they do.



Three other characters are played by Edi Patterson as Fran, Harlan's housekeeper and K Callan as Wanetta, Harlan's mother---remember Harlan is 85!---and Frank Oz as Harlan's lawyer.



The only interesting aspect to me was the Gothic house which has layers of hidden doors, windows and rooms and when you see all the things in the house you will feel sorry for the poor housekeeper!



"Knives Out" was a disappointment to me but in the film's defense most critics seemed to love it!