- Rating
KNIVES OUT
Knives Out is a surprisingly funny – and a bit quirky – whodunit murder mystery.
The dysfunctional Thrombey family meets at the father’s mansion in Massachusetts to celebrate his 85th birthday. The father, Harlan Thrombey, is a self-made one-percenter obtaining his fortune by writing murder mysteries; the rest of the family are just tag along 1%s sucking off the father.
I guess the 85th birthday of a 1% is a big event since after this birthday, the entire fate of the family changes.
The Wonderful, Dysfunctional Family with Marta in the center. © 2019 Lionsgate − All right reserved.
This story is well written, but the over-the-top ensemble cast is the main fun of this movie.
- Christopher Plummer (Harlan Thrombey) is the elder and is now growing bitter. He is tired of all the family crap, but he has a good heart.
- Daniel Craig (Benoit Blanc) is as far from James Bond as he can get. In Knives Out he is more like the Agatha Christie detective Hercule Poirot (Murder on the Orient Express) but with a southern drawl. He sees clues no one else can see.
- Jamie Lee Curtis (Linda Drysdale) tries to be the matriarch of the family, but no one cares about anybody in this family. She is also a thief.
- Don Johnson (Richard Drysdale), who looks great at 70, says my wife. Poor Richard is bossed around by his wife Linda, kind of amusing, he also cheats on Linda.
- Toni Collette (Unbelievable) as Joni Thrombey seems to be trying too hard with too much makeup. Not an appealing character.
- Chris Evans (gifted, was Captain America) as Hugh Ransom Drysdale, goes by Ransom, finally does some good acting; first time I liked his acting and his character. He plays a good spoiled brat youngest son.
- Riki Lindhome (Donna Thrombey), usually known as one-half of the Garfunkel and Oates comedy music duo, seems to be a bit anorexic.
- Frank Oz (Alan Stevens) is the Attorney everyone gets to yell at and hate. Oz is a great last name, and it is always enjoyable yelling at an attorney.
- M. Emmet Walsh (Mr. Proofroc) has a short role as the groundskeeper. I’m surprised Bruce Dern (The Peanut Butter Falcon, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood) is not playing that role, Bruce recently has been playing the old guy.
- Ana de Armas (Marta Cabrera) is the heart of the movie. If Marta tells a lie, she throws up. Ana de Armas will be Marilyn Monroe in Blonde.
Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas)
Knives Out is a fun whodunit murder mystery, well written, with an ingenious plot.
Very complicated suicide and murder of the father, Harlan Thrombey, occurring both at the same time, sort of. Marta, surprisingly described as a good nurse, yet she administers drugs without looking at the labels, instead, see can tell which drug it is by the weight and viscosity of the liquid when she picks up a vial. Not a good idea when shooting up morphine. But before this…
Before the birthday party, dad tells his youngest son, Hugh Ransom Thrombey, that everyone is out of the will, all is going to his nurse Marta.
Hugh Ransom then switches the two drugs in Marta’s medical bag so she will mistakenly administer 100 cc of morphine instead of 3 cc. But since Marta doesn’t look at the label, only feels the weight, she injects the correct drug even though it is in the wrong bottle. Marta thinks she gave Harlan the wrong drug, that is, too much morphine, and tells Harlan. Harlan does not want her blamed for a mistake, so Harlan kills himself by slitting his throat.
Eventually, Hugh Ransom sees the toxicology report showing his Dad died by suicide; Marta did not kill Dad. Meanwhile, another housekeeper Fran sees Hugh Ranson switching the drugs in Marta’s medicine bag and figures out Hugh Ransom caused the Father’s death. Hugh kills Fran by injecting an overdose of morphine and tries to pin Fran’s death on Marta. Marta works with the police and gets Hugh Ransom to confess by telling a lie. After Hugh confesses, Marta throws up on him (remember, Marta cannot tell a lie).
Ana de Armas and Chris Evens
Movie Details
