Knives Out is a classic whodunnit. No, that's not right. Knives Out is a brilliant comedy whodunnit.
With a cast of thoroughly unlikeable characters, and a scattering of ones who are not, this riotous tale of who murdered the murder-mystery writer is a joy to watch. The actors are chewing the scenery with more gusto than a nest of termites, there are red herrings and Chekhov's guns popping up at every turn, and in the centre of it all is the victim's nurse. A young lady, still living with her kid sister and her mother and possessing a most unusual physiological response, she is the glue of the film.
Throw in a private consulting detective a la Sherlock Holmes, and a police trooper who is a fan of both the writer and the detective, and you have a bubbling cauldron of personalities that delight at every turn.
It would be not unfair to compare it with Clue and Murder By Death, my two gold standards of comedy whodunnit, and it compares very well indeed.
10/10 and Miss Marple as i…
My mother goes by her middle name. Never did manage to convince one of her distance-education tutors of that..
ReplyDeleteOr my mother, with some 23 middle names. Most of which are matronyms, tracing her matriarchal ancestry.
ReplyDeleteI once had an Egyptian colleague in Perth. Half the Australian government departments he dealt with had his family and given names reversed.
ReplyDeleteI'm usually only known by my middle name. This was originally because my dad and I have the same first name, and it was either "Adrian" or "Junior". :)
ReplyDeleteMy girlfriend's name is Arkady Rose. There are some government departments that don't reverse her names. Of those, some don't call her "he".
ReplyDeleteDavid Gerard Sigh. At least governments you expect that sort of thing from.
ReplyDeleteParents, on the other hand, can be evil. I am put in mind of a long-time friend (and fellow nursing student) of my mother's. Nurse Rose Bush. She managed to get over it though, courtesy of a war-time hospital romance.
She married Doctor Garden.
Really.