“Knives Out” Is Pure Entertainment, Joy and Chris Evans

THIS is the kind of content I go to the movies for – extremely fun, entertaining, well-made movies, that are not dark and depressing (yes, Joker I’m looking at you). Over the weekend of October 12th I went to the Hamptons Film Festival. While there, I saw 6 different movies. At each of those showings, I was probably one of the youngest people there. When I showed up to Knives Out, I was the average age, 24. The reason is simple: Chris Evans. The Marvel Effect is real; Chris Evans’ superstardom cannot be understated. He currently has 13.1 million Twitter followers and almost every tweet goes viral. In Knives Out, he plays the grandson, Hugh Ransom, of an extremely wealthy man who is murdered. Don’t worry this is a NO SPOILERS article. Before the movie, Rian Johnson, Knives Out Director, made it clear that this is a classic “whodunnit” and asked viewers not to spoil the twist at the end for anyone else, and I will do as he asked. Johnson just seems to have a way with entertaining movies. As I’ve stated before, while it may be an unpopular opinion, I LOVED The Last Jedi. In addition his work directing episodes of Breaking Bad was well-acclaimed, specifically “Ozymandias”, one of the greatest TV episodes ever. There are some rumblings he could receive a Best Director nod for his work in this movie. 

I cannot get into some of the things I enjoyed about the movie before I praise the cast. The stars of the movie: Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, Katherine Langford, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson and Ana de Armas. When you get a cast like that, it’s hard not to be excited about the movie. I loved getting to watch Jamie Lee Curtis flex her comedy chops again. A Fish Called Wanda and Freaky Friday are two of my favorite movies and Curtis is genuinely funny in both of them; she just has great timing. It was also great to see up-and-comers like Lakeith Stanfield and Katherine Langford have a part in a big movie like this. 

The weirdest part about the movie is that the murderer is supposedly identified in the first 30 minutes. Of course, because the whole movie is centered around the mystery of who the murderer is, we know that the evidence that was presented to us is somehow not accurate. It’s pretty entertaining being taken along for the ride or attempting to discover who the real killer is. There’s a subtle tension that comes from a murder mystery like this that is expertly handled in this movie – is it who we think it is or is that too obvious? What are they going to do next? Are some of the characters really one step ahead of everyone as they think they are? Daniel Craig is actually funny in this performance and we get to follow along, just like Lakeith Stanfield, whose character seems to be watching him uncover all the different clues at the same time as the audience.

A great mystery always has little subplot mysteries surrounding it. This is no different. In a story about a family full of entitled rich people, who have no regard for anyone but themselves, including their other family members, there are some juicy lies that are revealed. It’s actually interesting how much they all detest each other… reminds me of Succession in a way, but whereas in Succession, you can feel the underlying love beneath outward disdain for each other, here you really can’t (besides maybe one or two characters showing affection for each other). It’s an interesting wrinkle that makes it more fun when the lies blow up in the character’s faces. 

In a genre that has been beaten to death (pun intended), Johnson and the unique cast manage to somehow create a whodunnit movie that feels fresh and new, while at the same time not abandoning any of the tropes that have come to define the beloved genre. The movie is coming out right before Thanksgiving, which I think is perfect timing; go see this movie with your family. It’s clean family fun with enough adult jokes to make you smile no matter what age you are, something I think is very valuable in a movie these days. Or just go to see Chris Evans rock a chunky New Englander sweater… equally as rewarding.