It starts with mystery writer Christopher Plummer found dead in his mansion, his throat cut. It seems to be suicide, but the police start to question the suspects - all his children or their spouses and offspring. They are here for a birthday party, and it looks like he was going to cut everyone out of his will. He was afraid they were becoming too dependent, unable to find success on their own.
But this questioning seems to be driven by a shadowy man in the background. It is Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig with an outrageous Foghorn Leghorn accent. Not the same accent as in Logan Lucky - that was more hillbilly - but just as goofy. He is a private detective who was invited to investigate the death as a murder, but the invite was anonymous.
Act one is pretty much the setup, where we see that everyone is unlikable and they all had a motive. Except one person, Plummer's nurse, Ana de Armas. When she is questioned, we learn that she is unable to lie without vomiting. SPOILER - then we get a flashback and see how it went down. De Armas was administering cortisone and a dose of morphine to Plummer, but got the vials mixed up and gave him a massive overdose. She can't find her Naloxone, either. But Plummer is a mystery writier - he comes up with a perfect alibi for de Armas. He coaches her through the plan, then slits his own throat so it will appear as a suicide.
So act two is this revelation, and de Armas trying to keep her secret while not throwing up. It ends with the reading of the will and the discovery that everything goes to de Armas. Unless she killed him, of course, since murderers aren't allowed to profit from their crimes.
The last act brings Chris Evans on the scene. He's the bad boy of the family, not trying to suck up to the old man for money. He is going to help de Armas get what's coming to her. And, look great wearing a comfy old white fisherman's knit sweater doing it.
Honestly, that sweater was some people's main takeaway from the movie. I understand he needed to wear bulky clothes to disguise his bulky body.
Some other takeaways: The mansion that this is set in is gorgeous. It's full of puzzles and skulls and other mystery-adjacent stuff. The big wall of knives all pointed at the head of the person sitting in a particular seat was sort of the namesake of the movie.
Also: the cast of this was ridiculous. Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Colette, Lakeith Stanfield, Frank Oz, M. Emmet Walsh and so on. They all seem to be having a ball, being evil bitches.
Rian Johnson also seems to be having fun. He's written a twisty mystery in the old style, subverted it by telling you whodunnit, then twisting it again. His Benoit Blanc, a Hercule Poirot figure, is great fun. He has also filled the movie with little Easter eggs, like the name of Plummer's character. The author is called Harlan Thrombey, named after Chose Your Own Adventure detective Harlowe Thrombey, possibly with a touch of Harlan Corben.
Finally, it has a sweet, kind, honest protagonist in de Armas' character, a (possibly) undocumented woman of undefined origin. And, to add to the SPOILERS - she comes out fine, and the movie ends with her on a balcony, drinking a cup of coffee. This is getting to be our favorite movie ending, although in Ready or Not, the house is burning behind her.
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