Movie Review

Knives Out

By Franqui-Ann J. Raffaele, Esq.

When you start practicing law, many attorneys realize actual practice isn’t like the movies, or even tv shows for that matter. As an estate planning attorney, one might expect to find oneself in a room addressing a grieving family member as you read out the Last Will and Testament of the Decedent. The family members are shocked and outraged by the Decedent’s wishes – blindsided by the disposition. In actual practice, that’s more of an exception than the rule.

Knives Out hosts such a familiar scene. Directed by Rian Johnson, the film was released in 2019 and stars an array of famous actors, including Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, and the late Christopher Plummer to name a few. The Knives Out movies take inspiration from Agatha Christie novels, the Hercule Poirot films, and is reminiscent of The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. The film follows the investigation of Benoit Blanc, “the Last of the Gentlemen Sleuths” and one of the main protagonists in the film.

Detective Blanc is mysteriously hired to investigate the death, a seemingly straightforward suicide, of a highly successful crime author, Harlan Thrombey, a day after his 85th birthday. At his death, you meet Harlan’s family – a menagerie of eccentricity, combative in nature, and each holding a secret they’re dying to keep. Harlan’s death throws the family into a fight over the empire he built, including the estate’s most significant asset, a publishing company called Blood Like Wine. As the Detective narrows in on his suspect, each scene adds a new piece to the puzzling death. He enlists the assistance of a nurse who treated Harlan up until his death, Marta, who suffers from a medieval “regurgitative reaction to mistruthing.” The Detective’s investigation takes a turn in a classic scene of a family gathered around the lawyer as he reads the Last Will and Testament of the late even-handed patriarch.

With twists and turns, Knives Out presents a modern take on a classic whodunnit. If you can’t get enough of the murder mysteries, a fan of Agatha Christie, or fascinated by the Hercule Poirot tales, this movie is well worth a watch.

For those that can’t get enough of Detective Blanc, Netflix released Glass Onion: A Knives Out Tale on December 23, 2022.