So popcorn friendly you’ll need to loosen your waistband…
If your notes app is filled with friends’ movie suggestions, to the point where it requires a semi-scroll, then you’ve come to the right place. Yes, you might trust your friend’s judgment (unless they’ve suggested Don’t Look Up), but with such an exhaustive list, you need an authoritative voice to cut out the what if’s and provide some definitive guidance. That’s where Executive Decision comes in, and this week, we’re suggesting (or rather insisting) that you (re)watch Knives Out tonight.
Directed by Rian Johnson of Star Wars and Looper fame, the 2019 mystery follows an uber rich family in the wake of their patriarch’s (supposed) murder. With a fresh take on the whodunit genre, Knives Out offers stellar performances from a star-studded cast, and feels like a pulpy weekend beach read. That’s why we’re insisting, nay, enforcing that you binge it, for these five reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi-1NchUqMA
A twist on the whodunnit.
Murder mysteries, much like the themed parties they inspire, are often tedious. Sometimes you know the culprit within the first act, with the remainder of the film being an inconsequential schlep. But Knives Out bucks the Agatha Christie formula, showing the apparent murder within the opening scenes, and following housekeeper Marta’s attempts to cover her own tracks. Of course, more twists abound as the mystery unfolds and new motives arise, but Johnson’s early subversion of the genre sets an unexpected yet welcome tone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9058GOR-xY8
The ensemble cast.
Knives Out’s cast is so starry it warrants its own constellation. So famous is its ensemble that there’s only minimal room for even a bonafide A-lister like Christopher Plummer. Among the highlights are Jamie Lee Curtis as a prudish mother, and Daniel Craig as the detective with a ludicrous accent. Given the film’s reliance on each character having a motive, Johnson’s casting is crucial, and he hit a home run with an ensemble that also includes Chris Evans, Toni Collette and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Chris Evans’s sweater.
Chris Evans delivers an excellent performance as the ‘who’ in the whodunit, but its his sweater that steals the show. In an example of just how unpredictable ‘going viral’ can be, the Twittersphere was set alight by Evans’s knitted threads upon Knives Out’s release, somehow inspiring an endless scroll of thirst Tweets, think pieces, and meme-ifications. So intense was the sweater fervour that sales of similar knits skyrocketed, fans wore knockoffs to screenings, and Evans himself vowed to never don a jumper again.
Just watched #KnivesOut — what a great murder mystery! Chef’s kiss to everyone involved, including the wardrobe crew who put Chris Evans in multiple sweaters. pic.twitter.com/4hEpY1tkCx
— Melanie Savransky (@MelSavransky) November 23, 2019
I can’t stop thinking about #KnivesOut, but mostly because there’s so many excellent sweaters pic.twitter.com/Eivk9iD8X7
— Rachel West (@rachel_is_here) November 22, 2019
The promise of an even starrier sequel.
Given the critical and box office success of the first film, it’s not surprising that Knives Out will be getting the sequel treatment. In a rare case where the second film might sustain the energy of the debut, Knives Out’s sequel will arrive later this year, with Craig reprising his detective role but with a new cast of potential murderers. Ed Norton, Kathryn Hahn, Ethan Hawke, Kate Hudson and Jada Pinkett Smith are just a few of the stars attached to the developing project.
It doesn’t take itself too seriously.
One reason murder mysteries are the bane of movie-goers watch lists is because of how pretentious they can feel, but Knives Out goes the opposite direction. Johnson is self-aware of the genre he’s operating in, and often parodies its common tropes, from Craig’s unpronounceable surname to bordering on inconceivable final twist.
