Who dunnit like a good whodunnit? (See what I did there?)

Knives out looks great on paper. Ensemble cast filled with great talent, all sure to be delivering quirky, eccentric performances through a roller coster plot with a twist at the end. What could go wrong?

Overall, I thought the actors delivered well, no real faults. Indeed, the performances are all the more impressive considering some of the odd casting. Craig, who was horribly miscast, puts on an unexpectedly enjoyable performance as a sleuth from the Louisiana Bayou. de Armas puts on a very strong performance despite the horrible character device she was handicapped. Special mention for Evans who does a wonderful turn as creepy bad guy. Clearly Evans has been miscast in the past in all those hero roles.

The dialog is decent enough as well. A wee bit Hollywood at times but not achingly so. And a fair amount of good jabs as the quirky characters cut into each other.

And I'll tip my hat for good cinematography. The film did look wonderful.

So what went wrong? In a word, the plot. Points for novelty, but the circumstance is just too improbable to accept Plummer's reactions. But that really isn't the worst of the film. The biggest problem is that the plot places far too much of the story on de Armas' character. So much so that all the other characters fall away and become largely irrelevant. And when one particular character stands up to assist de Armas, well, you know then and there whodunnit. That whole ensemble cast, who each should have been vying for a place as the bad guy right up until the very end, instead relegated to a bit of shouting and noise from the sideline. It's the pre-school toddler's, 9 piece puzzle version of a whodunnit.

There you go, a fair and honest review without mentioning Rian or Star Wars........