When the caregiver (Ana de Armas) for a ridiculously wealthy crime novelist and patriarch of a large and bellicose family (Christopher Plummer) finds her employer with his throat cut one morning, it’s up to world-weary detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, affecting a serviceable suthun draawwl) to sift through the various possible motives of the man’s self-serving and combative relatives.

The all-star cast includes Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson and Toni Collette. Most are playing against type, and all appear to be having fun misbehaving. 

If you’re in the mood for a comically convoluted melodramatic mystery, you couldn’t do much better than this surprise-filled contraption from Rian Johnson (Looper, Star Wars: The Last Jedi), a master of the ironic plot twist. Nothing is given away until the very end. The film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

Wickedly funny, socially relevant, moving, stylish, hugely satisfying and pure entertainment from start to finish.

January 31 (131 min)