Lieutenant Elliott: I’m sorry this is an open and shut case of suicide and quite frankly Benny we are getting to the point where I have to ask you what we’re doing here.

Benoit Blanc: The method? Throat slit? Typical for a suicide?

Lieutenant Elliott: Yes, I mean, that’s dramatic, but look around. I mean, the guy practical lives in a Clue board.

Well that was a surprising yet great fun movie. In a nutshell, it’s a murder mystery. Heir of the family is found dead–apparent suicide. But things quickly become more complicated, with a detective (Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc with a hilarious southern drawl that still somehow works…) anonymously hired to ‘get to the truth’. The family is a nightmare, everyone has a reason to have offed the old man…

And then… the nurse (played by Ana de Armas) confesses to it all. How about that. A murder mystery where the who-dun-it is revealed in the first fraction of the movie. Of course that’s not the entire story and I absolutely loved the various phases we go through: will they get away with it? wait, what also happened? who did what now when? Plotwise, it’s a murder mystery and I was at least half surprised as each twist and turn came about. Worth it for that.

Characterwise, as I mentioned, Daniel Craig’s accent was a bizarre choice, but somehow it worked. And it’s all the better with Chris Evans (Ransom Drysdale)’s commentary:

Ransom Drysdale: What is this, CSI: KFC? … Ransom Drysdale: Oh shut up! Shut up! Shut up with that Kentucky fried Foghorn Leghorn drawl!

Speaking of which, it’s nice to see Chris Evans again after Captain America. Granted, I’ve also seen him in Snowpiercer and Scott Pilgrim, but those have both been a while (both well worth a watch). Ana de Armas is also great as the innocent and well over her head Marta Cabrera.

Lieutenant Elliott: That… was the dumbest car chase of all time.

(It makes sense, I promise.)

The rest of the family is well cast, but not particularly stand outish.

Overall, a delightful movie and worth the watch. About middling for the year, mostly since I really do love superhero movies, but it’s still quite good.