(CNN) Placing its own slightly unorthodox twist on the Agatha Christie whodunit -- complete with an all-star cast, seemingly having a grand time doing it -- "Knives Out" is a whole lot of fun, intended to keep the audience off-balance right up until the finish. It's a razor-sharp throwback from writer-director Rian Johnson, which almost feels like a palate cleanser after directing the last "Star Wars" movie. The premise can be summed up neatly enough, with the apparent-suicide death of bestselling mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), the 85-year-old patriarch of a highly dysfunctional family. Blanc spends a fair amount of time appraising the familial quirks, while saying Holmes-ian lines like "The game is afoot" and referring to a sidekick as "Watson." Christie's mysteries have never really gone out of fashion, and indeed, have mounted a bit of a comeback with new versions of "Murder on the Orient Express" and the upcoming "Death on the Nile."

Source: CNN November 27, 2019 14:03 UTC