'Knives Out' is a (barely) contemporary twist on the Agatha Christie template: a country house, a rich dead man, all the family are suspects, and a famous detective is fortunately on hand to sort things out. It's always hokum, but it can be fun when done well. But I didn't find this film a success. The detective had no good reason to be present, for a start (and I didn't find Daniel Craig convincing as an American southerner either). More than that, we learn that the first explanation (the one that only exists to be proven wrong) is false at the moment it is offered to us, meaning that the grand reveal of the full truth upturns nothing of consequence. And the central plot device - a woman who can't lie without vomiting - is not only bizarre, it also means the hero and the audience alike get a pretty preposterous head start on what's really going on. It's entertaining enough; but insufficiently clever as to transcend its inherent ridiculousness.