fugue, a melody that overlaps with itself. So we see large stretches of the film, then see it again with new understanding. As soon as she started drinking the kombucha, I was like "Oh, THAT'S why she leaned against that wall earlier!" It was a satisfying moment.

fugue, a melody that overlaps with itself. So we see large stretches of the film, then see it again with new understanding. As soon as she started drinking the kombucha, I was like "Oh, THAT'S why she leaned against that wall earlier!" It was a satisfying moment.

the murder victim is a total goober. Someone who we have learned sold iffy supplements to underage kids, rants against feminism, and is willing to overlook a murder just to boost his YouTube numbers.

I'm not fundamentally opposed to a murder victim being an unlikable character. At this point it's a very established trope. But to have no one else be likeable--bar a single character--simply did not work for me.

I would have loved if this film had gone the whole Murder on the Orient Express route and fleshed out the characters via their relationship to the victim. But in the end they are all just selfish and dumb.

And the worst part is that the REAL mystery (who killed Andi) gets like 12 real minutes of screentime.

the murder victim is a total goober. Someone who we have learned sold iffy supplements to underage kids, rants against feminism, and is willing to overlook a murder just to boost his YouTube numbers.

I'm not fundamentally opposed to a murder victim being an unlikable character. At this point it's a very established trope. But to have no one else be likeable--bar a single character--simply did not work for me.

I would have loved if this film had gone the whole Murder on the Orient Express route and fleshed out the characters via their relationship to the victim. But in the end they are all just selfish and dumb.

And the worst part is that the REAL mystery (who killed Andi) gets like 12 real minutes of screentime.

1. The central conceit, the flashback-to-redefine-everything, is a solid one. I'm a sucker for that kinda thing.

2. I'm down with the Bond villain, over-the-top setting, for the most part. Some of it works, some of it's just weird, but I enjoy the extravagance.

3. The idea of solving the murder but not proving it is interesting. Blanc promises the truth and nothing more. It's a nice little wrinkle that allows us the mental satisfaction of finding out what happens without having everything wrapped up in a little bow. The mystery genre is inherently formulaic, and that's fine, but I thought this was a nice way to tweak the formula a little.

4. The cast is really good. Duh.

1. The central conceit, the flashback-to-redefine-everything, is a solid one. I'm a sucker for that kinda thing.

2. I'm down with the Bond villain, over-the-top setting, for the most part. Some of it works, some of it's just weird, but I enjoy the extravagance.

3. The idea of solving the murder but not proving it is interesting. Blanc promises the truth and nothing more. It's a nice little wrinkle that allows us the mental satisfaction of finding out what happens without having everything wrapped up in a little bow. The mystery genre is inherently formulaic, and that's fine, but I thought this was a nice way to tweak the formula a little.

4. The cast is really good. Duh.

1. It was kind of weird how most of what the flashbacks "redefined" were minor interactions that didn't feel particular germane to the plot. Half of them were guessable at the time. And man, even in a really over-the-top film, the idea of a world-famous person that nobody knows has an identical twin sister is still really pushing it. I'm a big believer in the idea that you have to try to grant each film its premise, but the wilder the premise the more it has to deliver on it, and I think the delivery was a little lackluster relative to the absurdity.

2. Miles being stupid. It was vaguely amusing but...what did it matter? I don't see how it factors into the solution. The only reason to do something like that, mystery-wise, is to establish that he couldn't have done such-and-such. Instead, it just feels like an inelegant digression to take a shot at someone.

For the record I noticed Miles messing up all those words but couldn't fathom what it could possibly mean for the mystery, so I thought little of it. So it was a weird mix of gratifying and frustrating to have it referenced later, even if it didn't seem to matter.

3. Too many other, smaller digressions. I love a good cameo (more than is reasonable, probably), but I have no idea what Hugh Grant was doing there. I really like Johnson's work overall but it feels like he's just shoving in every fun little flair that occurs to him sometimes, particularly if it means squeezing more famous people into the production.

1. It was kind of weird how most of what the flashbacks "redefined" were minor interactions that didn't feel particular germane to the plot. Half of them were guessable at the time. And man, even in a really over-the-top film, the idea of a world-famous person that nobody knows has an identical twin sister is still really pushing it. I'm a big believer in the idea that you have to try to grant each film its premise, but the wilder the premise the more it has to deliver on it, and I think the delivery was a little lackluster relative to the absurdity.

2. Miles being stupid. It was vaguely amusing but...what did it matter? I don't see how it factors into the solution. The only reason to do something like that, mystery-wise, is to establish that he couldn't have done such-and-such. Instead, it just feels like an inelegant digression to take a shot at someone.

For the record I noticed Miles messing up all those words but couldn't fathom what it could possibly mean for the mystery, so I thought little of it. So it was a weird mix of gratifying and frustrating to have it referenced later, even if it didn't seem to matter.

3. Too many other, smaller digressions. I love a good cameo (more than is reasonable, probably), but I have no idea what Hugh Grant was doing there. I really like Johnson's work overall but it feels like he's just shoving in every fun little flair that occurs to him sometimes, particularly if it means squeezing more famous people into the production.

I mean, come on, if you're gonna name a character Whiskey, and poison a drink, and have everyone's names on their glasses...

I mean, come on, if you're gonna name a character Whiskey, and poison a drink, and have everyone's names on their glasses...

Speaking of cameos, Ethan Hawke too... I sat there thinking when is he going to show up again?

Speaking of cameos, Ethan Hawke too... I sat there thinking when is he going to show up again?

I think that you can take two things from the "twist" about the sister. The first is that people are less tuned into Andi (who is a more subdued personality) and more tuned into Miles who has the charisma. But also, the other characters wouldn't have a reason to suspect it's her sister because they don't know that she's been killed. Even if they knew she had a sister (and it's only Duke and Miles who would even be wondering "How is Andi here?!"), it seems just as likely that Andi survived and is playing some sort of mind game with them. I have several times discovered that an actor/actress I liked had a sibling or even a twin I had not previously known about.

As for Miles being stupid, it matters because it goes to the heart of Blanc's solution. Miles has someone write a murder mystery for him that involves rigged crossbows and all that jazz. But Miles himself is not creative or smart in that way. So the killing of Andi wasn't some complex conspiracy. Miles found out that Andi found the original napkin, it would have sunk him, so he went and killed her in a pretty basic manner. Miles is good at showmanship, but not the actual planning/thinking. He's very good at getting people to do those things for him, but obviously it's a lot harder to outsource an actual murder

I think that you can take two things from the "twist" about the sister. The first is that people are less tuned into Andi (who is a more subdued personality) and more tuned into Miles who has the charisma. But also, the other characters wouldn't have a reason to suspect it's her sister because they don't know that she's been killed. Even if they knew she had a sister (and it's only Duke and Miles who would even be wondering "How is Andi here?!"), it seems just as likely that Andi survived and is playing some sort of mind game with them. I have several times discovered that an actor/actress I liked had a sibling or even a twin I had not previously known about.

As for Miles being stupid, it matters because it goes to the heart of Blanc's solution. Miles has someone write a murder mystery for him that involves rigged crossbows and all that jazz. But Miles himself is not creative or smart in that way. So the killing of Andi wasn't some complex conspiracy. Miles found out that Andi found the original napkin, it would have sunk him, so he went and killed her in a pretty basic manner. Miles is good at showmanship, but not the actual planning/thinking. He's very good at getting people to do those things for him, but obviously it's a lot harder to outsource an actual murder