On Screen: “Wake Up Dead Man”
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Rian Johnson’s third Benoit Blanc murder mystery — “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” — is a dud despite a star-studded cast.
When Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a former boxer, becomes a bit too pugnacious, he’s dispatched to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a small parish in upstate New York, where he’ll serve as assistant to Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), known to be “a few beads short of a rosary.”
Perched on an elevated pulpit, Wicks is a fire-and-brimstone priest, known for delivering lengthy, judgmental sermons that emphasize God’s wrath and the thorny consequences of sin, often using vivid imagery of eternal damnation to encourage repentance, As a result, his congregation has dwindled to a fervent few.
There’s devout Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), Doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), attorney Vera Craven (Kerry Washington), best-selling sci-fi author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), and aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), who always carries a small camera to capture YouTube content.
So when Wicks is murdered, Police Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) summons renowned detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to find the culprit. And when circumstances seem to indicate that Father Jud might be the prime suspect, Blanc adopts the earnest young priest as his veritable confidante.
Unevenly written and rigidly directed by Rian Johnson, it’s chock full of eccentric yet underdeveloped Gothic archetypes who flit in and out — talking incessantly about morality, philosophy and Christian theology but actually saying very little, particularly when it boils down to whodunit. The humor that once characterized the “Knives Out” franchise is missing.
As for the title, it came from a 1997 U2 song from the album “Pop” — in which Bono sings to Jesus Christ, asking for guidance and direction — which seems to follow Rian Johnson’s religious theme for the film.
Unfortunately, however, on the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Wake Up Dead Man” is a comatose 4, streaming on Netflix.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.