Therapist Reacts to KNIVES OUT 

Ryan Johnson: Put Chris Evans in a sweater and everyone will believe he’s a good guy hee hee Us: You’re goddamn right

The fact that Ransom knew all along that his family and himself were not getting shit and still played the long game to have that glorious moment of their shock and horror...he's the pettiest bastard in the room and I love it.

In a strange way Chris Evans' character is the most tolerable person to be around from that family. Because at least he is honest and direct about what a complete ass he is.

I think it's interesting that they talk down to her, not just from a platform of class but intelligence, eventhough she's a highly educated medical professional 😂

Spoiler Alert I'm still so happy that Chris Evans wasn't afraid of being a bad guy

11:15 Ransom didn't lose his cool with his uncle yelling in his face because of dramatic irony: the entire room was high-and-mightying him over being cut from the will. However, prior to his death, Harlan told Ransom that EVERYONE was cut from the will. He was delighting in anticipation of the eventual totality of them losing their minds!

I like that it's an outsider (Blanc) who treats Nana like a human being. He doesn't talk down to her like almost everybody else, but instead sits in front of her to have a conversation. More importantly, he offers condolences for the loss of her son, a fact that no one else seems to consider.

“Nice is about appearances, kind is about what’s right” Well that explains a lot of “nice guys”

“Nice is about appearances, kind is about what’s right.” THANK YOU! I hear people all the time dismissing terrible behavior because “he’s so nice!” and it drives me NUTS.

"Son." "Father." I loved this scene, Chris was amazing.

I love how they are all "you're part of the family" with Marta until she has all the money, I love how they portrayed racism and clasism, I really liked the movie

I know Ransom was just awful, but I do admit that I cackled when he threw that line right back in their faces about it being good for them.

My parents spoiled all of us but my sister is the one who took it best, when she was spoiled instead of saying 'this is how i should always be treated' she came to the conclusion that 'this is how she should treat others', she's very generous

I loved the details in the subtle racism and classism tossed at Marta throughout the entire film. People not ever actually knowing where her family is from, the assumptions about her and her life and her values, the lack of seeing her as a human being outside of her role in the house, all of it.

Chris Evans and his casting are so meta in this film. Since we all just think "that's Captain America", we're willing to believe that the blatant jerk Ransom is might actually turn out to be a decent guy. At the same time, he's weirdly the most honest person in the Thrombey family; he doesn't bother with lip service, knows how much of a rotten jerk he is, and is _HAPPY_ to point out that the rest of the family is no better.

“It’s not a conversation, it’s two soliloquies over the top of each other.” That is the most poetic description of stubborn arguments that I have ever heard.

Chris's reputation definitely plays with our expectations for his character. Even though he is introduced as a total jerk, we reevaluate him as soon as he displays any redeeming qualities. Imagine if this part was played by an actor known for playing evil or unhinged characters, Ralph Fiennes for example. As soon as he showed any compassion or caring, we would instead think "he's up to something".

Ironically enough, this movie came out right after my great aunt's passing and it had almost the same exact issue going on with the will. My great aunt was significantly closer to lifelong friends who took care of her rather than her family, so of course all of her assets went to her closest friend according to the will. The family would not stop debating about who should have the money and how she must have made a mistake. I, the youngest, had to actually tell my aunts and grandparents to knock off the selfish behavior and to this day I can't understand how they behaved that way. Watching this movie right after that happened was so shocking to my parents and I.

One thing I haven't heard anybody mention is when Jamie Lee Curtis starts yelling at Marta after the will is announced, Benoit Blanc immediately starts backing up and places himself before Marta in a protective position. I find that gesture extremely adorable.

It looks like the fam was basically putting Ransom up on a pedestal and saying "hey, I can at least be better than this dirtbag, right?" And that makes it even funnier to watch Ransom's delight throughout the scene when they start turning on Marta and essentially show they're no better than him.

I feel like my favorite part is so often overlooked. When Cris Evan tells his family "I think this is the best thing that could have ever happened to you" right after his family said the same thing to him. That was comedy gold, loved the call back.

As Red from OSP said, the biggest twist in the entire movie is that at the end of it, it turns out everyone is exactly who you thought they were at the beginning.

I'm so glad that Alan pointed out that Harlan was the one that caused this dysfunction in his family. He spoiled his kids rotten with money and materialistic things and then treated them like shit to make them gravel for any crumbs of affection and which made his kids not only spoil their kids with superficial things but with affection too, so they turn out like Ranson. I'm glad Johnathan pointed out throwing money around doesn't make you a good parent if you not actually teaching them them right from wrong. At first i felt bad for Harlan's daughter because the daughter did work hard and ended up with a cheating husband and a son that plot to kill her father, but then i realized she had to success she did because of her dad, yes she was determined, but she was the type that probably look down on other people and called them lazy for not being on her level. She is the Karen of the group. But I did feel bad for Meg because she was pressured by her family to ask Martia to give them the inherits. You can tell she really didn't want to do that.

I love that Marta is quite possibly the only truly "good" person here, and that's evident in her being chosen by Benoit as an "assistant", in her willingness to help Fran at the cost of her own freedom, and Harlan likely choosing to cut the family out of his will not just because Marta asked him to, but also because how they treated her helped open his eyes to the damage he had done.

"craving validation by winning the argument" wow i did not know people could feel validated by that also i feel attacked

Their whole talk about the difference between being kind and nice has me questioning my whole identity and personality

The other day, my nephew spoke up in front of the whole family and goes, “Auntie, did you know that you’re kind? You’re very kind.” He almost always said ‘nice’ but the fact that he made the same distinction you did in this video made me want to cry 😭✨

"Knives Out" is actually a mixture of two mystery types, the classic whodunit and the less well-known howcatchem (the "Columbo" TV series is one). "Knives Out" starts as a whodunit, shifts into a howcatchem, then ends as a whodunit when it is clear that Martha is not to blame.

I think my favorite part of the movie is showing how even the "good" family member, Meg, turns on Marta, and how quickly and brutally she does. Her mask comes off in an instant when she's no longer in a position of power.

Evans actually came up with the line 'eat sh*t' because he knew someone who used to say "Eat my sh*t" and both he and the director liked it so they replaced his line with it. Originally it was F-off, but that many f-bombs would've sent the rating to R and that's not what Ryan Johnson wanted.

After 'Glass Onion' I rewatched this last week. One thing I noticed, when Benoit asked Linda who besides the family was at Harlon's birthday party, she says Marta, Fran AND Nana. Linda puts her grandmother on the same level as the nurse and the housekeeper...I think that says a lot about the Thrombeys as a family...

I wish this episode was longer cause as they kinda hint at throughout the film: Harlin is not only responsible for his family being jerks. He trained them to be winners. He trained them to be jerks. Harlin treated all of his life like a mystery novel that could be won or lost. This translated into the fact that he literally chose to kill himself in order to turn his death into a whodunnit and transfers into how he raised his family and the fact that literally all of them have defined themselves as winners in one sense or another. This need to win is what brings literally all of them together against Marta once the deed is read because they're in crisis and revert back to the basic need to win that Harlin has instilled in them. The liberal and the "young Nazi child" come together. The centrist and the beauty guru come together. The family that hates Ransom and Ransom align themselves, to a certain point, since his goal is the same as there's: to win. All their labels and morals fall away and they become the people that Harlin raised them to be. But in the end Marta wins because she wasn't trying to win. She saw her family in danger and people in pain and just tried to do what she thought was best, regardless of what happens to her.

Such a great movie. Perfect breakdown. Side note* Michael Shannon yelling “I’m not eating one iota of s**t” is maybe one of my favourite moments. The fact that it almost happens in the background just makes it better.

Your Inside Out vid popped up on my feed and now I'm hooked. This is so interesting and informative.

"Nice is about appearances, kind is about what's right" "Nice doesn't cost you anything" Well, this works wonderfully to debunk the 'nice guy'

10:03 made me laugh, because my mom’s response to my complaints was always “It’s not my job to make you happy, it’s to turn you into a functioning, contributing member of society”

Knives out is one of my favorite movies aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh

You should react to Parasite! I'm really curious what you have to say about it.

That detail about good parenting being about showing love and respect really hit home for me. Love isn't enough unless it is paired with respect. Children need to be treated like human beings, nothing less.

Walt saying "Were his family. So..." Has reminded me that, sometimes, our biological family feels entitled to have our love and affection, when we clearly have other people who are more supportive than any of them can be, and that's what we call, a chosen family.

I have cousins who grew up dirt poor, and cousins who grew up in 7-figure households. The dirt poor cousins are by far more empathetic and well-adjusted to adulthood. Out of my 'filthy rich' cousins, only the middle children came out okay. The oldest and youngest have stolen from other family members, pretend to be nice to your face when they talk shit the second your back is turned, still rely on daddy's money to pay for their college, dorm, and parties every weekend, and still tried their best to stay on the 'kids' Christmas list instead of moving up to the adult list throughout college because it meant more presents for them whenever the family met up (where, by contrast, us poor folk tried to get on the adult Christmas list as soon as we got a high school job). So yes, spoiling your kids does them no favors in the long run.

I haven't watched the movie myself so I am limited on my understanding of the characters to what was shown in the clips. But as someone who has become "the black sheep" of my family my take on Ransom's "Gleefulness" isn't because he is so bad that he takes glee in being a bad person. I think its because he grew up in an emotionally manipulative home with people who use money to control the people around them and he sees that and knows that! Money in this family is a symbol of love as well as many other things, and love/money can only be earned, its not unconditional. So when his family threatens him yet again with money he can't help but laugh because he can see through the bullshit, he saw it coming before he even got there. I think he also laughed because he knew that the family wouldn't get any money from his Grandfather and he wanted to watch the madness ensue when it happened. When asked if he knew he was cut from the will he said "Yes", yet he came to the reading of the will anyways. When his uncle got in his face about his behavior, he I think he didn't react because he knew that deep down his uncle was no better than him, in fact his uncle is worse because he hides his true feels with a veneer of "nice", where as Ransom shows himself for what he his. Ransom is not a great person, but I'll give him credit for owning it.

The twist with Ransom broke my heart. Evans perfectly played the asshole with a heart of gold. Ransom seemed to be aware that the toxic way he was and way he lived was largely a product of his circumstance, but he also seemed like he kind of hated himself for it and wrote himself off as a bad person. Him siding with Marta and seeming so willing to help her and take care of her, along with being stated to be the most like his grandfather out of all his family, I really didn't expect the twist. I wanted the best for him and Marta, I expected them to be besties. I felt betrayed and disappointed at the twist. But at the same time it seemed like SUCH a great, natural way to take the character. It came off to me like, yeah, maybe he was just like his grandfather, but at a different time under different circumstances, maybe the people we love wouldn't love us. And maybe we wouldn't love them. And I think that's neat.

That CSI: KFC snark was such a great self-aware movie moment. As good as Daniel Craig is at playing James Bond, he seems to have a lot of fun with quirky roles like this.

3:00 my father has to get political during _every single dinner_ we have, idk why we even bother coming over sometimes

That political argument scene was so true to my experience with my family that it made me feel the same cagey way I do at family gatherings lmao

The reason Ransom doesn't lose it when his Uncle berates him, is that Harlan told him everything, which included that Harlan left them all out of the will.

A conversation that’s dead before it started is a perfect description for a toxic family like this getting into a conversation about race and politics. Very well said.

"It's not a conversation, it's 2 soliloquies over the top of each other" I laughed

I was wildly attracted to Chris Evans in the movie.

What I love about Ransoms character is that despite what a terrible person he is (and also clearly knows himself to be) he also is ironically the only one who seems to realize just how trash his entire family is. Like, all the rest of the Thrombeys seem to be incapable of recognizing just how terrible they all are, and think of themselves all as being very upstanding, respectable, upper class citizens of the world and it seems like its only Ransom, arguably the shittiest of them all, who is capable of realizing that none of them are true genuine people and the only good they serve to him is to keep him afloat. Otherwise, he never interacts with them and doesnt let any of them get under his skin, because he knows that interacting with them will do him no favors. He's still a terrible person, but I still love that about his character, that the shittiest member of a family of dirtbags is the only one who seems to recognize just how awful they all are.

Harlan is quite literally my great-grandmother. Spoiled her kids rotten, bailed them out of the consequences of their actions well into adulthood, and now 7/10 of them are awful, selfish people. Several are full-on malignant narcissists who should be in jail. And she regrets it terribly. She never got to have much of a relationship with the good ones because the bad ones pushed them all away.

That nice vs kind comparison is just like personality vs character. Personality is what you wear to the gym and character is how much you actually work out.

"I'm sure you have friends who are as screwed up as the Thrombeys are.." Yeah... uh... 'friends'.

My friend worked on this film!!! It's great and I'm so excited to see Glass Onion

“Nice is about appearances, it doesn’t cost anything. & kindness is what’s right.” WOAH 🙊

I suspected Chris Evan’s character because he was played by Chris Evans and why would they give only a few scenes to a big actor like him?

Hi! It'd be nice If you react to "Spirited Away" directed by Hayao Miyazaki!! I love her development! But I'm curious what else you would find!

Harlan also is putting an unfair emotional responsibility on Marta. There is an unspoken string attached to the money…it is now her responsibility to turn these people into good people. Maybe one or two she can do so but some of them are honestly so horrid.

This movie is a fusion of two genres that I've never seen fused before: the whodunnit and the howcatchem. We think it's a howcatchem at first because we literally saw before our eyes how the death happened and who was involved (just like an episode of Columbo, the quintessential howcatchem), and we don't find out until much later that what we thought we saw was actually orchestrated by an unknown party, and the movie morphs into a whodunnit (before very briefly becoming a howcatchem again just so that Marta can puke on Ransom). It's brilliant, and so original, in two genres where it's hard to be original these days.

Love that they were all “out voted”. Only spotted that one the second watch. The fakery

i love chris evans in this, he may have been the bad guy but he was a lot better than any of them, because at least he was open about it. So as far as bad guys go, he was still the good bad guy

Just heard today that Christopher Plummer has died (the actor who played the murder victim in this film). I'm genuinely saddened by this. He was a great Canadian actor and had so many amazing performances -- film, TV, stage, and even game voice acting -- and I was lucky enough to see him act on stage in Stratford, Ontario several times as Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra, as Prospero in The Tempest, and most especially as Lear in King Lear. He was an amazing stage actor, and his performance as Lear was outstanding. He played the role as if he was an old man in decline with Alzheimer's -- I've worked in health care and my grandfather also had the disease, so I was familiar with how it progressed in dementia patients, and Plummer's performance was so good that I could literally track the decline through his acting. I'd seen other performances of Lear, but none of them touched Plummer's. He was truly a legend, and it's sad to realize that I'll never be able to see him live on stage again. RIP, you magnificent fellow Canadian.

The beauty of Knives Out really is in the subtleties. I mean, you have the in the face commentary and dysfunction, but you also have the slight hints about where the cracks in the family are.

The parenting talk about halfway through the video is terrifying as a young woman who has a dream of having children.

Ransom came off as a genuine psychopath. Completely comfortable destroying lives, tells lies without flinching, manipulative, no concept of guilt or shame, etc. He's a really entertaining character on the big screen, but in real life this is the sort of being you never want to encounter because they're completely incapable of personhood and they have no limits on what they'll do. Honestly, it was a terrifyingly good performance. Realizing just how easy lying and killing are for him makes you dread what he'll do next.

The thing I immediately took away from this movie was the racism people expect in the south versus the racism people get in the north. I think it's missed in most critiques of this movie! I love that you pointed out the difference between kind and nice, it's a great way to frame so much of their behavior.

"Craving validation by winning the argument" ... having grown up with this and trying to avoid any family gathering since I'm a teenager, I'm surprised how relieving it is to hear that this isn't healthy family dynamics. I knew that before, but the confirmation helps - thank you! :)

"When it really costs you, is when you know what you're made of" I am definitely going to try to remind myself that whenever I want to do something nice, evaluate myself on why I am doing it and how. It is better to be sincere with oneself

The family in this movie actually triggered me, I’d never been so thrown off by a movie before!!! The tones in their voice, the uncle calling Marta in to back him up in an argument, the forced motherly tone that Marta hears as she’s leaving the thrombe mansion after hearing it’s hers... the manipulative cousin.... God!! Whoever wrote this is a genius. It’s painful and yet I’d watch it over and over again. Definitely a cathartic pain. And yeah, Marta being scared shitless after hearing the will resonates hard. She’s scared of them and knows damn well what’s coming.

My favorite moment of the movie clip is at 11:53 when Ransom tell everyone to eat sh** and for like 2 seconds Jamie Lee Curtis pulls this hilarious face of absolute shock and anger. It gets me every time!!

This movie is the best subversive work of art I have ever seen. It flips the entire genre on its head twice, three times if you count the simple narrative of it following the suspect rather than the detective.

i hope that this comment reaches you guys because i love the things you guys are doing and i would love to see an episode on pixar's onwards talking about the relationship between a father and son and how a father and son relationship doesn't necessarily have to be between a father and a son

Really happy to see you guys tackle this one, it's such a gem ! I really like the casting choice for Ransom, picking such a beloved actor known for playing a kind person ensures that most of the audience that could have seen the end coming is biased and makes excuses for him until it's revealed because he *couldnt* be evil

My grandfather's family ran into a problem like this where the family farm was co-owned by two brothers. The younger brother was a bachelor who lived all his life with his older brother's family. The older brother and his wife cared for him all his life, including his last illness, and thought that in return the younger brother would leave his half of the farm to the older brother. The younger brother left the farm to his five-year-old nephew, who apparently was a cute kid who liked his uncle. The family tried to break the will in court but couldn't do it.

I kind of disagree with the read on Ransom, I feel like his real sentiment and the reason he doesn’t react to his uncle’s berating is because it doesn’t matter what his family says; he doesn’t respect any of them or their opinions, and he already knows that this is what they think of him. He’s heard it before and it’s familiar. I really empathised with his character for being a black sheep in the family, and having to take a lot of hypocritical shit from the people around him. I mean, I wouldn’t do half the things he did, but his sense of vindication when the will is read, I was definitely cheering it on.

Out of all his family, I think Harland respected Linda the most. She was the only one who made a life outside of his shadow (while still enjoying the benefits of his fame obviously). He probably saw himself the most in her, shown by their shared love of mystery through their secret letters that strengthened their bond. Linda has her own wealth from real estate and would probably only continue to feed Ransom’s habits if given the family fortune, so he left it to the only other person he respected, which was Marta.

Stayed until the end, got rewarded with Jonathan's excellent accent xD

The attorney is played by Frank Oz, also known as Grover, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Cookie Monster, and Yoda.

I wonder what Johnathan thinks about Marta's quirk of vomiting when she lies.

I could probably watch this movie over and over a hundred times and still pick things I hadn’t seen before

I'd love to see a video on the family relationships in the Addams Family. I always adored the way Gomez and Morticia encourage their kids to be themselves and never belittle or patronise them.

this movie is such a masterpiece. There's so much detail and complexity to the characters and interactions. The subtle detail and dialogue is just amazing. I could watch it a billion times and never get tired of it. So glad to see you guys have covered it

The Last Jedi was probably my favorite Star Wars movie. So I’m right there with you Alan.

you guys should talk about the good place, i know its not a movie but its so good

I just hAaate youtube for not promoting this hyper high quality channel guys, I've been watching your vids for about 3hrs because I can't stop, you're so good, and this is totally what I needed - some kind of movie reactions and therapy what's wrong with this heartless machine ((( anyway spread positivity so lucky me for I discovered your channel and thank you for what you're doing

16:00 see- what get I from Rian, is that he subverts the fact he subverted our expectations in the first pace(he spins it, then spins it again), to bring to light something more meaningful out of the genre/story(the genre has it's own meta journey, "coming back"/"returning" changed/stronger for the better). Last Jedi makes you _think_ it's about "Jedi must end, the legacy is faulty", but then it reveals "I will not be the last Jedi/ Jedi will continue to exist and grow beyond mistakes", 'Knives out' makes you think "the mystery is solved, she did it, this isn't a 'who done it' but a cat and mouse game" but then "the mystery isn't solved, she didn't do it, this is a who done it", and in doing so both movies unveil a much more positive and rich message. (the true tittle/meaning of Jedi grows and persist past any certain generation, and a person who is pure, kind and a good care taker, committing such a gruesome crime is not the truth that fallows gravity's rainbow.)

The moment I saw Chris Evans in the trailer, I knew he did it. I didn't know *what* he'd done or *how* he'd done it, but I knew. Called it out, too, and my family didn't believe me lol

It’s not spoiling that ruins kids, it’s parents not reflecting on and fixing their issues and failing to explain what they want their kids to learn.

Very funny this was the next movie after Little Women, Functional to NOT FUNCTIONAL

Could you guys do Home Alone for neglect and family dynamics, and maybe something about Kevin’s mental health as well next year?

When talking about the roles of a parent I literally sighed from relief at someone getting it RIGHT. There should be boundaries and LOGICAL consequences to crossing those boundaries or staying within them.

I would love to see you guys look at the family dynamics of Umbrella Academy

I remember having a huge blowout argument with my son when he was a pre-teen. He was being a snot-brat. I finally screamed, “I OWE you food, an education, and shelter - EVERYTHING else I give you is because I love you. Don’t you ever forget the difference.” He’s a grown man now and I am so grateful for what an excellent human being he’s grown to be.

One of my favorite movies, period. Fun note: the lawyer reading the will is the legendary Frank Oz! AKA Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, and a slew of other Muppets 😁

9:10 reminds me of one of the core things about "sleeping beauty" that sheltering your kids (from maleficent, Mr.Harm and destruction herself) is no good for them. I've met a lot of addicts (any substance) that didn't have coping mechanisms because they never had heartache and the emotional support that fallows that in their childhood.

Chris Evans is the perfect human. Baddie or Captain, I'll watch anything including him. Love the channel!

Your analysis of gaslighting in Tangled came up in my recommended and now I'm obsessed with this channel.

First movie I've seen you two talk about that made me stop and go watch the movie. Much better than I thought it would be. Loved how each flashback subtlety highlights the differences in perception of the teller. One of my favorite story devices.

I'm glad he brought up the class warfare point because I feel like Jonathan's analysis of the Thrombeys was missing that. It's not just like... an ego thing, that makes their kindness so patronizing. It's also about power, as in institutional or societal power. The "kindness" that the Thrombeys show Marta before the contents of the will are revealed is the kindness of the ruling class. It is a kindness that comes with two major conditions...1: that they have power over those who receive it and 2: that those who receive their kindness always remember who their benefactors are. If, at any point, the ruling class begins to lose their power, or that they believe their power is not being properly recognized, their kindness will evaporate in an instant and they will show their true colors. And it is very proper that the Thrombeys argue partisan politics, because the ruling class will always show class solidarity with each other, regardless of party affiliation.