La Maison biscornue

Great cast, excelllent plot, and an unexpected ending. Add in a very good script and perfect scenery. From my experience it's one of Agatha Christie's best. My only two concerns were that the volume of the sound rose to ear piercing levels when any music came on, and there were so many characters that I sometimes got confused as to who was married to who and the relationships between them.

Multi-millionaire Aristide Leonides has just died, apparently of a heart attack. Private investigator Charles Hayward is approached by his granddaughter Sophia and asked to investigate his death as she believes he was murdered. Hayward takes on the case and visits the Leonides estate, questioning the family. He discovers that it is far from a simple case - the family is incredibly dysfunctional and nothing is as it seems.

Decent, though not great, adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel. Good setup with a fair amount of intrigue and mystery. Solid performances from a cast that includes Glenn Close, Julian Sands, Terrence Stamp and Gillian Anderson. Great work by 13 year old Honor Kneafsey as Josephine - she almost steals the show.

However, after a solid start, the intrigue doesn't get built on very well and the middle-to-end part drags a bit. Even more disappointing, the ending feels very rushed and out of the blue.

Another negative is the performance of Christina Hendricks as Brenda. I know she is supposed to be a femme fatale but she didn't have to try to sound like Marilyn Monroe on helium. Way overdone and quite irritating.

Agatha Christie's "Crooked House" is a gripping tale that will keep you at the edge of your seats most of the time. Only most of the time because the film is oddly paced, moving either too fast or too slow. However, this is compensated for by the captivating performances of the talented cast members and the elaborate mystery that Agatha Christie herself considered one of her personal favorites. I was a bit disappointed by the detective Charles Hayward because his character was flat and static although the flashbacks offered potential. He was also nothing more than a device used to let the audience into the dysfunctional family's lives. Unlike Poirot, he was unable to reach conclusions without having them shoved into his face. I still thoroughly enjoyed the film and would recommend it to anyone who has not read the book. Knowing the twist could diminish the charm of the movie.

I have not read the book, so I'm unable to make comparisons. Seeing as Agatha Christie thought this to be her best book, I'm guessing the novel was 10x better than the movie.

I felt the film itself moved quite slowly, despite being nearly 2 hours long. I felt myself at points losing interest. I'm thinking we needed a Marple or Poirot in this to spice it up a bit! I'm absolutely obsessed with the Poirot series; I find it thrilling, jam packed with twists, and so when I come across any Agatha Christie adaptation, I'm expecting them to live up to these high standards, but this fell short. I don't believe there was enough time with the suspects for the audience to build cases against them. However I must say that the big reveal of the actual killer left me speechless, it made up for the rest of the movie being quite boring, otherwise my score would be a lot lower. I'd say instead of big named productions, stick to the BBC/ITV adaptations of Agatha Christie's work....so much better.

By the way Glenn Close was fab.

I enjoyed the film. That is personal choice, which I imagine is the whole point of a review. I was not aware that as suggested by one reviewer, an opinion was any less valid because " five reviewers have only been members for two weeks " or because another reviewer is such an expert on Agatha Christie, that they think the author is a " HE " and this was " his favourite work ". in itself odd, given that Christie herself frequently said it would be " And then there were none " ? I enjoyed the film, that does not guarantee that everyone will. But at least watch it, then you will know. OK ?