King of Knives Review: A Comedic Family Story of Life, Love, and Reality

Release date: December 1, 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Starring: Gene Pope, Mel Harris, Roxi Pope, and Emily Bennett
Director: Jon Delgado
Writers: Lindsay Joy, Gene Pope

King of Knives tells the story of Frank (Pope) and Kathy (Harris) who are baby boomer parents and Sadie (Bennett) and Kaitlin (Pope), their millennial daughters. Frank is screaming towards a mid-life crisis. Kathy pretends she’s happy and doesn’t drink that much wine. Sadie is the good child; convinced her first and only boyfriend is the one to marry. Kaitlin is the rebel, the entertainer; the truth teller who will not filter how she’s feeling.

The movie starts off hot, with a sequence of events happening that introduce you to Frank and his various life predicaments.  He is stuck in a rut and trying to reclaim the old mojo that had him at the top of his game.  However, this start does have some stiff acting and delivery, but thankfully that appears to be just at the start.  And despite these initial stumbles, you can tell that King of Knives has some really good camera work, with bright, clean shots to highlight the main draw of the film, the characters.   

And speaking of the characters, the entire family have various issues and quirks that make for an interesting film.  And this has a lot to do with the fantastic acting in the movie.  Headlined by Pope who, and despite the initial stiffness, settles into a very fun role, a sort of cool dad that is partly out of touch but also more than willing to experiment with drugs and embarrass his kids.  His character gets most of the screen time and rightly so, there are a lot of very fun scenes with him.  Kaitlin, his more rebellious daughter is also perfectly played by Roxi Pope.  They have a natural chemistry that translates on screen, and the pair really do feel like a father and daughter that actually get along (which they might be given the last names).  Bennett as Sadie is another fun one, who starts off as the perfect Stepford house wife, but changes during the film.  And Harris as Kathy does a great job as the strong influence in the family who also gets to stretch her emotional chops at times. 

And King of Knives deals with a lot of topics, but the most striking one is its commentary on expectations versus reality.  There are lots of characters that have epiphanies or come to very hard life choices, and they often are forced to make a very difficult decision.  But this is explained and encouraged by some frank and realistic writing and dialogue, delivered perfectly by the characters.  I appreciated the honest and pragmatic approach to love and life, and how the film said many things that are often left unsaid for fear of hurting people's feelings.  But the advice and lessons that were taught are important ones, and valuable to capture on the big screen.

King of Knives is both comedic and honest, with some entertaining characters and important commentary on life, love, and expectations versus reality. 

Watch it.

If you liked this review and want to see more from Watch or Pass, please consider 

following us on our various social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube. 

King of Knives is available digitally and on demand December 1, 2020.

For additional information about the film and to rent / buy it, check it out at the links below.

This site contains affiliate links. //Commerce or this site may be compensated when you click through links on our site.