‘Everyone does it’: The dead do not report VAT

Coincidences of fate, Spanish cinema greets 2022 in the purest ‘Daggers in the back’ style. If in terms of animation ‘Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow’ gave a breath of fresh air to the genre, transforming insects into a suspected criminal aboard a luxurious voyage between Shanghai and San Francisco in the 1930s, In a real image, his answer was “Everyone does it”, the second feature film by Martín Cuervowhich after having made its debut with the suggestive ‘With whom you travel’ passes to the Whodunit subgenre.

“Everybody Does It” brings together three couples who got married in the same hotel. The owner of the club summons them, making them believe it’s an invitation to spend the weekend. The building is located in a frozen area, far from the hand of God, which means that they will be practically isolated. Really, the invitation is an excuse for the host to blackmail each of them. However, the next day, the blackmailer is found dead.which makes all the couples suspicious and bursts onto the scene two forest rangers, who turn out to be mother and son, and who will take care of unmasking the killer.

In a certain sense, it could be said that ‘Everyone do it’ is the natural evolution of Cuervo’s own style, which already in ‘Who You Travel With’ combined humor, with certain moments of clear black comedy, with intrigue of not knowing if the driver of Bla Bla Car that Salva Reina embodied was a homicidal psychopath or a young man with relationship problems. That suspense is maintained in a proposal that seeks to evoke the classic spirit of Agatha Christie’s novels.only bringing it to the present, which effectively makes it indirectly related to the aforementioned Rian Johnson film.

A comedy with intrigue to greet 2022

Cuervo unmasks each of the suspects, all with a motive to end the life of the deceased. Furthermore, it is fascinating how the couples end up joking with each other in a moment when the most primitive survival instinct is seen., the one that reflects the most desperate act, as could be seen in ‘Force Majeure’, the film that brought the Swedish Ruben Östlund to life on the international scene. However, Cuervo’s ambitions are much lesser, with a story that, despite his tantalizing premise, leaves a much less rounded result than his promising debut.

What required intrigue and unexpected twists turns into a story where all the conventions of the genre end up being fulfilled., making it much more predictable than it should be. This is a flaw of a screenplay, written by Marta Sánchez and Irene Niubo, which should have been riskier, as her premise demanded it. Even that final intrigue that Cuervo was able to capture in his more than mentioned debut film is lost, which causes ‘Todos lo hacen’ is an exercise in which care is seen, but which lacks the verve that his previous work displayed.

The actors obey, especially those with more experience in comedy, such as Salva Reina, Julián López, Kira Miró or Carlos Santos. However, some characters are not fully exploited, as in the case of Macarena Gómez, giving the feeling that the film has too many suspects. Despite this, ‘Todos lo hacen’ is a commendable attempt at rapprochement with a sub-genre that has become popular again and which invites, at least, to spend pleasant moments on the big screen.

Note: 6

The best: The presentation part of the characters, before the crime takes place, where you see that ironic touch, especially related to taxes.

Worse: It ends up being predictable and some characters aren’t fully developed.