Gosford Park is not exactly your usual "whodunit" mystery. The difference from the usual is that a large part of the plot in this movie is played up by the way the movie is filmed. The guests of the hunting party at the country estate are filmed upstairs, and the servants’ areas are downstairs. All of the downstairs shots are of servants. Most of the information we find out is from conversations between the servants and conversations between the servants and the guests. This story takes place during a time in which the servants were thought of as almost less than people, which is part of the reason the view shown is so interesting. It shows the contrasts and the parallels between the way the guests treat each other and the way the servants treat each other in their social hierarchies.

This movie plays out like a extremely conservative version of "Clue" (the movie, not the game). The humor and nightly encounters are mostly only hinted at. There are other parts, such as the identity of the murderer, that are subtly hinted at from the beginning. This is definitely a movie to put on your thinking cap for if you want to get all the jokes and the clues to what is really going on.

The DVD comes with special features such as deleted scenes with commentary, the "authenticity of Gosford Park," and the making of the movie. With such stars as Dame Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ryan Phillipe, and Stephen Fry, this movie is a “who’s who” of some of the best and/or most well-known actors and actresses around. This DVD is worth giving a second look.