Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Widescreen Edition)

 

 

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This is probably the biggest overlooked gem of 2005. It is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. It is quite complicated -- the first time I saw it, I really didn't understand what was happening -- but on a second viewing, the plot will probably make sense.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang stars Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. They have incredible chemistry, and are absolutely hysterical. The film's humour is absolutely crazy, and all over the place -- some of it is light gay humour, some slapstick, some romantic (Downey Jr.'s character isn't very suave, to put it lightly).

I would definitely recommend this movie to ANYONE (as long as you don't mind women's nipples. Or people's fingers being cut off (by a door being slammed on it)). Anyone who enjoys humour, mystery, or any of the actors in this movie will LOVE it, guaranteed.

The only reason Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was not an enormous success was because of a lack of marketing. But with the DVD release, this can change! You should definitely check out this movie! It is superb!

I found this film to be one of the funniest films I've seen in a while. I heard a lot of negativity in the press about it, but when I finally got to see it I was pleasantly suprised how involved with the story I got, how much I enjoyed watching the characters interact with each other and just how funny it is from start to finish. I love movies that make fun of the genre that they're in and try to be a little different. Shane Black is a great writer and this helps further prove that.

"Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" was originally the name of a 1966 Italian movie, "Bacia e spara," the noted film critic Pauline Kael used for her second collection of film reviews in the 1960s. Kael had seen a poster for the movie in Italy and considered it to be a reduction of the basic appeal of the movies to its simplest terms, sex and violence, a reality of which she despaired. Director Shane Black, working in part from Brett Halliday's novel, "Bodies Are Where You Find Them," tries to provide a bit more than sex and violence in this 2005 film, but more importantly he has fun with the sex and violence.

Black wrote most of the "Lethal Weapons" pictures as well as "The Last Action Hero," although my personal favorite (and the only one I have on the shelf) was "The Long Kiss Goodnight" (Hey, "chefs do that"). His central character and narrator is Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey, Jr.), who we meet at a Hollywood party. This necessitates explaining how he ended up at the party where he met a girl, Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), which then requires Harry to backtrack and explain how she ended up at the party, as well as the story about the robot. Harry is not exactly up to speed on what is required of a decent narrator, but you should be paying attention to what he shows you if not to what he says, because things will matter down the road. Off the cuff references to the properties of Silly Putty turn out to be foreshadowing, and if Black does that with minor points you can expect the larger ones to pop up that way as well.

In addition to the girl, Harry meets up with (saw it slow and elongate the last syllable) Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), a private eye who is supposed to provide Harry with private eye lessons on the off chance he ends up playing on in a movie, which gets us back to why Harry is in Hollywood, not to mention the party. Then Harry stumbles upon what will be the first of several dead bodies and the next thing we know Harry is pretending to be a detective in order to impress the girl. There is more bang bang than kiss kiss in this film, and some of the kiss kiss is not exactly in the traditional Hollywood mold. I really do not want to get into details because you are better off if you just experience the film instead of me trying to explain it.

All things considered, I liked the bits and pieces of this movie more than the summation of the parts. I especially liked the bit where Harry tries to persuade someone to persuade to a bluff only to find the math did not work out in his favor, and the piece where Harry finally gets to toss aside his gun with one of the more understated big lines of recent memory. There is a bit more of black comedy here than of film noir, even if Harmony is fascinated by the pulp detective yarns of her youth, but that is fine with me. For all of his ups and downs Downey usually makes movies only during the ups, which is why he is almost always worth watching. He also shows a nice sense of restraint as an actor in the face of the over the top action that Black concocts for him again and again. Kilmer lays things on a bit thick, but he is clearly trying to have fun (even on the commentary track with Downey and Black), and Monaghan certainly manages to keep pace with her male co-stars.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Almost Bang-on
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a very funny send-up of the noir genre, partially based on a Brett halliday thriller that I assume played it straight. Read more

Published on April 21 2010 by Dominick Grace

4.0 out of 5 stars Down(ey) by law
Although this movie commits the usually worst sin in Hollywood filmmaking (voiceover narration) thanks to the abilities of Robert Downey and the writer to poke fun at that... Read more

Published on Mar 4 2009 by Brian Maitland

2.0 out of 5 stars Overblown, Self-Important Piece
This movie does some out of the ordinary things that try to be "hip". Problem is the story itself is conveluted and poorly written and directed. Read more

Published on Sep 30 2006 by Kilgore

3.0 out of 5 stars A dark comedy that just isn't all that funny
Don't you hate it when a movie character also serves as the narrator, continually interrupting the film to tell us what he forgot to tell us a minute ago or to throw in general... Read more

Published on July 15 2006 by Daniel Jolley

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