Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (14 May 2006)
directed by Shane Black
starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen, Dash Mihok, Larry Miller, Rockmond Dunbar, Shannyn Sossamon, Jake McKinnon, Wiley M. Pickett
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MPAA rating: Studio: Warner Brothers, Silver Pictures Script: Shane Black Based on the book by: Brett Halliday Music: John Ottman Running time: 103 minutes Tags: Action; Comedy; dead bodies; Hollywood; Mystery; New York City; novel adaptation; pistols; Thriller Tactical strength: [5/10]
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for language, violence and sexuality/nudity
An interesting combination of a film noir send-up and a Hollywood business expose in a self-aware package. We meet our narrator, Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) at a swank Hollywood part. But Harry need to explain how he got to the party, so we jump back to Harry robbing a New York City toy store. While fleeing from police pursuit, Harry breaks into a movie casting session. His dramatic reading for a tough-guy role gets him hired and flown to Hollywood. Harry's producer (Larry Miller) believes in method acting and sets Harry up to take private investigator lessons from Gay Perry (Val Kilmer).
Coincidentally, Harry meets his high-school sweetheart Harmony (Michelle Monaghan) at the party. His first attempt to meet her ends up in a violent beating from Harmony's boyfriend, but Harry meets Harmony later in a bar and they reminisce about their drab high-school lives back in Iowa. To impress Harmony, Harry tells her that he works as a private investigator, and Harmony just happens to need an investigator to look into a missing friend. The confusion and coincidences continue to compound throughout the entire film, until you realize that making sense doesn't matter as much to writer/director Shane Black as creating a film noir tone.
You have to think that Black must have really wanted to make something different after writing the four Lethal Weapon movies and the abysmal Last Action Hero and possibly worse The Last Boy Scout. In Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Black creates both a send-up and a parody of film noir. Black splits the hardboiled detective into two separate personalities. Downey plays Harry as an ineffectual screw-up who could use some anti-anxiety medication. Harry tries to put up a tough-guy front, but he ends up getting beat up, tortured, and having a finger severed -- twice. Kilmer plays the true tough guy, but in an odd twist, Black makes this street-wise detective homosexual. In making a parody of the detectives, Black's humor detracts from the hardness of a true noir film. In addition, the noir components add a serious tone that make you question whether you should laugh.
I think liking Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang depends entirely on taste. I loved Val Kilmer's portrayal as Gay Perry, and I would like to see an entire movie about him. On the other hand, I found Robert Downey Jr.'s whiny character annoying and thought that he existed merely to provide a stooge to serve as the butt of just about every joke. Of course, if you don't like Downey, you might enjoy watching his character suffer. The Hollywood setting provides the means for having a self-aware movie, but I find the "shocking" Hollywood scene overused. Individual scenes did make me laugh, but no synergy takes place between the noir and parody elements to make Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang more than a well-made, well-intentioned curiosity.
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