Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
There are many films I like. There are even some I like enough to classify as favourites. Quite a few are shoved into the category of “unbelievably quotable”. Very few of those are films I quote daily, but tons are films I can quote nearly all the way through from start to end after one watch-through. This movie is one of them.
To be completely honest I cannot for the life of me remember how I came to watch this film, (that is to say, I do remember that I was in the video store and I saw the cover and it intrigued me, and I vaguely recall it being one of about 20 films I rented that day and that it ended up near the bottom of the pile) but I do remember that from the first few scenes I knew that I would love it.
As I said in another review, most of the comedic films I like would be seen by many as less funny and more sarcastic. This film is a mix of both. Our narrator, Harry (the amazing, hilarious and drop-dead-handsome Robert Downey Jr.) is an out-of-luck thief who happens to run into an audition for a detective film while escaping from the cops after getting busted for breaking into a store. He gets the role and ends up in L.A. for detective lessons for his movie, with one “Gay Perry” (Val Kilmer) who is seriously one of THE most entertaining characters of all time. There he also meets Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), the girl who reminds him of “the one that got away” in high school (fun fact, she IS her), and in an attempt to impress her tells her he is a private detective.
I won’t actually go into more of the plot here because it’s awfully confusing to write.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a detective movie, friendship movie, coming of age (without aging) movie, romance and pure, unadulterated neon crack. For those not familiar with the colloquial term, crack here means inexplicable yet undeniable hilarity. Seriously. This film rips off and laughs at so many detective movies I actually can’t list them all, but everything cliché that happens in detective stories is in this film.
For those who don’t tend to look kindly on films that “rip other films off”, perhaps you will appreciate the dialogue in this. I said that this is a film that I can quote very well. I can. As can most people who see it. It’s actually hard not to. I mean, I use one particular expression in everyday life, and only realized that when I watched the film again tonight (this would be the famous “why in pluperfect hell” expression that Perry uses incredulously on Harry when he casually asks if he can be identified because he accidentally peed on a corpse. Yep. Neon crack, I did warn you). For this film I could actually spend the entire review quoting to you, and I am trying very hard to restrain myself from doing just that.
The characters are also brilliantly written and acted, making the spoof-detective-noir plot incredibly entertaining to follow. Harry is an idiot, but he isn’t stupid. Well, not really. He does think loading a revolver with one bullet only gives him an 8% chance of actually shooting someone when playing roulette, but he also figures out the final mystery of the film. Gay Perry is just bloody fantastic. He drips sarcasm, oozes class and is actually knee-deep in p*ssy but likes his nickname so much it stuck (baddum-tsch). Harmony isn’t your typical femme fatale either. In fact, she’s more kick ass than Harry and Perry combined in some scenes. All three make a beautifully dysfunctional little crowd that is endlessly entertaining and wonderfully witty.
Dear God, alliteration. Also I quoted at you. Twice. It’s impossible to not quote this film.
Also, fun fact, the credit song is sung by none other than Robert Downey Jr. himself! I totally had no idea until the friend I was watching it with told me, because he doesn’t sound like himself at all!! I’ve actually noticed that… a lot of actors have a completely different-sounding singing voice. It’s uncanny.
Anyway, before I make a bigger fool of myself than I already have, I shall rate this film an 8.5/10 and recommend it to people who understand and enjoy sarcasm, don’t mind the occasional non-pornographic nudity, and metaphorically get off on word play. Also fans of any of the three main actors will love this movie because all three are so great in it and share a rather equal amount of screen time, which is actually quite unusual.
