Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) turned out to be, essentially, a gay buddy film, that works. The film is quick, self aware and funny. Even the violent scenes tickle that old funny bone.
Although initially, I was reticent.
Finally, after being told by numerous people (well, two at least) that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a dynamite film. One that showed implicitly that Shane Black was an awesome director before Iron Man 3, I decided to watch it. Especially after seeing a clip from the film that featured Val Kilmer, Robert Downey Jr and Evan Parke where Downey shoots Parke in the head.
Shane Black
Despite that sounding bad, it was actually quite funny and after being told by my soon-to-be illustrious director Natasha Harmer that, “Oh, it gets even better.” Watching the film became a “done deal.” Just for the record the other “fan” of this film is my daughter Meg’s significant other Max.
Based, in part, on a Brett Halliday novel titled Bodies are Where You Find Them (whatever that means) and with a screen story/screenplay written by Shane Black and directed by same, – And yes, it’s the Shane Black who wrote the Lethal Weapon films, plural, and other great bits of movie magic – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or KKBB as I’ll refer to it for the rest of this post, is a kick ass, funny film with just enough tongue in cheek humour directed at the audience to take out the sting of the sadder bits in the film.
Whew! Try reading that last marathon of a sentence with one breath. Go ahead, try! I dare you!
Narrated
Narrated by Downey, KKBB is a journey through the Los Angeles movie crowd as dictated by every movie ever made about Hollywood. It abounds with stereotypes, clichés and enough two-dimensional characters to populate a Top Cat cartoon.
But…
These have all been done on purpose. At the beginning of the film, Downey is introducing himself as our narrator and cheerfully telling us how bad he is going to be and then proceeds to show us. He also starts the film standing by a heated swimming pool, occasionally dipping his shoes into the water.
Sunset Boulevard
The reference to Sunset Boulevard is obvious and if you didn’t see it? Shame on you! Now go out now and watch Sunset Boulevard and tell me you can’t see the reference. I’ll wait.
Harold (Downey) is a cheap thief who gets to Hollywood. The fabulous party with the pool is the result of a perfectly timed escape from east coast cops. While fleeing a crime scene, he bursts into an audition and gets hired. At the party he meets Val Kilmer, a gay private detective who goes by the name of Gay Perry. He meets the host the mega rich Harlan Dexter (played by Corben Bernsen who makes a great bad guy). Harold sees a girl that piques his interest.
Later he finds out that this intriguing girl is non-other than Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), a childhood crush from his hometown. Harold tries to “win the girl.” Gay Perry is teaching Harold how to be a detective. This “one-night-stand” results in a murder mystery that serpentines through the entire film involving all the main characters.
What works
Downey is, as usual, brilliant. How anyone can put themselves through so much substance abuse hell and still continually “knock it out of the park” is beyond me, but we’re glad he can.
Val Kilmer actually entertained me for once and I actually liked his character. So kudos to the man who I’ve never really liked much except for his Doc Holliday in Tombstone and his role in the film Red Planet, where he also knocked his role(s) out of the park.
Michelle Monaghan was quirky and cute and funny. She was also sadly funny as the girl who “didn’t make it.” Her bear/beer commercial was heart wrenching as well, although having actor Laurence Fishburne voicing said bear in the commercial helped.
The Verdict
This film is a real 5 out of 5 stars effort by all concerned. It didn’t quite make me feel a full range of emotion. I cannot, hand on heart, say that, “I laughed, I cried, blah blah.” But laugh I did and the film delivered so adequately on that score that sometimes I even laughed when it wasn’t politically correct to do so.
A great film, that shows that Shane Black is more than a one trick pony.
Simply Great.
POSTSCRIPT:
Somewhat annoyingly, the film is not available to stream. *At least according to IMDb.* You can rent it via Prime or purchase it from Amazon.
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