Instant Favorite.

Fresh and Exciting

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I remember renting this movie when it first came out on DVD. And thought of it as a funny and cleverly executed movie that I wanted to watch again later on. It isn't as amazing as I remember it to be but it's still a very clever black comedy with heavily flawed but likable characters. It's a neo-noir film that has a more fast placed and edgy feel to it all. Although the biggest payoff and fame came from Robert Downey, Jr. playing Tony Stark. This is the role I remember Downey the most from. It's difficult to play a thief that is all talk and lack common sense and yet still very likable. But Downey managed to pull it off thanks to his acting chops and because of the writing. And probably his character is someone that can resonate with a lot of people. This is also Val Kilmer's 3rd most memorable role for me. He was just excellent as an overly sarcastic and somewhat pompous private investigator. And what drives this movie is the interactions and banters between these two characters. Overall I thoroughly still enjoyed this film and will probably watch it again in a few years...Maybe.8.5/10

Plot: A murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor.This movie is a prime example of how to do a buddy film. The thing that makes this different from the others is that Shane Black actually takes the clichés of those films and turns it on its head. The cast all do a wonderful job especially Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan. They have terrific chemistry and help portray their characters as likable and quirky. The script is one of a kind from Shane and very underrated just like a lot of Shane's work. His movies deserve to be talked about and not just pushed to the side. My only issue with the film and why it gets an 8 is the lack of screen time for the villain. He is very underdeveloped and that's the only thing disappointing because most of Black's villain are at least developed or have a personality which this villain lacked because of the limited screen time that he got.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a perfect example of how to be clever with its story whether it's a buddy film, a black comedy, or a thriller. This film despite it's one flaw is a great film that I feel should be given a chance by the general public.

This unfairly overlooked if sometimes uneven parody of detective and noir films (that has moments of feeling like a real thriller itself) is extremely well acted. It's no surprise that Robert Downey is a lot of snarky-but-lovable fun as a NYC small time thief brought out to L.A. to test for the lead in a film after a series of bizarre twists. What did catch me off guard was Val Kilmer matching Downey laugh for laugh and sharp edge for sharp edge as a gay Los Angeles private detective who takes Downey under his wing. The two make an improbable but very entertaining pair. It's also nice that writer/director Shane Black and actress Michelle Monaghan make something a little more fun and complicated of 'the girl' than simply someone who looks good while waiting for Downey to get busy and kiss her. The plot of the mystery itself has got a number of gaping holes and silly coincidences, and it lacks a real of feeling of danger, but the film has a breezy charm and quick witted inventive intelligence that just about renders the fact that the detective story doesn't really work a moot point.

This exhilarating high-speed comedy thriller is full of fun, action and excitement and contains a lot of quick-fire dialogue that's cool, sharp and extremely witty. Its complicated plot about an investigation into a murder mystery is typical of those featured in numerous classic film noirs but its overall style is also very contemporary. The juxtaposition of these two styles and the elements of parody and pastiche that are evident throughout, make this a very postmodern offering and a fascinating homage to the hardboiled detective stories that were so popular in the 1940s.Writer/director Shane Black clearly drew much of his inspiration from Raymond Chandler as he named the four chapters and the epilogue of "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" after well known Philip Marlowe stories and constructed a plot which was very Chandler-esque, as it's labyrinthine in nature and also features an investigation of two seemingly unrelated cases which subsequently prove to be linked to each other The obligatory narration is predictably clever, sarcastic and funny but also contains more updated aspects, such as a tendency to speak directly to the audience and a disarmingly amateurish quality which manifests when information is imparted out of sequence and freeze frames and rewinds have to be used to clarify what's being said.Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) is a small-time New York City thief who goes on the run from the cops after one of his robberies goes wrong and then escapes his pursuers by hiding in a building where auditions for a detective movie are in progress. Much to his surprise, Harry passes the audition and is flown to Hollywood to prepare for his movie role by shadowing a gay private investigator called Perry van Strike a.k.a. Gay Perry (Val Kilmer). At a party held by a wealthy entrepreneur called Harlan Dexter (Corbin Bernsen), Harry meets his childhood friend Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan) a girl who used to confide in him a great deal but frustratingly, never showed any romantic interest in him. Her attempts to make it as an actress had not been very successful to date and her greatest achievement so far was a brief appearance in a corny commercial.Harry and Perry are on a stakeout one night when they see a car being propelled into a lake and then manage to pull the dead body of a young woman from the wreckage. Later, Harmony tells Harry that her younger sister (Jenna) has been found dead and asks him to investigate the circumstances of her death. "The Lady In The Lake" is later identified as Harlan Dexter's daughter Veronica and a tenuous link between her and Harmony's "Little Sister" becomes apparent as one of Harmony's credit cards (which had been stolen by Jenna) had been used to hire Perry to be at the lake.After a complicated investigation that exposes Harry and Perry to great danger and leads them to a psychiatric clinic owned by Harlan Dexter, it becomes clear that Veronica's murder was connected with a feud over an inheritance and that Jenna's tragic death had been brought about in a totally different way.Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer make Harry and Perry's unconventional partnership one of the highlights of the movie and their banter is just brilliant. Michelle Monaghan also impresses with her ability to mix her character's comic side so successfully with her more mysterious qualities. Just like Marlowe, Harry gets beaten up regularly and is even tortured but is also quite modest as he recognises that he's a useless thief and readily admits to being a terrible narrator."Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" is tremendously entertaining, hilarious and criminally underrated and hopefully, in the long term will achieve the level of recognition that it so richly deserves.