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Veteran screenwriter Shane Black (Lethal Weapon 3 and 4) makes a commendable directorial debut with this playful faux-thriller, which has fun with the conventions of private-eye novels and film noir. Robert Downey Jr. stars (and narrates) as Harry Lockhart, a New York thief on the run who literally stumbles into a film audition and is "discovered," earning a trip to L.A. for a screen test. Assigned to research his first role, as a detective, he tags along with Hollywood private eye Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), whose sharp tongue and matter-of-fact homosexuality contrasts amusingly with Harry's voluble fish-out-of-water persona. A chance reunion with his high school dream girl, Harmony Faith Lane (Michele Monaghan), soon leads to murder, missing people, and shady dealings that that present us with a dizzying succession of zany characters and narrative complications. Loosely adapted from a whodunit written by the creator of the beloved shamus Michael Shayne, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (the title echoes a Pauline Kael collection of the same name) demands from its viewers a certain level of familiarity with classic detective novels and movies. For example, it's broken up into five "chapters," each of which bears the title of one of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe yarns. The dialogue references countless other examples of the genre and, not surprisingly, seldom seems fully applicable to the scene at hand. No matter. This is the type of movie that's not about the destination but about the journey. Downey and Kilmer, who work well together, obviously understood Black's off-center vision. And their droll performances help enable him to hit the target, dead center. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A thesp-turned-crook gets a chance at career in movies as well as crime scene investigation in this offbeat action comedy with nods to Raymond Chandler. Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) is a struggling New York actor who high-tails it to Los Angeles. Once there, Lockhart winds up at the posh home of the aptly-named homosexual private eye Gay Perry (Val Kilmer) amid a lavish Hollywood party, hoping to score a life-changing role in a Hollywood feature. Harry becomes reacquainted with Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), a girl he had a major crush on in his small-town Indiana high school, who may be a bit more interested in him now than she was years ago. He takes both her and her girlfriend home with him, but - in a moment of drunken stupor - accidentally sleeps with the wrong woman. Meanwhile, when a series of female bodies turns up across L.A., Harry slowly breaks into detective work, mentored by Perry. The biggest twist? Black riffs Adaptation and other films by having Harry (via satirical narration) write the movie while he is living it. Harry assures the audience that unlike Lord of the Rings, this one won't have seventeen endings. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang marks the first directorial credit for Shane Black, who created the Lethal Weapon franchise. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 012569586710
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 1:43:00
• Sales Rank: 3,441

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