Monday, December 11, 2006

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
I've been sort of strapped for things to write about lately; I want to write a bunch of posts, but no inspiration = no posts. It's a curse, I tells ya. A sad, sad curse. However, after recently watching a film, I suddenly realized that I had not done one of these movie posts in a while (nor have I done a music post in a long time... I really left you guys and gals hanging after the fourth DVD, haha). So, here you go, everyone: A good recommendation from me to you.



Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a film I've wanted to watch for a long time now. Pyro is a huge fan of it, and I liked the premise and the actors and whatnot, so I showed some patience waiting for the DVD to show up at the library about three or four months after I initially requested it (can't complain about that too much, though, since I didn't want to actually, you know, pay for it, or anything). After finally receiving it, I was a bit wary when I popped it into the DVD player; incredibly built-up expectations and all that. I tried to temper that as much as possible, because it tends to ruin my enjoyment of a movie, and I'm glad to say that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is as sharp and funny as I hoped it would be.

After a brief prologue of sorts, the story begins with Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.), a petty thief reduced to stealing from toy shops so that he'll have Christmas gifts to give to family. Late one night, while stealing an XBox, Harry and an accomplace are caught red-handed; the partner is shot, and Harry is forced to run away from the police. He makes his way into a small, bare room crammed with people in suits surrounding a single, empty chair. They mistakenly believe that Harry is another person waiting to audition for a detective role they are offering; Harry, who has no clue what is going on, reads the lines that are thrust into his lap, and, after further confusion on his part, delivers the lines so powerfully that he is cast into the part and safely away from the police.

Harry is then flown to Los Angeles. Once there, the studio tells him to tag along with Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer), alias "Gay Perry," a (shock) gay private detective. The studio figures that Harry will have an easier time slipping into his detective role with some on-the-job experience. Before leaving, Perry promises to take Harry on a stakeout the next evening. Later, while at one of many insipid Hollywood parties, Harry happens upon Harmony Lane (Michelle Monaghan), his dream-girl from way back when who left small-town Indiana long ago to follow her acting dreams. At first they hit it off, much to the annoyance of Harmony's "homely friend," but due to a case of drunken mistaken identity of the worst kind, Harry ends up with Harmony's door slammed in his face the next morning.

That evening, during Perry's stakeout, which he assured Harry would be routine, boring stuff, a car is launched from a hill into a lake. In the trunk of the car is a dead body. Harry panics, while Perry tries to calm him down and eventually decides that they have to leave; the suspicious circumstances lead him to believe that someone is attempting to frame them, though he has no idea why. When Harry gets back to his room, his situation is further complicated by two things: 1) Harmony's sister, who Harmony had no idea had moved to L.A., has been (apparently) murdered and she wants Harry's help in finding out who did it because he had implied to her that he's actually a private eye himself and 2) The body from the night before found its way into Harry's shower. He panics once again and later tries to work his way through the messy details of both cases, with the help of Harmony and Gay Perry.

I tried my best to make all of that as simple as possible, but it's probably an impossible task. As directed by Shane Black, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one-half buddy cop film (a genre that Black added to heavily, having written the original Lethal Weapon and contributed to its three sequels), but it's also one-half film noir homage. One of the plot devices in the film is a series of (fictional) crime novels featuring detective Jonny Gossamer, whose stories serve as a nod to the hard-boiled crime novels that often influenced the very best of what film noir had to offer. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang's plot is a throwback to those noir films whose murky, labyrinthine plots really only made sense because the characters believed they made sense. The plot's definitely a fun ride at the time, but making sense of it later is a dizzying affair.

However, it's not really the plot that matters as much as the style it's told in. While the plot's a throwback to The Big Sleep and Laura and whatnot, the style is modernized and turned on its head. For example, there's the offbeat narration Harry provides during the film: Harry often breaks the fourth wall and interacts with the viewer, popping up to provide his own sarcastic view on certain events and some rather bizarre criticism of the story ("Don't worry, I saw the last Lord of the Rings movie; I won't have this end like 17 times."). He's also fond of literally stopping the film to criticize his own shoddy narration. Thankfully this happens enough to remain funny throughout but not so much that it becomes pretentious and annoying.

The way Kiss Kiss Bang Bang plays with the noir archetypes is fun too. Harry is far from the typical noir tough guy - as mentioned before, he flies into a panic more than once, he gets his ass kicked several times, and his understanding of the mystery is often several steps behind that of Perry and Harmony. Perry slips far more readily into the tough-guy role than Harry, which, hilariously, causes Harry to question Perry's gayness at first. He's really just a tough guy who just so happens to be gay, though he has a few touches here and there that poke a bit of fun at the "flaming gay" stereotype. A lot of the classic noir situations are played with as well - there's a funny scene a ways into the film, for example, that's pretty much the antithesis of a certain scene in Chinatown, in terms of toughness.

The style's not the biggest draw, however... that would be the great dialogue. You can tell that Shane Black had a hell of a time writing each line. There's so much caustic wit to everything and the insults fly so fast that they just seem effortless. So many films really try hard for that hip feel with their dialogue and crash and burn with it (see: The Boondock Saints, with apologies for once again ragging on that film). In Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, on the other hand, it works well because it doesn't come off as being written only because the writer thought it sounded witty in his head - this is some genuinely hilarious shit.

It's also lovely to see the chemistry between the characters, especially Harry and Perry. Robert Downey Jr. is great as Harry; his weird, rambling delivery is perfect for how sarcastic Harry is and for how hard he tries to be tough and cool and just fails miserably at it. Perry's frequent ownage of Harry is hysterical, both for Perry's snappy lines and for the, "...oh." reaction from Harry, haha. Val Kilmer's Perry has the right mix of flamboyance and "Get the fuck out of my face, you idiot" that makes the character work. Michelle Monaghan is also fun, being generally sexy and also verbally owning Harry left and right. Her character has this great energy about her, too; it's cool seeing her be so active and throw herself into all of these dangerous situations while Harry is, say, nursing an injury and sleeping in a car.

The noir-ish tendencies and confusing plot of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang might at first seem to limit its appeal to some sort of snobby audience, but I think just about anyone with an actual sense of humor would be able to enjoy it, especially if you go for the darker stuff. It's got good action, hilarious dialogue, cool characters, and tons more going for it - it's just a fun as hell movie that you really should give a watch if you've yet to see it.
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