Review of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) by Ryan W — 11 Dec 2013

Tis the season, as I'm writing this, to watch Christmas movies, coming hot off the heels of another RDJ and Shane Black Christmas team up (Iron Man 3) I realized I haven't done a proper review for one of the few Christmas movies I really, really love. This is a gem for not only contemporary Noir films but as well as one of the many showcases for the talents of RDJ.

The Good: Tongue in cheek, Noir homage done correctly, Val Kilmer, RDJ as the pitiful hero, quick pacing and a fun mystery drama.

The Bad: Chemistry in the romance is sort of lacking.

The Good.

This film never, ever takes itself too seriously. Even in it's darkest moments there's an air of humor or it's never focused on for too long. That is such a huge improvement over movies where the overall humor is dragged down with long pauses of moroseness or tonal shifts like that. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, always strives for a never too serious feeling and the film really does it well, never overselling but more importantly never coming up short.

Noir is a hard genre to do an homage to without being a gimmick. Black's film has the foresight to say forget it, let's just be that gimmick and own it. Noir is a hard genre to give a nod to and Black has done by far the best.

Val Kilmer lost me when he played Batman, for a long, long time I had such a negative connotation to his name attached to a project that I avoided it like the plague. Not only did he vindicate himself in this film, he proved me to be prejudice without cause as well. Val as Perry is a hilarious, dark voice of reason for the movie, in a world where everyone does what they think they should do Perry does what he knows he should do. Val was spot on for the role and it was actually a pleasure to be proven so wrong.

Robert Downey Jr. most in my generation will only know him as the cool and confident hero who throws out one liners and saves the day as Sherlock Holmes or Iron Man, but his performance as Harry is so pathetic. It makes the character approachable and relatable, the guy got a lucky break in the most obscene of circumstances and he never has a real plan. Harry wings it the entire film, even in it's waning moments his position of solidarity is more of a haphazard to hell with it. This performance is probably my second favorite of RDJ's and it cant be praised enough.

The film moves along quickly, it never stalls, we catch our breath when we have to of course but it does it in a firm and confident pace between a run and a brisk walk. You'll never find yourself checking your watch during the film and it keeps you engrossed the entire ride.

This film for being so fast, being so tongue in cheek is a really, really fun mystery drama. You do want to figure out what happened, you do find every bit of evidence and revelation interesting. It walks a fine line being so cavalier about so much but it does it well, you can be engaged or sort of just listening and still have a great time watching this film.

The Bad.

It's strange that as a foil to Harry, Harmony works very well as a character. Yet, as a romantic interest I just don't buy it. The two seemed to have a history, a story and a motive but I don't think that it necessarily leant itself to a romantic sense. The chemistry just isn't there for me, it's only a minor complaint and some of the best scenes in the film are between Harry and Harmony, her character works just not quite as intended.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is a gem of a film, I highly recommend it as an unorthodox Christmas movie, a noir homage, a dark comedy but more importantly, a good movie.

8/10.