Austin Film Festival: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Fritz here. Once Shopgirl ended, I and other moviegoers stampeded outside to get in line for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. After standing in line for a while (it was about 10:45 and the movie was supposed to have started at 10:20), a security guard walks down the lines and loudly announces that no cell phones of ANY kind (even ones that can't take pictures) will be allowed in the theater. She added that even though the last security outfit allowed cell phones into the Shopgirl screening, they were a different company and would not allow it. She said everyone needed to go to their cars, even if they were parked blocks away, and put their cell phones in their vehicles. Given her tone of voice, this woman sounded like she wanted, I daresay she needed to catch someone trying to bring a cell phone into the movie. I was not giving up my place in line and was busy thinking of creative places to hide my cell phone when an Austin Film Festival rep came walking down the lines with an apologetic smile on her face. She announced that cell phones were okay and that no one would be frisked or wanded going into the screening. Good. Apparently enough people threatened the lives of the security company and the employees of the Austin Film Festival that they changed their minds.

The most obvious comparison one can make to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is to Wes Craven's Scream. Just as Scream poked fun at the genre conventions of the horror film while still employing and enjoying them, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang satirizes the conventions of the private detective movie while still utilizing them.

Robert Downey, Jr. stars as Harry Lockhart, a thief and all-around screw-up who literally stumbles into an audition in New York and is sent to Los Angeles to screen test for the part of a hard-boiled private eye. Dapper, homosexual private eye Perry Van Shrike (Val Kilmer) is there to train him for the role. Soon, Downey poses as an actual private eye to help a childhood love (Michelle Monaghan) who is a struggling actress in Los Angeles with a missing sister.

Eventually, bodies pile up and the plot twists and turns. The movie relies heavily on Kilmer and Downey, and both actors, who have had rough career patches recently, come through. They both seem as relaxed on screen. Even though Downey is too old for his role, he makes the perennial sad sack Harry seem likeable. Downey also gives one of the best voice-over narrations in recent memory. Kilmer makes for a good straight man (no pun intended) and it is nice to see him excelling in a comedic role when it seemed like he had abandoned the genre after starting his career with excellent work in Top Secret and Real Genius.

The film was written and directed by Shane Black, who is famous for being one of the highest paid screenwriters in Hollywood. Black wrote Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and The Long Kiss Goodnight. Not a prolific writer, Black is one of the best at coming up with snappy dialogue and one-liners. However, Black's scripts, even the stellar Lethal Weapon, had a tendency to turn disturbingly violent. Indeed, even though The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight have a number of laugh-out-loud lines, they become monstrously unpleasant as they progress. While Kiss Kiss Bang Bang does drift into action movie territory as it nears its climax, the violence never becomes a real distraction, nor is it as mean spirited as it is in some of Black's previous work. Here, he maintains a consistently light tone, even when Downey accidentally loses a finger.

As one might expect from the title, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is not a movie that will be remembered come awards time. But, it is a fun, entertaining piece of pulp that should leave audiences smiling.