Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 6

This is based partly on Brett Halliday's novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them and added to by Director Shane Black (who is originally form Pittsburgh and more known for his direction of the Lethal Weapon series). The film is narrated by a small time thief (Robert Downey Jr.) who stumbles into an acting audition in Hollywood and is being considered for a part as a detective. In the meantime murder is going on all around him and he ends up actually playing the part of a detective in the film. It all gets more complicated as he is to be mentored by a gay private eye (Val Kilmer) and ends up meeting a high school friend (Michelle Monaghan) who has gone to Hollywood to make it as an actress. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. You get the idea. It is a pretty basic action film with a lot of quick-witted dialogue and even some slights at Hollywood filmmaking by the narrator, who at one point tells the extras in the foreground to get out of the way. It is obvious that the actors know they are in a movie. Which begs the age old Fight Club question, did you just see the film, or the reality that was suppose to surround the filming. The narration works as the actors commentary that the DVD viewer can't turn off. This film also forces me to take back what I said earlier about Robert Downey Jr.'s overratedness as an actor, he is pretty good in this role. Val Kilmer is also very funny.