 It always strikes me as kinda funny that this movie happens to be right in my wheelhouse as far as comedy goes, yet it flew right over my head back when it was released in 2005. Part of it may have been that it didn't do well at the box office, part of it may have been that I was too busy watching The Rock take on demons on Mars in 'Doom' (released the same day), but I totally missed out... especially with how bad 'Doom' was. But upon first viewing it a couple of years ago, it became an instant favourite.
This is another film that is very much within the category of "Christmas movie, or not a Christmas movie?" In this case, no matter what your argument is for something like 'Die Hard,' this is much less of a Christmas movie. Really, Christmas is just the backdrop here, and unlike 'Die Hard' there's not much else to do with the holiday (no music, or shirts with "ho-ho-ho" messages). That said, I would argue that it's a super fun movie all the same, and the fun of it adds to the Christmassy backdrop in a kind of twisted way. We open with Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) beginning a recap of how he got to a Hollywood party. After an unsuccessful robbery, and a police chase, Harry finds himself hiding in an audition. Having lost his friend during the robbery, he has a break-down which is mistaken as method acting, and this gets him into said party. Here, an openly gay private investigator, "Gay" Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer) makes the suggestion for him to participate in a real investigation in order to develop the character part he accidentally got. Meanwhile, Harry meets aspiring actress Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), finding out that she's actually a childhood crush all grown up. Believing that Harry is a real private investigator, she tells him about her sister, which, long story short, eventually leads to Harry finding himself entangled in an intricate murder case, along with Harmony and his unlikely partner (and actual private investigator), Perry. The rest plays out like a bumbling buddy cop movie, but without them being cops. The contrasting characters of Harry and Perry are what make this such a great watch. While Harry plays a bit of an "every-man" character, leaning towards someone who really doesn't know what he's doing, Perry is the asshole character who treats Harry like he's a moron, but often does his share of moronic things, himself. To really flesh out the relationship between these two, there's no better scene than this one, which also contains one of my all-time favourite movie insults; probably Top 5. Despite this making it onto a Christmas list of movies, it's really an action comedy you could watch pretty much any time of year. The writer/director of this one is Shane Black, who we either remember very fondly for penning 'Lethal Weapon', or not so fondly for executing 'Iron Man 3' (which still isn't horrible, but definitely a weak chapter of the MCU). I'd have to say, after scrolling through his IMDb resume, this is one of the better titles he has under his belt, and it comes highly recommended by yours truly, even though it floats a little under the radar. 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' is definitely a lot of fun, at times intense, at times laugh out loud funny, and it'll even leave you a bit squeamish without going incredibly overboard. There IS a rough torture scene here, but it's balanced out with humour and doesn't really show anything. Also, bear in mind that I kinda hate torture porn. Aside from a few moments like that though, this is a good one, and it truly makes me wonder why it isn't more of a hit - even as a non-Christmas movie. 4/5
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