Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Dir. Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang may be be your typical noir-esque detective story, but it has plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour and great chemistry between the lead actors to keep you interested throughout. As I've already said in the thread, this film is an annual tradition for me and my friends due to its incidental festive setting, but also because it's highly entertaining, even upon repeat viewings. With every plot complication, the situation becomes more and more ridiculous, to the point of being borderline cartoonish. In this case, instead of detracting from the film as a whole, I think it just adds to its charm.
I wasn't a huge fan of Shane Black's
Nice Guys, and I feel like my love for this movie is partly to blame for that. I went into
Nice Guys expecting
KKBB2, but I left rather disappointed. I do sometimes wonder if I'd feel the opposite way if I had seen
The Nice Guys first, but the characters, the action, and the quirky dialogue just all seem to work better in
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, or at least they do for me. It just seems to strike the right balance.
If you want something entirely serious, this definitely isn't the movie for you. But if you want something that's part homage, part parody, and occasionally pretty witty, then I hope you give this movie a chance.