Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

A small time crook in New York is on the run from the law when he stumbles into a casting call. Somehow managing to wow to the director, he is whisked away to Hollywood to become the next big star. There he starts getting detective lessons from a cynical PI and starts to fall for a childhood sweetheart. Things are looking up, until a strange case of murder starts to make his life go out of control.

There are some movies that I keep hearing about, keep sorta seeing mentioned in various places, but never seem to see get any big time acclaim. And it's always a damn shame. This is one of those movies, one that should definitely not remain undiscovered by everyone.

The movie centers on Robert Downey, Jr's character, said out-of-his-element thief. The man is one of the best actors out there today, and every time he comes onscreen is a treat. He's backed up by a solid cast, including on Val Kilmer reminding me that yes, he can be a good actor when he wants to be (he's just one of those guys that always seems to slip through the cracks with me).

It's a very funny and clever movie, a lot of the humor coming from it being self aware. Downey acts as both the main character and the narrator (one of the best ever), and his constant addressing of the audience and discussing various parts of the movie are great fun. The generally tight script is full of laughs, twists, quotable lines, and cool characters. There's also nice gunfight or two to mix things up. It's actually a bit difficult to describe, and best seen by actually, well, seeing it.

The movie itself is almost in the fantasy genre, (in a noir sort of way), what with all the crazy things that go on. Sure, it's grounded in reality, but it has an undeniable otherworldly charm to it that really gets it going. Again, like I said before, it's hard to describe, but it works.

There's actually not a lot more I can say about this movie, other than that I completely love it. It's one of those films I fell in love as soon as I popped it in, and I hope that some of you take the time to check it out and love it too.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ekNtkhLjs