A movie for people who love movies... featuring tough detectives, violent thugs, women with secrets, and dark mysteries. Oh yes, it's also a comedy.
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:142
Fresh:118
Rotten:24
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Tongue-in-cheek satire blends well with entertaining action and spot-on performances in this dark, eclectic neo-noir homage.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, violence and sexuality/nudity.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Oct 21, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $4,235,837
Synopsis: Harry Lockhart (ROBERT DOWNEY JR.) is basically a decent guy. Sure, he's a petty thief who skates through life on a shaky cocktail of dog-eared charm and cockeyed optimism, but he wants to do the... Harry Lockhart (ROBERT DOWNEY JR.) is basically a decent guy. Sure, he's a petty thief who skates through life on a shaky cocktail of dog-eared charm and cockeyed optimism, but he wants to do the right thing. He just doesn't know how, exactly. Harry's perpetual bad luck takes a turn for the better when he and his partner are doing some after-hours Christmas "shopping" at a New York City toy store and the security alarm breaks up the party. (Yeah, it sounds like trouble, but keep reading.) In making his frantic getaway from the cops, Harry inadvertently stumbles into an audition for a Hollywood detective movie, and faster than you can say Jack Robinson, the producer flies him to Los Angeles for a screen test. Thrust into the cutthroat world of L.A.'s pros, cons, losers and wannabes, Harry is teamed with tough-guy private eye Perry van Shrike (VAL KILMER), AKA "Gay Perry," to prepare him for his screen test. Gay Perry is ruthless, relentlessly tough and - you guessed it - gay. He also has little patience for Harry, who tries out his acting skills by passing himself off as a detective. It seems like nothing short of destiny when the thief-trying- to-be-an-actor- impersonating-a-detective crosses paths with Harmony Faith Lane (MICHELLE MONAGHAN), an aspiring actress who needs his help. Inspired by her hero Jonny Gossamer, a fictitious hard-boiled private eye featured in a series of pulp detective novels, Harmony moved to Hollywood to pursue her dreams...but a few years and a lot of rejections later, she's facing the harsh reality that her best days may be behind her. When the mysterious suicide of Harmony's sister intersects with a seemingly unrelated case that Harry and Gay Perry are investigating, they suddenly find themselves embroiled in a real-life murder mystery. Bodies surface and re-surface...long-buried family secrets erupt in present-day mayhem...and what began as a free trip to L.A. may result in Harry's one-way ticket to the city morgue. If he's going to stay alive and become the hero that Harmony needs him to be, Harry will have to convince a reluctant Gay Perry to help him solve the case. He'll need to channel Jonny Gossamer's tough-as-nails swagger. And a little dose of luck - or is it fate? - wouldn't hurt, either. --© Warner Bros. [More]
Starring: Robert Downey, Michelle Monaghan, Val Kilmer, Corbin Bernsen
Starring: Robert Downey, Michelle Monaghan, Val Kilmer, Corbin Bernsen
Director: Shane Black
Director: Shane Black
Screenwriter: Shane Black
Producer: Joel Silver, Steve Richards, Carrie Morrow, Susan Levin
Composer: John Ottman
Studio: Warner Bros.
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Release:
Jun 13, 2006
Reviews for Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is full of knowing cinema references...but above all else it is a hilarious movie that reinvigorates the modern crime picture.
A trippy tribute to L.A. noir that blazes through its running time, a genre-busting blitzkrieg attack on Hollywood pretentiousness that’s just as full of it as the pulp paperbacks and their myriad filmic offshoots that it lampoons.
A very writerly film, incessantly displaying a preoccupation with its own storytelling structure and cheekily blowing the lid off other movies' tropes and wiles.
Black’s seemingly yanked every memory of his Hollywood years from his noggin, put them down on paper and taken a Nikon to it. The result? A blast.
After about a half-hour it became very clear to me that Black had no real idea what his story was and didn't particularly care to find out.
An homage to all the detective stories Black devoured as a kid, Black takes the genre to illogical and hilarious extremes, giving us a faux noir romp that should not be missed.
It’s a delirious ride Black takes us on, and it’s great fun all the way.
Perhaps a better title for the self-referential noir comedy Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang would be Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge.
A postmodern pastiche for those who like the artifice of motion pictures and the sleazy side of America exposed with a smile.
Stop the presses! Wait, am I stopping them because Val Kilmer has made his first good film since Tombstone, or because writer Shane "I Am Everything Wrong with Hollywood" Black totally knocked his directorial debut off the wall for extra bases?
The movie is so relentlessly impulsive that it becomes easier if the audience just cries 'uncle' to its stylistic arm twisting.
It's the kind of movie that's twisted enough to play a severed finger for laughs and smart enough to make jokes about grammar.
She drives alone. The critic drives alone through the pitch-black night.
...funny and fast-moving...Both Downey and Kilmer are perfectly cast and presumably having a good time.
This is about as lowbrow and raunchy as any filmmaker will ever get with an R rating.
It's not Black's material that misses; it's his refusal to let anyone -- especially the audience -- take a breather between all those bangs and kisses.
Compared to the rock-stupid Miami Vice retreads that now glut the market, it's so witty that it's practically niche.
Latest News for Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
February 17, 2006:
2 Afflecks and a Beauty Plan a "Baby"
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ben Affleck will soon be making his directorial debut on Miramax's "Gone, Baby Gone," a crime story adapted from the novel by... More...
December 23, 2005:
San Diego, Vegas & Utah Critics Make Their Year-End Picks
Thanks again to MovieCityNews.com for keeping us up-to-date on all the year-end critics flick-picks. This time it's the San Diego, Las Vegas and Utah reviewers who share their... More...
December 22, 2005:
Phoenix & Toronto Critics Offer Their Year-End Favorites
It's tough to keep up with all the critics' awards being tossed out this time of year, but Movie City News sure helps out a whole lot. This time we have the year-end picks from... More...
December 16, 2005:
London Movie Critics Present Their '05 Nominations
Movie City News shares with us a press release from the London Film Critics Group in which their various nominations are announced. Keep in mind that the Brit crits use their... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang at Rotten Tomatoes
- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang at IGN
- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!






