Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
I came to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang blind, as I like to, having spotted it on the "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They" list of the century's best films. For a while, I genuinely thought I understood the fuss.
It opens strongly. I warmed to Robert Downey Jr's Harry Lockhart, a small-time thief who stumbles sideways into acting and then into a murder mystery, and it is always a pleasure to see Val Kilmer, here having a ball as the deadpan private eye Gay Perry. Michelle Monaghan rounds out the trio nicely, and while I have not seen a great deal of her work beyond the Netflix series Messiah, where she impressed me, she holds her own throughout. The ingredients, in other words, are all present and accounted for.
And yet the film steadily lost its grip on me, and a good part of the reason is Downey himself. This will sound like heresy, so I will just say it plainly: unless he is playing someone truly outlandish, his hilarious turn in Tropic Thunder being the gold standard for what he can do when he really cuts loose, I find his performances start to blur into one another. I stop watching a character and start watching Tony Stark in a different hat. Harry is meant to be the wisecracking, loveable heart of the whole enterprise, and I simply could not connect with him. When I could not connect with Harry, I found I could not connect with anyone.
It did not entirely surprise me, either, once I started thinking about the director. I have now seen a fair spread of Shane Black's films, and my relationship with them is patchy at best. I thought his Predator was frankly awful, his Iron Man 3 crushingly bland, and The Nice Guys only a shade above average. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, his directorial debut, fits the pattern almost exactly: a film with every ingredient it needs to be sharp, snappy and cool that somehow never quite cooks. The wit is all there on paper. The spark, for me, is not.
The film plainly wants to occupy the same territory as True Romance or an L.A. Confidential, that slick, knowing, neo-noir bracket of clever yet humorous crime pictures. But it is not remotely in their league. Where those crackle with real energy and genuine danger, this mostly fidgets. It is restless without being exciting, knowing without being wise.
I can see exactly why it has its devotees. The Los Angeles setting is well used, the banter has real rhythm on occasion, and Kilmer in particular deserves every good word written about him here. On another day, in another mood, I might have met it halfway. As it was, I could see the film it was trying to be far more clearly than I could enjoy the one actually in front of me.
Two and a half stars. A slick, promising near-miss that had everything it needed except, for me, a reason to care.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2005 | Watched: 2026-08-29
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel · Now TV Cinema · HBO Max
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Howdy Amazon Channel
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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