Noir November: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Written by Cameron Geiser
Every day for the month of November, Cameron Geiser is reviewing a noir film (classic or neo) for Noir November. Today covers the clever comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
This is a film that lies snugly between parody and paragon when it comes to its Noir nature. Self aware, smarmy, and full of the snark that Robert Downey Jr. would become synonymous with in just a few years after this film’s release, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was more than just a stepping stone into those iron boots for RDJ. In fact this is one of the best Neo-Noirs set in the modern day because it brings wholly diverging modern comedic sensibilities to the world of gumshoe detectives and existential dread. Though if you’re paying attention, the existential dread IS there, it’s just hidden underneath all the self-deprecation and whirlwind storybeats.
The film opens with petty thief Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) in the midst of a chase sequence- well, actually it opens with Harry at a Los Angeles Christmas party with a rewind explained through narration from Harry himself questioning how he got there and taking the reins of the film’s narrative. Get used to that, Harry isn’t exactly the best private eye cinema has seen, he’s in nearly every scene and there’s a bit of a double back every so often– it can get cumbersome for those not in love with the snark. Anyways, a few days before his poolside Christmas party in L.A. Harry was on the run from the cops. Luckily for him the door he burst into was an open audition for a role in a police procedural and his over the top antics were mistaken for method acting and they hired him on the spot and flew him out to L.A. immediately afterwards.
Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Once there the studio sets him up with a real L.A. private eye to shadow so he can get some research in for the role. That private eye is Perry van Shrike, aka “Gay Perry” played by Val Kilmer. Ironically, “Gay” Perry is the narrative straight man in this pairing, and it’s one of Val Kilmer’s best roles in the 21st Century, it’s definitely among his stronger roles overall. Though admittedly the film doesn’t quite have the maturity to avoid crude stereotyping that was dated even for its time. It’s not damaging enough for me to not recommend the film, but it is there and I feel it should be acknowledged. During their stakeout the odd couple that is Harry and Perry witness a car crash into a nearby lake with a dead body stuffed in the trunk. Thus we have our mystery.
Harry also runs into his crush from childhood, Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan) who’s trying to break into acting in Hollywood. She reveals that she’s also looking into the disappearance of her sister too. Unsurprisingly the two mysteries are linked, which Harry tells us is typical for any good detective story. This really is the perfect Neo-Noir to have when nearing the end of Noir November because by now the audience should be incredibly familiar with all of the winking references and dutiful nods that writer director Shane Black has infused into this one. Which, by the way, I was surprised to discover that this film is his directorial debut. He may have been involved with the screenplays of famous films all over the late 1980’s and 1990’s- but this was his first time behind the director’s chair, and what a fine first film at that.
Shane Black has a knack for the pairing of characters and actors that perfectly complement each other. His bonafides from the Lethal Weapon movies and The Nice Guys certainly confirm this notion. It’s no different here, Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer play off of each other expertly providing not only solid entertainment value, but good character work that speaks to the caliber of actor that they are. In The Atlantic’s review of the film by Christopher Orr, he notes that the nervous chatter coming from Robert Downey Jr’s lead role resembling a private eye was “as if the spirit of Woody Allen were animating the mouth of Philip Marlowe” and I couldn’t have put it better myself. In fact, speaking of Marlowe, the film is full of Raymond Chandler references, fittingly the “chapters” of the film are direct callbacks to Chandler’s novels. If you wanted to see a Robert Downey Jr role before he became Iron Man, this is a great one. A thief pretending to be an actor, pretending to be a detective, yeah– I’d say that’s convoluted enough for Noir.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.