Shane Black is a writing genius. Have written the first Lethal Weapon (as well as the story for the first sequel) he also wrote The Last Boyscout and The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was his first screenplay since the latter, and the first film he had ever directed, and it is a fantastic debut.
Robert Downey Jr. (in the role that really restarted his career) plays Harry Lockhart a thief who accidentally becomes an actor after running into an audition while evading the police after a bungled robbery.
Harry gets invited to all the Hollywood parties and is in strong consideration of the role of a private eye so he is teamed with real PI 'Gay' Perry (Val Kilmer) to 'research' and as you may expect all Hell breaks loose with dead bodies everywhere, and an aspiring actress from Harry's past (Michelle Monaghan)
Downey Jr. is superb here both as Harry, and as Harry the narrator, stopping the film when he messes up, winding it back, the narration is totally original and hilarious.
Val Kilmer plays the straight man to a tee, and it's hard to imagine anyone else playing him (yeah even original choice Harrison Ford)
But the main draw of the film is the writing that is just electrifying, the dialouge here is some of the best I have had the pleasure of listening to this side of Aaron Sorkin (Example dialogue "You don't get it, do you? This isn't "good cop, bad cop." This is fag and New Yorker. You're in a lot of trouble.")
It's a damn shame no one really knows who Shane Black (know his films obviously) and an even bigger shame that he doesn't make more of them.
Even the 'predictable Hollywood ending' is totally turned on its head and turns the run of the mill ending you think is coming into something hilarious.
****
Superbly written and directed, this is both Shane Black's and Robert Downey Jr.'s comeback film
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