Tagline: Sex. Murder. Mystery. Welcome to the party.
In Los Angeles, whilst being chased by police officers, thief Harry Lockhart finds himself in a movie audition where he is mistaken for a actor, auditioning for a role in a detective film. Harry attends a party where he reunites with childhood friend Harmony Faith Lane, who is acting in Beer commercials and wants to make it to the big time and act in Hollywood movies and Harry also meets gay private detective Perry Van Shrike.
When Perry discovers a dead body and Harmony’s sister commits suicide, Perry decides to involve Harry in the investigation and Harry decides to play along and pretend he is a detective. Investigating the case, Harry and Perry become suspicious of the party guests who have all become suspects, as Harry and Perry set out to uncover the murderer’s identity, Harry finds himself falling in love with Harmony.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a 2005 American neo-noir black comedy crime film written and directed by Shane Black, and starring Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan and Corbin Bernsen. The script is partially based on the Brett Halliday novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them, and interprets the classic hardboiled literary genre in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The film was produced by Joel Silver, with Susan Downey (credited as Susan Levin) and Steve Richards as executive producers.
Shot in Los Angeles between February 24 and May 3, 2004, the film debuted at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival on May 14, and received a limited release in cinemas on October 21, 2005. From its release until mid-November, the film’s distribution increased every weekend due to its favorable critical reviews. It stayed in release in the United States until early January. The film earned a total of $4,243,756 in the United States.
A Jonny Gossamer Thriller
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.
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)
Directed by: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Joel Michaely, Ariel Winter, Shannyn Sossamon, Angela Lindvall, Martha Hackett, Nancy Fish, Tanja Reichert, Stephanie Pearson
Screenplay by: Shane Black
Production Design by: Aaron Osborne
Cinematography by: Michael Barrett
Film Editing by: Jim Page
Costume Design by: Christopher J. Kristoff
Set Decoration by: Jeannie Gunn, Mary-Margaret Stratton
Art Direction by: Erin Cochran
Music by: John Ottman
MPAA Rating: R for language, violence and sexuality / nudity.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: November 11, 2005
Visits: 34
