Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

I like to laugh. A truly funny movie is an absolute joy, in my mind, almost like a gift from Hollywood. If it also has some good acting, and a reasonably interesting storyline, then I'm even happier. I am thrilled to report that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang delivered on all of those measures! Truly, the funniest movie I've seen in a very long time - I dare anyone to watch this and not have mascara dripping down their face. Well, the women, anyway.

Shane Black (writer, Lethal Weapon 1-4, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Boy Scout) makes his directorial debut here. An adaptation of the novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them by Brett Halliday, this movie is a complete and total spoof of the classic film-noir movies. You'll find all of the things typical to the genre (dead bodies, detectives, a narrator to help us along) but remember that this is a spoof. Everything will be given a humorous twist. Everything pokes fun not only at the genre, but really at all of Hollywood.

Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer play the two leads. Downey plays Harry Lockhart, a small time thief who can't seem to do anything right. Running from the police, he literally runs into a casting call, and does so well, he's now going to be an actor! And that's how Harry got to Hollywood, and ended up at a lavish party where his life will take a major turn.

Downey is also our narrator. We know this because he comes right out and tells us that he's going to be our narrator, but that he's not very good at narrating, so we shouldn't expect too much from him. Some of the biggest laughs are at the narrator's expense. Because he forgets to tell us things, so he has to go back and fill in the blanks. Yes, the film actually stops, and rewinds a bit, so that the narrator can fill us in appropriately. The narrator also makes sure to tell us when to pay particular attention to a scene because it'll be important to us, later.

Harry's acting role requires him to understand how a detective does his job; thus he's paired with private detective 'Gay' Perry (Kilmer). 'Gay' is his nickname, and it's an appropriate one.

So, anyway, Harry's at this lavish party, and he bumps into Harmony (Michelle Monaghan). It turns out that Harmony's a childhood friend of Harry's. Getting a little too into his acting role, Harry tells her he's a detective. (I guess "thief-turned-actor" doesn't sound as impressive). Next thing we know, Harry's up to his neck in troubles. All of a sudden he's dealing with not one - but two - corpses. One of whom is Harmony's sister. And now bad guys seem to be shooting at Harry, too! Well, he's been playing a detective, now it's time to put those new-found skills to the test.

And that's how Harry and Gay Perry team up to solve this case!

The banter between Harry and Perry is unbelievably funny. Although Perry looks like the hard-nosed, serious detective, he actually drips with sarcasm. Like when they drag a corpse from the lake, and Harry asks in a small voice "Is she dead?" Perry's answer: "No, she's just resting her eyes for a minute". They banter a lot about the use of adverbs, which Harry never seems to get right. As in "I feel badly" vs. "I feel bad". He finally masters the difference only to later utter "I sleep bad", and has to have it explained all over again, that "badly" is the adverb. And one of the funniest moments is when Harry's mistake in math leads him to idly play in a game of Russian Roulette. With one bullet in the gun, he can't believe it actually went off because, after all, there was only "an 8% chance!" To which Perry yells at him "Who the *bleep* taught you math!!!"

I've just given you a little snippet. The movie has lines like those all throughout. You barely finish laughing from one thing before the next one hits you.

Is it all good, clean fun? No, not at all. In fact, some people are going to be horrified by this movie. They use lots of bad words. And there's plenty of sexual humor and lots of "gay humor" (mostly delivered by Gay Perry, which, I guess, makes it OK). There's some violence, some corpse tampering, all kinds of things that will offend some people. But I didn't care about any of that. This was just a darned funny movie, as far as I was concerned.

What about the two dead people, and the actual story? Well, the story is almost a side note. Something to tie together all of the characters and funny situations. Thus, I don't think it's the most cohesive story in the world. In fact, it definitely needs some explanation, but that's OK - remember Harry's the narrator, too. He makes sure it all gets tied together in the end. But you know what? I didn't really care if the story wasn't the tightest I've ever seen. I was too busy laughing to worry about it.

I recommend it, for adults only. And only those who won't be easily offended by some off-color stuff, and who want to laugh themselves silly.


Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age