Lethal Weapon screenwriter Shane Black battled writer’s block for eight years before finding voice with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and it shows in every compelling chaotic frame. This, Black’s directorial debut, has a strange liberation buzz about it, like once he started banging out the words, he didn’t stop until the entire contents of his head had spilled out. Generically speaking, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is like hitting warp factor 10, which as any physicist or Star Trek obsessive could tell you, would theoretically put you in all parts of the universe at once.
A lurid pulp noir with a side helping of everything, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an absolute binge of Hollywood sideswipes (“Colin Farrell wants too much money”), wisecracking buddy exchanges and post-modern nudges. The film changes endings, freezes frames and rewinds at the behest of Robert Downey Jr., who narrates, stars and sets off the madness around him very nicely.
Playing a thief mistaken for an actor playing a detective (you’d have to be there), Downey Jr. hooks up with caustic gay detective Perry (Kilmer) and a hooker with a heart of gold (Monaghan) to discover why the corpses of beautiful women are turning up with alarming regularity.
Though occasionally a bit too smart-arsed for its own good, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an enjoyably messy riot which simultaneously celebrates and violates the high octane, high concept '80s flicks which made Black such a screenwriting superstar. And we’re not going to start complaining because a Hollywood movie is too clever by half.