KISS KISS BANG BANG
Year: 2005
USA & UK: Warner Bros Pictures
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen, Dash Mihok, Larry Miller, Rockmond Dunbar, Shannyn Sossamon, Angela Lindvall, Indio Falconer Downey, Ariel Winter, Duane Carnahan, Josh Richman, Martha Hackett, Nancy Fish, Bill McAdams Jr, Tanja Reichert, Jake McKinnon, Stephanie Pearson, Chris Gilman, Brendan Fehily, David Newsome, Judie Aronson, Ali Hillis, Wiley Pickett, Joe Keyes, Bobby Tuttle, Jake Eberle, Saida Rodriguez-Pagan, Lela Edgar, Daniel Browning Smith, Stevie, Teresa Herrera, Kathy Lamkin, Evan Parke, Vincent Laresca, Brian Simpson, Cole McKay, Ben Bray, Harrison Young
Director: Shane Black
Country: USA
USA & UK: 103 mins
USA Rated: R for language, violence and sexuality/nudity
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language
USA Release Date: 11 November 2005
USA Release Date: 28 October San Francisco, Minneapolis, Seattle, D.C., and Philadelphia)
USA Release Date: 21 October 2005 (Limited Release - New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston)
UK Release Date: 11 November 2005
Synopsis
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.
Screenwriter Shane Black (THE LAST BOY SCOUT, LETHAL WEAPON) makes his directorial debut with the action/comedy/thriller KISS KISS, BANG BANG, starring Robert Downey Jr. (GOTHIKA), Val Kilmer (ALEXANDER) and Michelle Monaghan (THE BOURNE SUPREMACY).