Funny as it is smart, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is one of the most overlooked films of 2005. Sweeping through theaters like a
Uwe Boll film, the movie barely made a dent with audiences, despite rather positive critical feedback and a good cast.
"Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," to thus be referred to as "KKBB," stars Robert Downey Jr. as a small time thief, who, while eluding police, winds up in an a movie audition, gets the part and is whisked away to Hollywood where he is submerged in a world of murder, mystery and celebrities. A classic murder mystery with a modern day twist, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" mocks the very thing it is - a Hollywood concoction of grandiose proportions, where no genre is left untouched to get to the end goal. The movie successfully satires everything while at the same time thriving in the very situations it is making fun of, as it transitions from crime comedy to murder mystery to romance to action, all in under 100 minutes. The transition is seamless and the movie makes the most of its genre-sharing, as "KKBB" succeeds at nearly every moment.
Downey Jr. is supported by Val Kilmer, playing a gay FBI agent, Michelle Monaghan (the Katie Holmes look-alike from "Mission: Impossible: III") as the love interest, and... well, that''s about it. Okay, so when I said the movie had a good cast maybe I was exaggerating a bit, but I like Kilmer and feel he''s always gotten a bad rap for no real reason. Kilmer and Downey Jr. play well off one another, not necessarily complete opposites but certainly an odd match.