Monday, November 28, 2005

When They Say Perry Is 'Gay Perry'...

...they mean Perry is Gay.

Yesterday Bodhi and I went to see the movie Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. I don't think I have laughed aloud so much in a film for ages.

Val Kilmer was wonderful as private detective 'Gay Perry', ascerbic and dry without being unlikeable. A scene where he tries to convince a thug who is holding him at gunpoint that said thug is a closet case that just needs to deal with his issues of attraction to men, was hysterical. I also found Robert Downey Jr's hapless character thoroughly likeable, and the interplay between him and Perry very enjoyable. The cast of main characters is fairly small, but all actors turn in excellent performances.

The film plays with the cliches of detective stories, and with the cliches of crime movies in particular, in ways that are funny and often unexpected. I love films that play around with the medium, and having Robert Downey Jr narrate the film and even comment on how the movie is going just added to the enjoyment for me. Clever writing, where the zingers come thick and fast, and good solid performances = a good movie experience.

I give this one a big thumbs up.

[There are a bunch of other opinions of the film over the Rotten Tomatoes review site.]

Updated: Drat, I knew I had read a good review of this film somewhere in the blogsphere. It was yaniboy's excellent review. Sorry for the oversight yaniboy, let's just put it down to having a 'senior's moment'.

8 comments:

yani said...

Told ya so...

"yani's rating: 9 hidden derringers out of 10"

http://yaniblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/very-big-bang.html

:)

The Other Andrew said...

Ah, I knew I had read a review somewhere! Sorry, if I'd remembered it was on your blog I would have linked to you. You were right, hi-larious.

Bodhi said...

And in addition to TOA's comments and big thumbs up above, I would like to add my own brief rating of the film as:

9 Sparkles out of 10 on the FAB Scale.
Yaaaaaayy!

For all those who have yet to see this movie, go see it immediately, ..."but don't give up your gay job."

The Other Andrew said...

Did either of you boys get the reference in my title of this post?

The original is: "When they say Paris is Gay Paris, they Paris is gay!"

Anyone?

The Other Andrew said...

Ack, I left out the word 'mean'!

"...they mean Paris is gay!"

Anonymous said...

Well, maybe I should see this! I had totally written it off, because of the Val Kilmer factor!! Thanks for the heads up!

yani said...

You're forgiven... :D

And as for the title reference...

"When people speak of Gay Paree / They think that when they say Paree is gay / They mean that Gay Paree is "Gay!" / It is not in the way Paree was gay in yesterday Paree / It means today that Gay Paree *is* Gay.... Not that gay."

Victor/Victoria... I didn't know it, but then I *HEART* Internet Movie Database... so...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084865/

The Other Andrew said...

Well done yaniboy, it is indeed from Victor/Victoria. I heart that film. If you haven't seen it, do so, it's good fun.