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Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 37 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 64 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Crime | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Shane Black (also screen story)
Brett Halliday (novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them)
Directed by: Shane Black
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 21, 2005
DVD: June 13, 2006
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language, violence and sexuality/nudity
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen, Dash Mihok, Larry Miller, Rockmond Dunbar, and Shannyn Sossamon
A petty thief (Downey) posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl (Monaghan) and a detective (Kilmer) who's been training him for his upcoming role.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
This is one of Downey's most enjoyable performances, and one of Kilmer's funniest. It's a relationship comedy wrapped in sharp talk and gunplay, a triumphant comeback for Black, and one of the year's best movies.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
It's one nutty holiday fruitcake that is appetizing and tasty.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The deliriously enjoyable noir comedy-thriller Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang does nothing by halves and everything by doubles.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Black's retro-noir reminds us why we love movies: because they can surprise us, even when we're ankle deep in bullet casings, bodies and enough twists to tie us in knots.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This tribute to old-fashioned hard-boiled detective fiction is laced with Hollywood satire and snappy, lightning-fast dialogue.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The plot is thin: You'll guess the villain early, then pick holes in story construction. But Black's ear for mock-noir speeches doesn't fail him, and he gleefully parodies the chase scenes that dominated his action movies.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Black, who wrote "Lethal Weapon," makes his directorial debut, and he puts a fresh spin not only on that film but also on a whole slew of films noirs.
Read Full Review >Empire Staff (Not credited)
Bold and breathless, this trippy, hilarious, know-it-all comedy-thriller will have you reliving its ironic spoils for days, but you'll still be hard-pressed to nail the actual story.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
The zingers come so fast and furious that if you miss a few (and even the most alert viewer will the first time), there are always more.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Macabre, yes, but the movie's also inventive and funny. You get a lot of smart bang-bang for your buck.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Clint Morris
One of the coolest and most memorable films of 2005 – I just want to see it again.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Amazingly and incessantly funny, a free-form riff on Hollywood shenanigans, the film noir genre and film in general.
LA Weekly Mark Olsen
Snappy, fun and outrageously irreverent, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is the work of someone with nothing to lose, which is only to the audience's gain.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
It's also a doozy of a comedy, matching the dark wit of Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer novels to the stylized theatrics of Matt Helm-era Dean Martin.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a movie obsessed more with the act of telling a story than the story itself, which explains why, when the movie's finally over, less than half the audience will have understood the finer points of the mystery.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Has some hilarious moments and still succeeds in dramatic terms.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Shane Black creates a movie that is defiantly smartass and too cool for the room. I couldn't have liked it more.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Robert Downey Jr. is perfect as Harry. He brings the right mix of cynicism, self-doubt, and unpretentiousness.
Read Full Review >Premiere Glenn Kenny
The picture’s great, fast-moving fun for the most part, and Kilmer gives his most appealing, relaxed, and amusing performance since "Real Genius."
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
It's a merry deconstructive delight and easily the best party in town.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The movie is pretty damned funny in its insubstantial, gratuitously violent, gratuitously everything way.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
I wouldn't trust him (Downey) to look after my handkerchief, but I'll watch him in anything, and that is why Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang--smug as it is, and more like a day in the reptile house than a night at the movies--remains a slithery treat.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Jumpy and ironic, Downey is a quicksilver delight and Kilmer is funny as the gay Perry. But Black’s inventive, self-conscious script--heavy on voice-over narration--can be too clever for its own good. The movie is baroque fun, but exhausting.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Black's sadistic streak remains as uncomfortable as it ever was, and his direction is very much in the house style of producer Joel Silver. But both elements perfectly suit the material, which sneaks in a lot of sly stuff beneath the slick surface.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Downey and Monaghan are wonderful at playing characters that compensate for the harshness of their past with flippant swaggers.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Once again making a diverting but insubstantial movie look better than it is, Downey, with haggard charm to burn, is winning all the way. Kilmer is riotous at times as an impeccably groomed, businesslike guy keen to assert his orientation at every opportunity.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
The comic surface of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is all polished brilliance, with surprisingly few dull patches...The movie doesn't deliver in the kiss-kiss department, though.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It's rowdy, often tasteless and very much in the buddy-action vein of the scripts that made him famous, but in a much more comic spirit.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Steeped in attitude - a smart-alecky, insider sarcasm that can be pretty clever at times, but also pretty insufferable.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang contains a lot of comedy and invention, but doesn't much benefit from its clever style. The characters and plot are so promising that maybe Black should have backed off and told the story deadpan, instead of mugging so shamelessly for laughs.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Designed as a giant put-on, "Kiss Kiss" is so inside Hollywood, so anxious to bite the hand that fed Black, that it plays like an elaborate prank. Some of it is a lot of fun; most of it is a lot of nonsense.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
All three actors give it their all, but Monaghan stands out with a sexy yet oddly down-to-earth variation on the Midwest girl gone wrong, thanks partly to a dark dysfunctional family secret.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
The sort of movie that believes coolness is next to godliness, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang trades heavily and successfully on Downey's unflappable likability.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
It's just a movie with no particular reason for existing, a flashy, trifling throwaway whose surface cleverness masks a self-infatuated credulity.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Turns into a film that is too ostentatiously pleased with itself, so in love with its own cleverness it doesn't notice it's darn near worn you out.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 64 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Scott H gave it an8:
Great modern day noir!
lee f gave it a1:
Had a good premise, but i turned it off after 30 min...like ebert said...it was spinning its wheels, but for me the dialogue wasn't funny.
Jw. gave it an8:
Does own some of the funniest scenes in talking pictures. But it also steals a scene (blatantly) from Garden State. See if you can find it. For the most part it settles for being emotionally hollow. Vacuous, even. You won't notice this until the dialogue slows down and your eyes refocus. So why 8? A delirious, nonsensical performance by Robert Downey, Jr. that should be seen just because. Shane Black owes him big.
e t gave it a10:
This movie is laugh out loud funny! With brilliant performances by all. A must watch for anyone who likes smart, irreverent films.
Reece S. gave it a10:
Excellent laugh out loud movie.
Alicia S. gave it a10:
This movie was non stop humor. By far Robert Downy Jr.'s best performances yet! Great movie, I would recommend it to anyone! Watch it. You will LOVE IT! I know I did!
Eric D. gave it a2:
I wanted to like this movie, but it didn't happen for me. I like Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. but thought this was just plain bad.
