A thesp-turned-crook gets a chance at career in movies as well as crime scene investigation in this offbeat action comedy with nods to
Raymond Chandler. Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) is a struggling New York actor who high-tails it to Los Angeles. Once there, Lockhart winds up at the posh home of the aptly-named homosexual private eye Gay Perry (
Val Kilmer) amid a lavish Hollywood party, hoping to score a life-changing role in a Hollywood feature. Harry becomes reacquainted with Harmony (
Michelle Monaghan), a girl he had a major crush on in his small-town Indiana high school, who may be a bit more interested in him now than she was years ago. He takes both her and her girlfriend home with him, but - in a moment of drunken stupor - accidentally sleeps with the wrong woman. Meanwhile, when a series of female bodies turns up across L.A., Harry slowly breaks into detective work, mentored by Perry. The biggest twist? Black riffs
Adaptation and other films by having Harry (via satirical narration) write the movie while he is living it. Harry assures the audience that unlike
Lord of the Rings, this one won't have seventeen endings. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang marks the first directorial credit for Shane Black, who created the
Lethal Weapon franchise. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide