Robert Downey Jr. stars in this lively private eye comedy as Harry, a thief who finds himself in Hollywood, where a producer who thinks Harry is an actor has him studying with a private eye in preparation for an upcoming movie. Kilmer plays Harry's tutor, Perry, known all over town as "Gay Perry." There is also -- of course -- a damsel in distress, the lovely Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan). Harry and Perry inevitably stumble into a pair of actual cases, which turn out to be closely connected.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is very self-aware of itself as a genre flick. The movie's chapters are titled after Raymond Chandler novels; Harry's narration helpfully points out all of the genre cliches that the movie is following, and apologizes for some of the sillier plot twists. (Harry's best line, late in the movie: "Don't worry, I saw the last Lord of the Rings; I'm not gonna end this thing 17 times.")
Downey and Monaghan are both very good, but it's Kilmer who steals the movie. It would have been easy to go offensively overboard by making Perry an extremely flamboyant character, but Kilmer underplays all of that; rather than wallow in flamboyance, Kilmer (greatly aided by Shane Black's writing) suggests it through vocal rhythms and use of language.
The self-referential stuff will really annoy some, I think, but I loved every minute of it. Highly recommended.
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