Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

I've seen more films in the last three months than I've seen in three years, but mostly it's been "work." Most of them have  been political or message films that I normally wouldn't bother with except that I want to have something to talk about here.  So I saw Operation Dreamland, a documentary about American soldiers in Fallujah in the Spring of 2004, I saw Junebug, which I will review when the DVD comes out in January, Paradise Now, and so on.  I even saw a film with Reese Witherspoon in it because it was cited in the New York Times as a "conservative" film.  It was a sweet love story with no cursing and no sex, so I guess that makes it conservative. I have not seen Good Night and Good Luck because George Clooney is in it.  I will see Syriana because George Clooney is in it. There's a scene in the trailer that shows him being brutally tortured.  Yes, I know it's fiction, but a girl can dream, right?

Well, tonight was fun movie night.  No message, pure entertainment.  So, I thought, I love Jane Austen.  I really do.  I have heard very good things about the new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice ("...you are the last man I could be prevailed upon to marry!") and was all set to go with Quid 3, who has very refined sensibilities and a real romantic streak.  But one click of the mouse and suddenly I was reading a review of a movie that had a slightly better timing profile and certainly sounded promising, at least to someone who loves action films at as much as she loves Regency period pieces.  Hey, if you are as prone to wild mood swings as I am, you learn to make them work for you.  I did manage to convince Q3 that this movie was a good thing but she should have known better. Earlier today I made her lose her composure during church, during the sermon [the gospel appointed for today was about not knowing when the end would come and the priest was carrying on at length about bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and I said something about a fitting end to the sermon and I'm just glad the confession of sin comes after the sermon...].

So we saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.  It was great.  Not a "great" film but it was great to see.  It was great to see Robert Downey, Jr.,  whom I have always found to be  a very attractive actor despite his troubled personal life.  It was great to see a film that poked fun at itself, at Hollywood, at the alienation of Middle America...you know, I'm not going to analyze that.  No messages, just fun.  The script was very witty and the plot was sort of a cross between Pulp Fiction and every film noir you've ever seen with a dash of The Trouble with Harry.  And I should also say that I found it very, very funny.

The corpse gives Harry a hand

Warning to the New York Times: this film is a sweet love story with lots of cursing but no sex.  Lots of skin but a protagonist who says one of the great lines in recent movie history, during a rant about how cheap and casual sex is for women in Hollywood compared to everywhere else, "It's like someone picked up the country by the East coast and shook it and all the good girls held on!"

Conservative? Sorry, I'm off duty tonight. I was entertained, not offended.  The good guys won.  The bad guys  got theirs. And the beautiful girl inspired the loser anti-hero to great feats.  Ah.

Comments

[Rachel]

I was disappointed with the latest Pride and Prejudice. I thought it was too short and strayed too far from the book. I doubt any version will be better than what A&E did several years ago.

[bbmoe]

That really was the definitive treatment. So many of the 19th century novels really suffer in the 2-hour format because their plots depend on lots of interrelated detail. Don't bother seeing "Tess" or "Far from the Madding Crowd" (with Alan Bates) if you want to get an idea about the books. They are among the worst adaptations, although "Tess" redeemed itself somewhat by being unintentionally funny.