Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

As this story opens at an upscale party in L.A. you wonder what took place to have Harry Lockhart end up here.  As the movie then jumps back to Harry running from the cops after stealing in New York the plot thickens.  He barges into an audition and steals the show (not on purpose by the way).  Then the story jumps back to him running into his long lost childhood friend Harmony, who is doing beer commercials in L.A.  Then Harry runs into a Gay private detective that goes by the name Gay Perry.  Perry asks Harry to help in an investigation.  As the story progresses the two become suspicious of all the guest’s at the original party who have all become suspects.  As they work to solve a murder case Harry finds himself falling in love with Harmony. 

This movie involves a very good production design and is artfully directed.  From the setting and its effects to the costume and makeup design this movie has it all. The way the director directly and indirectly makes fun of the underground and low budget acting scene as well as how everyone in New York City and L.A. pretend to be aspiring actors and actresses is extremely witty and funny.

After truly analyzing just the opening scene it started to become apparent to me how much actually goes into the production design of each scene of a film.  Watching the party in L.A. really brought me into a ritzy upscale party scene and made it seem realistic and funny at the same time.  Another part in the film that did this was when he went to another one of the parties and there was the three guys dancing in the glass cage.  This creative and hilarious joke on the ridiculous things people will do to make their party trendy and “upscale” is so true in today’s society.

The book talks about one aspect of a setting to a movie is setting for verisimilitude.  This means that the director attempts to create a semblance of reality that gives the viewer a sense of real time and a real place and a feeling of being there.  From the opening scene to Harry running away from the cops I felt that I was truly involved in the film and that I was in each scene.  If I were to imagine what a low budget casting would be like the director seemed to pull my thoughts out of my head and portray it in this movie.

The last thing that stood out to me in this film was the costumes and makeup in this movie.  A couple of examples of this were Gay Perry’s wardrobe to include his “faggot gun” (a tiny little derringer), which he says is because it is only good for a couple shots then you have to exchange it for something better.  Even though this is a very derogatory statement Val Kilmer’s humor and great acting make that statement acceptable to the viewer.  The dry and dark humor of the movie tie in very well with the elaborate costumes worn at some of the parties and even in the beer commercial that Harmony is involved with.  I highly recommend this movie to the viewer that enjoys dark comedies.