Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
People’s favourite Christmas movies are getting their airing, whether it be It’s A Wonderful Life, Love, Actually, or Die Hard… or any of the other candidates that get suggested. But mine is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the 2005 film that marked a resurgence for Robert Downey Jr., a stellar introduction for Michelle Monaghan, and a late-career peak for Val Kilmer. Written and directed by Shane Black, the Christmas setting might not be integral to the plot of the film, but it informs enough of it to count – and as it’s one of my favourite films of all time, of course it’s going to be my top Christmas movie as well.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an underrated delight from start to finish. A funny modern noir with a meta bent, the script is stellar, the performances all excellent – the entire film is just a wonderful example of how much fun a good movie can be. If there’s any movie that deserves a yearly tradition, it’s this one. Because nothing makes the festive season stand out like murder, mayhem and Robert Downey, Jr. quipping up a storm. As Harry, a career criminal who finds himself in Hollywood and, in short order, embroiled in a classic noir mix of death and deception, Downey Jr. is fantastic, a charismatic whirl that presages his performance as Tony Stark. Teamed with Kilmer as the always-suave private eye Gay Perry, and trying to help Monaghan’s aspiring actress Harmony Faith Lane, the film spins through a dark but comic narrative echoing the pulp novels that Harry and Harmony both loved growing up, and I can’t get enough of it.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of the very first films I recommend to people, simply because it didn’t make nearly enough of an impact when it first arrived; fortunately, that seems to be changing as more and more often I’m enthusing to the already converted. Still, you don’t need Christmas as an excuse to rewatch it. But it’s as good a reason as any.
– McGuffin
Macguffin & McGuffin 