Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

(Movie Review)

This is the kind of movie that would have been really hip about 15 years ago. You know what I’m talking about: the kind of modern post-Tarantino movie that first started appearing when we were in high school. Stuff shown slightly out of order, esoteric Seinfeld-like conversations at key dramatic points, and a main character who is aware that he is part of a movie and often addresses the camera or takes over the narration. Part “Pulp Fiction”, part “Get Shorty”, part “Fight Club.”

Despite the fact that all the cool kids quit watching these kind of movies years ago, I still think they’re great popcorn flicks. When I spend a full 8 hours talking in incredibly simple English to Japanese students who just give me blank looks in return, and I want to come home and relax, this is exactly the kind of move I look for. Simple enough that I can turn off most of my brain, and yet with enough twists, sharp editing, and funny voice over narration to cater to my ruined attention span. Perfect for just shoving in the popcorn (or, in my case, the coffee and gyoza the girl made).

I wouldn’t really recommend this movie, and yet the two hours I spent watching it were pleasant enough. It’s not the best movie in its genre, and often it seems like it is trying too hard to be funny. Robert Downy Jr. as the main character/ narrator sometimes seems like he’s doing his Woody Allen impression as an incredibly verbose narrator who runs every joke into the ground. Whether that’s his fault, or just the script they gave him, I’m not sure, but often through the course of this movie I felt myself feeling embarrassed on behalf of Robert Downy Jr. But that’s part of the fun of this movie as well; the perverse pleasure of seeing another human being make a fool of himself.

And some parts of the movie were actually kind of funny. I’ve definitely seen a lot worse in my time.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
Alas, so ends my one and only adventure into Wikipedia editing--edited out.
Al Pratt: I looked through the link, it appears that the "Calvin College" in the comic was named for a fictional town "Calvin City" and probably has no relation to this school.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Calvin_College"

Link of the Day
I was hanging out with Eoin yesterday, and he showed me this blog he and Greg have started to chronicle the bike trip they took to Hungary 3 years ago. Similar perhaps to the Retrospections on this blog in the sense that this is something being chronicled after the fact instead of in real time, but worth checking out if you like a good travel story.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Movie Review (Scripted)