Though laughs abound in this stylish pastiche of Raymond Chandler plots and
characters, "Kiss Kiss" pays serious homage to the dangerous allure of
make-believe, from private eye fiction to silver-screen fantasies -- territory
Downey has explored in
... morea surprising number of films. His Harry Lockhart's a
small-time New York thief who, accidentally tapped for a movie role, gets cast
as a real private eye by his high-school sweetheart (as Lincoln Osiris (Downey’s
character in "Tropic Thunder") would say: "a dude playing a dude disguised as
another dude"). The story's narrated -- in fits and starts -- by this sad-eyed
idealist, as he trolls Tinseltown, where dreams and sex and murder are matters
of commerce. Hooked up with Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), a supersuave, superficially cynical
sleuth, sweet Harry tries to solve his girlfriend's case -- really her whole
life, from abusive father to Hollywood-actress wannabe to goodtime girl. But in
this knowing buddy-buddy movie, Harry shares deeper moral rapport with the gay
private dick than the sexually jaded woman he thinks he loves. Downey and
Kilmer, both masters of deadpan, banter like an old married couple, two
perfectly matched hams.
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