Harry Lockhart ends up getting himself in the middle of a murder investigation when he was posing as an actor and is in Los Angeles for an audition, being reunited with his dream girl from high school and working with a detective who was giving him tips for the role.
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The style of the film with the Harry telling the story of recent events, which involves a little bit of going over things a couple of times as well which is something that is pretty unique when it comes to films. It sets the tone immediately as Harry the thief ends up suddenly becoming an actor when a job goes very wrong! He actually impresses in the audition, which leads to another series of events.
Gay Perry is the one who is supposed to be teaching him how to become act like a detective, but when Harmony appears back in his life his old schoolboy crush he lies to her that he is in fact a detective in order to work out what happened to her sister. With plenty more action going on throughout it certainly doesn’t allow you to guess what is going to happen next. As it really could be just anything, certainly the sign of a very good plot and storytelling methods.
I really enjoyed that about the film that the plot had plenty of twists and it was refreshing in the method of filming, but also the sharp dialogue between the characters. The script was a very impressive and key part to this fantastically fun film.
Robert Downey Jr has plenty of charm as Harry and is given the perfect support from Val Kilmer, the pair have an amazing chemistry together and bounce off each other in the best possible way. This is seen as the film that helped Downey Jr get the part of Tony Stark/Iron Man and we certainly know how well that ended up. Michelle Monaghan was equally impressive and given a rather strong female role, linking well with both Downey Jr and Kilmer.
Val Kilmer taking on the role of Gay Perry is seen as the first openly gay character in an action film, that is something you don’t often think about. So I feel that is a very interesting fact and worthy of being mentioned in this review, as watching it now a gay character is not something you are shocked at seeing. But to realise that this is probably the first in this genre, it therefore must be seen as groundbreaking right?
Glad you enjoyed it! You are right: this is the film that led to Downey Jr. getting the “Iron Man” role, and I love that Val was willing to play such a character…a shop script, some laugh out loud moments made this a fun ride!
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It really was a fun ride, thanks for recommending it!
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You reviewed “Wonder Boys” and it reminded me of the range that Downey has as an Actor, and it always feels like a “lived-in” character, not acting…funny story: Robert Duvall was on Howard Stern’s radio show promoting “The Judge” and let slip that Downey had his lines fed to him through an earpiece! He tried to backtrack a bit but that was a little insight into how he did THAT role at least!
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Oh I loved The Judge thought that was a very underrated film!
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Agree, that was a really entertaining film!
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Hugely enjoyable film
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Oh totally!
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I really liked it too. I got some Tarantino vibes from the script. Really smart and snappy. Michelle Monaghan is pretty underrated IMO. I’d like to see her get more roles like this.
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Yeah I felt the Tarantino vibes as well, I totally forgot to mention it in my review. I thought Michelle Monaghan was more of a recent actress in terms of roles, but she has done loads of different projects over the years.
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I do like this movie – ready for a rewatch soon, for sure! 🙂
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Good stuff!
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Big fan of this movie. Saw it when it came out in cinema – was a blind pick and turned out to be excellent. Glad you enjoyed it.
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It must have been fantastic to experience this at the cinema!
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