“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” Directed by: Shane Black

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen

MPAA rating: R (for adult language, violence and brief nudity)

Running time: 102 minutes

Best suited for: neo-noir/ mystery thriller fans who don’t mind being part of the joke

Least suited for: gumshoe purists

Acorn’s Rating Guide:

Part cheeky whodunit, part Hollywood spoof and part coming-out party for Robert Downey Jr., “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” is a fresh look at the old murder mystery gambit, the newest of the neonoir thrillers that is as sweetly sassy as it is violent.

Downey plays Harry Lockhart, a petty New York thief who inadvertently gets stuck in an actor’s audition and, trapped by the cops, gives it his all. So Harry winds up in L.A. for a screen test (okay, so it sounds a bit like “Get Shorty”— but it isn’t). The film’s producers stick him under the tutelage of tough but gay (gay, but tough?) P.I. Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer) for a quick primer in crime.

When Harry tags along on one of Perry’s routine investigations (okay, so it sounds like “The Hard Way”—but it isn’t), the evening ends up badly for them both. A young woman is murdered and ends up in Harry’s hotel room and—yes, a dozen other mysteries come to mind. But trust me, it isn’t.

Enter Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), a wannabe actress and childhood friend of Harry’s who complicates his life even further. This even involves a modicum of body-part loss for Harry. But take heart, it’s hysterical. Yet as teasing as their relationship goes, the film’s real couple to watch are Downey and Kilmer, who take relationship squabbling to an entirely new level.

This is a buddy flick, after all, written and directed by Shane Black, who all but reinvented the buddy-cop flick back in 1987 by scripting “Lethal Weapon.” Buddy films aren’t as much about the body count as they are about the characters’ chemistry between the shootouts, and “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” has plenty of both. The title, by the way, takes its name from a disparaging term coined to criticize the type of film “Kiss Kiss” wholeheartedly represents. How’s that for in your face?

One warning; if you’re looking for a “Law & Order” type logic or symmetry, you need not look here. This one’s more “Mystic Pizza” than “Mystic River” i“Mystic River” in terms of overall chattiness and cute banter. Then again, a more clever banter you’ll not likely find in a whodunit. The film even manages to poke a few sly holes in cinema’s forbidden “fourth wall” as Downey, the story’s narrator, now and then mutters to the audience. While unusual, the concept tends to go with the flow here, drawing us into some of the more contrived moments, allowing us to accept them as silly. Don’t knock it—the gimmick’s worked in such classics as “Annie Hall,” “Alfie” and even “Sunset Boulevard.” But “Kiss Kiss” doesn’t overplay its hand, or its lip service. In fact, given the amount of chaos surrounding Harry and Perry, the film is surprisingly stable and cohesive. There’s a little Raymond Chandler at work here, a little Mickey Spillane and Elmore Leonard—for noir fans, a near-perfect blend of mystery and mayhem. Throw in some sexual innuendo and a down-onhis-luck hero, not to mention actor, and you can’t help but like this one.

In a nutshell: This irreverent and self-aware mock whodunit mystery stars Hollywood bad boys Robert Downey Jr. as a small-time New York crook lost in L.A. and Val Kilmer as a gay P.I., who team up just long enough to get stuck in the middle of a sinister murder plot. The story’s adequate but the chemistry’s through the roof in this clever, witty and occasionally over-the-top noiresque murder mystery.

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