Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Name: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Directed by: Shane Black

Screen Story and Screenplay by: Shane Black

Based on (Bodies Are Where You Find Them): Brent Halliday

Produced by: Joel Silver

Executive Producers: Susan Downey and Steve Richards

Cinematography by: Michael Barrett

Film Editing by: Jim Page

Production Design by: Aaron Osborne

Music by: John Ottman

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Production Company: Silver Pictures

Release: Columbia Pictures

Airdate: October 21, 2005

Length: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes, 55 seconds)

Budget: $15 million

Box Office: $15.8 million

Pixar Movie Number: 675

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a 2005 American neo-noir black comedy crime film written and directed by Shane Black, and starring Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan and Corbin Bernsen. The script is partially based on the Brett Halliday novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them, and interprets the classic hardboiled literary genre in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The film was produced by Joel Silver, with Susan Downey (credited as Susan Levin) and Steve Richards as executive producers.

Shot in Los Angeles between February 24 and May 3, 2004, the film debuted at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival on May 14, and received a limited release in cinemas on October 21, 2005.

Plot
Fleeing a botched robbery at a New York toyshop, career criminal Harry Lockhart is forced to evade police by ducking into an audition for the role of a leading man in a modern Noir movie. Having seen his partner gunned down moments ago, Harry unintentionally impresses the producers with an outburst of remorse they mistake for method acting. At a Hollywood party before his screen test, Harry meets private investigator Perry van Shrike, hired to give Harry on-the-job experience for his role, along with party host Harlan Dexter, a retired actor who recently resolved a ten-year feud over his wife's inheritance with his daughter, Veronica. He also encounters his childhood crush Harmony Lane, but wakes up in bed with her hostile friend, quickly spoiling further attempts at romance.

Having been hired to conduct surveillance on a secluded cabin near a lake, Perry takes Harry along for film experience - only to witness a car being dumped in the lake. Perry manages to retrieve a female corpse from the trunk after shooting the lock off, but the death can't be reported as Perry managed to accidentally shoot the corpse in the head while rescuing it. Worse still, they are noticed by the apparent murderers.

After returning from the lake, Harry is contacted by a distraught Harmony, who explains that her sister Jenna came to L.A., stole Harmony's credit cards, and later killed herself. Believing that Harry is a detective, Harmony asks him to investigate Jenna's death as a murder. After she leaves, Harry discovers that the corpse from the lake has been planted in his hotel room, along with a gun - presumably part of a frameup. With Perry's help, he manages to remove the body and dump it elsewhere before the police arrive. Harry soon begins posing as a detective for Harmony, and during their first interview, she reveals that Jenna was being sexually abused by her father, and that - in order to help her sister cope - Harmony told her that she was actually adopted, and her real father was Harlan Dexter.

Soon after, the police identify the lake corpse as Veronica Dexter, prompting Perry to warn Harry away from Hollywood for his own safety. He also explains that Harry's sudden rise to stardom was just a scam to encourage Colin Farrell to accept the lead role of the film for less money, and that the producers never had any serious intention of hiring Harry in the first place. For good measure, Perry informs Harmony that Harry is not a real detective, leaving their relationship in pieces once again. While waiting at the airport, Harry discovers that it was Harmony's credit card that was used to hire Perry for the surveillance job at the lake, tying Jenna to their case. Excited, he attempts to explain this to Harmony in person, only for Harmony to (accidentally) slam the door on his finger, severing it in the process. Once Harry is out of the hospital, he, Harmony and Perry meet at a party to discuss their findings: all evidence suggests that Harlan Dexter is behind the murder of his daughter.

Soon after, Harry is abducted by the lake killers, who beat him up and order him to cease the investigation, before letting him go. While taking Harry back to the hospital, Harmony sees the killers tailing Perry. Realizing that Perry is heading into a trap, she leaves Harry in her car and rushes off to the stakeout, where she saves Perry, an act that results in one of the killers getting shot to death by a food-cart operator. A pink-haired girl, seemingly affiliated with the killers, steals Harmony's car and unwittingly drives an unconscious Harry to her safe house. There, she meets with the surviving lake killer, who promptly murders her; regaining consciousness, Harry recovers the murder weapon and shoots the killer, wiping down the gun and placing it in the pink-haired girl's hand before leaving the scene.

After Harmony disappears following a lead, Harry and Perry follow a lead of their own that ends at a private health clinic owned by Harlan Dexter. Perry realizes that Harlan must have had Veronica secretly incarcerated at the clinic and hired an impostor to take her place, allowing Harlan to "resolve" the feud and win the inheritance money. Furthermore, Jenna must have been the imposter: having already believed that Harlan was secretly her father, she would have jumped at the chance to play the role of his daughter. However, the scheme fell apart when Veronica's boyfriend arrived in Hollywood; realizing that he'd see through the imposter immediately, Harlan had Veronica and Jenna killed to cover his tracks. Shortly after discovering this, Harry and Perry are captured by Dexter, who reveals he now plans to cremate his daughter's corpse to remove any remaining evidence, before leaving them to be tortured by his men. While they escape, Harmony steals the van containing the coffin, only to crash when Dexter, Harry and Perry give chase. Perry is incapacitated in the ensuing shootout; Harry manages to kill Dexter and his thugs, but is also shot.

Waking in a hospital, Harry finds that Perry and Harmony are fine. Perry then reveals that Jenna's murder was a suicide all along, and though most of their theories on the case were correct, the real imposter was the pink-haired girl. Still believing that Harlan Dexter was her father, Jenna had accidentally witnessed Dexter having sex with the imposter; believing that her "real" father was just as bad as the one she'd escaped from, she commissioned Perry to investigate an incest case and then killed herself.

Ultimately, the trio separates. Harmony returns home to Indiana for Jenna's funeral and never works in Hollywood again. Perry stays long enough to assault Jenna's father, berating him for his abuse, before leaving. Lastly, with his acting career ruined, Harry gets a job working for Perry - ironically making him a private detective for real.

Voice Cast
•	Robert Downey, Jr. as Harry Lockhart, a petty thief who successfully auditions for a film to escape police officers.

Indio Falconer Downey as 9-year-old Harry Lockhart

Richard Alan Brown as 16-year-old Harry Lockhart

•	Val Kilmer as "Gay" Perry van Shrike, a private investigator hired to help Harry study his role.

•	Michelle Monaghan as Harmony Faith Lane, an aspiring actress and Harry's childhood friend.

Ariel Winter as 7-year-old Harmony Faith Lane

Stephanie Pearson as 14-year-old Harmony Faith Lane

•	Corbin Bernsen as Harlan Dexter, a retired actor

•	Rockmond Dunbar as Mustard, one of Dexter's henchmen

•	Dash Mihok as Mr. Frying Pan, one of Dexter's henchmen

•	Shannyn Sossamon as Mia Frye, The Pink-Haired Girl

•	Angela Lindvall as Flicka, Harmony's friend

•	Ali Hillis as Marleah

Larry Miller as Dabney Shaw

Media Release

 * Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is released in June 13, 2006 on DVD.

Aspect Ratios
1.85:1 (Full Open Matte)
 * 2.35:1 (CinemaScope)

DVD Main Menu

 * Play Movie
 * Scene Index
 * Bonus Features, Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
 * Languages and Subtitles
 * English
 * Canadian French
 * Mexican Spanish
 * Brazilian Portuguese
 * German
 * Hungarian
 * Italy
 * Polish
 * Russian

Previews

 * Cars Sneak Peek Trailer with John Lasseter
 * RV Trailer
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Trailer (In Theaters July 7)
 * Zoom Trailer (In Theaters August 11)

Quotes

 * Use this here on the quotes page: "Quotes".