Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Murder and mayhem go toe-to-toe with the fastest mouth in Orange County in Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black's directorial debut. There's a surprising verve and hilarious amount of chaos swirling around in this film, most of it thanks to legendary motormouth and leading man Robert Downey Jr. Simply put, every time the troubled actor opens his trap, comic gold spills out. Helping to keep the energy up is some great chemistry with costars Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan. The story itself is a mish-mash of largely-standard film-noir tropes centering on a few folks in and around the movie business trying to solve a mysterious murder. For the most part the plot is fairly blasé, but smart writing and the self-knowing wit of everyone involved let it slowly become a smart deconstruction of other films in the genre. To say much more would be to say too much, but it's a fairly safe bet that anyone who likes their humor dark with a side of dirty will have a ball with this.

9 out of 10.