Late to the Game - At the movies

Alright. I know I missed Fat Tuesday this week, and I know I missed Late to the Game last week. But it happens. Kids, am I right?

Welcome again to ‘Late To The Game’. When last we left off I said I would be reviewing Jack White. And I will. Just not today. He’s such a lengthy topic it will take me time to write it.

Instead I thought we’d talk movies. Movies I like. Which happen to be movies not a lot of other people like. At least not people I know. Take for instance “The Fifth Element” with Bruce Willis. I’ve watched this like a hundred times, but I don’t think anyone else in the family has seen it, and I don’t think it would get any yay votes during movie selection. Is it a good movie? I think so, and so does TBS. And they play Rudy all the time, which is also an awesome movie.

But my real love lies in the ‘shoot ‘em up’, kind of crime, kind of mystery, guy movie genre. One of my favorite movies is an obscure Jack Bau… eerrr Keifer Sutherland movie called Truth or Consequences, NM. A fantastic movie despite having Vincent Gallo in it. There’s an ongoing thing in the movie where Keifer keeps spinning quarters because he believes if he can get one to stand on end he can see the future. It makes for an awesome ending.

But today’s review is of the 2005 released “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” starring the great Val Kilmer and the even greater Robert Downey Jr. I love that guy. He has more lives than a herd of cats. It’s a mystery/caper shoot ‘em up comedy with a clever narrative construct led by RDJ. But the best part of the movie is the witty dialogue and snappy banter. It’s like Gilmore Girls for guys.

I seriously cannot understand why Val and RDJ have not appeared together again since this movie. The comedic timing and chemistry in this movie is so spot on it’s like Abbott and Costello. I was laughing throughout the entire thing. The story is average and purposely based on old pulp mystery novels, but that does not detract at all from the entertainment of the movie.

I’ll only advise, as Val apologized in the end for, that there is plentiful use of a select 4-letter word throughout the movie. So those squeamish of language may want to avoid this. Otherwise, I can only hope that RDJ will have the good sense to stop making super-hero action movies and go back to this type of movie. Enjoy.