I knew nothing about this movie when I found it in some random bargain bin. I tried to watch it, was too tired and fell asleep. After postponing a complete viewing for several weeks I finally saw it yesterday, and was thrilled! Robert Downey Jr. is brilliant in the role as the main character (and narrator), Harry Lockhart, a thief from New York, who by coincident is invited to Los Angeles, to become an actor. He is then whirled into a plot about a murdered millionaire’s daughter, that doesn’t seem as simple as one might think, and joins up with “Gay Perry”, played by Val Kilmer, and Harmony Faith Lane, played by Michelle Monaghan, to solve the mystery about the murdered girl.
First of all, Robert Downey Jr.’s character is hilarious; Harry Lockhart is ignorant and witty, and it’s hard not to sympathize with him, especially when you see the things he has to endure through out the movie. Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan both play very well, and the story is very amusng and detailed, I actually had to make some notes along the way, and it’s nice to see everything fit perfectly together in the end. When the movie finally has some cliché moments those scenes suddenly turn into self-ironic jokes, often followed by hilarious remarks by the narrator, which is very refreshing and entertaining.
8/10 – I’m rarely that close to the IMDb-rating, well, I guess it’s nice to see other viewers agreeing with me (or me agreeing with them…).