Steineded How sad is this?

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

slightlymad22 The Singing Detective (2003)Plot In A Paragraph: From his hospital bed, Dan Dark (Robert Downey Jr) a writer suffering from a skin disease (he calls himself a "human pizza) hallucinates musical numbers and paranoid plots.I can't talk about this movie, without talking about the casting of Robert Downey Jr. Long before Downey Jr cleaned up his act and landed the Ironman gig, there was a time when he was damaged goods and yesterday's headlines. Following a troubled past, at the turn of the decade, Downey Jr was on the rise again. He'd been nominated for an Emmy, and had won a Golden Globe for his superb work in Ally McBeal, and he was praised as being responsible for a boost in the shows ratings, but he was fired from the show by FOX, after his latest drug related incident, it also forced Mel Gibson to shut down his planned stage production of Hamlet with Downey Jr in the lead role and he also lost the John Cussack role in American Sweethearts. That seemed to be that. Nobody would touch him, let alone offer him a decent movie role. Enter his Air America co star Mel Gibson.However it wasn't plain sailing, Gibson had to pay Downey Jr's insurance, after the studio balked at the cost of insuring someone deemed an unreliable actor, due to the last five years of substance abuse, arrests, rehab, and relapses. Gibson dug in to his own pocket to ensure Downey Jr was cast. This movie is certainly not to everyone's taste, and I can see why!! But it's filled with great performances from Downey Jr, Robin Wright Penn, Katie Holmes, Adrian Brody, Saul Rubineck, Carla Gugino and a barely recognisable Gibson. Its soundtrack is filled with songs almost everyone over a certain age should recognise, and personally I'd much watch something original like this, than another Transformers or Fast & Furious movie. I'm not sure why Downey Jr's singing voice was dubbed for this, as he has a good singing voice. I even own his album. The Singing Detective was a flop, it did not finish the year in the the top 100 highest grossing movies of 2003. Which (even for a supporting role) was unheard of for a Gibson movie back then.It's funny how their respective careers went from here. Downey Jr had supporting roles in movies such Gothika, Scanner Darkly and Zodiac whilst nabbing the lead in Shane Blacks Kiss Kiss Bang Bang before being cast as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Whilst Gibson made The Passion Of Christ and all hell broke lose..... and it was pretty much down hill from there for a long time.

SnoopyStyle Detective story writer Dan Dark (Robert Downey Jr.) is hospitalized suffering full body lesions. The pain is causing hallucinations of hard-boiled detective characters. He is treated by Dr. Gibbon (Mel Gibson) and nurse Mills (Katie Holmes). He is demanding to have his novel 'The Singing Detective' from his wife (Robin Wright). He is hounded by two detectives in his dreams as well a vision of his mother (Carla Gugino) who took him from his father to live in rundown L.A.It's an intriguing idea. It may even work if the surreal dreamscape makes any sense at all. The dream work becomes a lot of nothing with bits of really interesting childhood recollections with his mother. After awhile, the hallucinations get repetitive and it ultimately goes nowhere.

MariaEWilliams RDJs Acting – Robert said in the interview on the extras that he was scared about playing that kind of noir gangster character as they are always so cool. Well Robert it is very safe to say you pulled it off. Playing two characters in a film can be quite confusing for some actors but Robert Downey Jr takes to it like a duck to water. In the words of the singing detective "am I right or am I right?"Doctor Gibbon - Another notable character is that of Doctor Gibbon played by Mel Gibson. Doctor Gibbon helps Dan Dark deal with his bitterness that seems to have consumed him since he fell ill. Gibbon gets an insight into Mr Dark by reading his book, he then uses this to help Mr Dark on the road to his mental recovery.Dan Dark – He can seem spiteful and evil with his seemly random outbursts of violet verbal abuse directed to who ever is nearest to him at the time but, he is aware of this change in his personality and doesn't like it. There are moments when you see the person he used to be before reverting to the hatred spitting being he portrays so well. He is offered medication to help him deal with the pain of his condition. This medication is tranquillizers, the pain is at such a high level but he refuses. Lets just take a moment to admire the man for this. That takes courage and so much strength, to make it though each day with such a high level of pain when ever you move a single muscle.By the end of the film Dan Dark does reassemble himself into a different person personality wise. Perhaps he takes some of The Singing Detectives personality qualities and some of his original ones. I personally like to think he is a mixture of the two characters he portrays all the way thorough the film. As if to prove this point Dan Dark puts on a hat that we see The Singing Detective wear at the end as he walks out of the hospital he has called home for the past months.Nicola Dark – Some credit has to go to Dan Dark's wife Nicola for sticking by him through his illness and those violet verbal outbursts. Although she doesn't visit him at the start of his treatment, this is understandable because she doesn't want to get into a verbal match with him or just stand there while he shouts horrible statements at her. As the film progresses and his treatment, both physical and mental, is working his wife starts to visit him more and their relationship gets back on track. I am sure that having his wife present also helps with his recovery as he seems happy in her presence.The one thing that I was disappointed about upon watching the film was the fact that we don't get to hear Robert Downey Jrs lovely voice singing in the film at all (he does however sing the song "In My Dreams" over the credits) I do understand however what look the director (Keith Gordon) was going for. I think I would have made the same decision as he did as the overall look of those songs fitting into the film does work. If you think about it from Dan Dark's point of view he would use the songs in his hallucinations as he knows them, that's with the original singers singing them not himself. Still I can't help but feel disappointed at the missed opportunity to hear RDJ singing.

diayag Admittedly I saw this awhile back and am planning to get again from Netflix because I am re-watching the older TV series with Michael Gambon as the writer and the comparison keeps coming to mind. If this suffers by comparison, it is because the older series was 6 hour-long episodes, and this was movie length so nothing was as developed. Some confusion would no doubt have cleared up without time constraints. Both were engrossing and fascinating, prefer the older if only because the wife's nature was more unclear (i.e., bitchier) And MG does curmudgeon so well. Watch both if you can, and compare, see what you think. Worth the time spent.