Singing Detective (2003)

Writer Dennis Potter re-works his TV mini-series into a fine film, mingling musiclas, film noir and a good human drama. Robert Downey, Jr., is excellent as Dan Dark, suffering both with the terrible skin condition an with his deep-seated emotions behind the characters in his first book. His delivery of Potter's fast-paced dialogue as well as his finesse with the character are amazing. Probably one of his best performances. The supporting cast also gives fine performances that truly enhance the film: Mel Gibson as Dr. Gibbon; Adrien Brody and Jon Polito as the two bumbling hoods; Katie Holmes as Nurse Mills; Jeremy Northam as Mark Binney; and Robin Wright Penn as Nicola/Nina/The Blonde. The makeup is also wonderful, especially both the work done to give Downey, Jr. psoriasis, and the almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson.

My only gripe is that the editing is sometimes a bit choppy making some scenes not flow as well as they could. Other than that, this is a great movie, filled with fine performances and a sharp, strong script.


An Abridged Version That Works   May 18, 2004
This film is not anything like the 1986 British mini-series. This shorter version is a daring and mostly successful attempt by director Keith Gordon to fuse all the elements of the story into a madcap collection of tough reality and odd hallucinations. Dan Dark (Downey) is a bedridden author severely disabled by the worst case of psoriasis imaginable. He refuses any medication and thereby experiences hallucinations - or reality - or stories for his next book? Director Gordon teases us through out the movie. Downey is exceptional as the acid tongued, highly emotional, screaming patient who has a wisecrack quip for any lowly doctor or nurse that comes his way. He verbally abuses his wife who can barely keep up with attacks, but sometimes shines through when needed. There's a lot of paranoia in this story and the 40's film clips where Dan Dark is the detective investigating some murders is part tongue in cheek and part possible reality. The scenes are chunks of 40's detective clichés thrown into a series of sentences. It's masterfully amusing. When Downey gets nearly unbearable to watch as the pain stricken patient, the film switches to a hallucinatory dance and signing number driven by Dan Dark's imagination. Sometimes it seems like a diversion and other times it's sheer brilliance. All the actors, Robin Wright Penn, Adrien Brody, Katie Holmes and Mel Gibson (as the nearly unrecognizable psychiatrist) do masterful jobs and Dennis Potter's dialogue is amazingly crisp. It's a good story, albeit sometimes disjointed, but the entire experience is well worth the time.


What's all the fuss about?   May 4, 2004
 0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This was no great movie. After suffering through the first half hour (but determined to see it through), I managed to do my ironing, balance my checkbook, and finish a crossword puzzle while this film droned on (and on, and on) in the background. Even the lovely Katie Holmes couldn't save this movie. I was disappointed, to say the least, after reading all the glowing reviews. The cuts between reality and musical/fanasy were handled much better in "Chicago." I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone as it it tedious and horribly uninteresting.


SOMETIMES SINGS   April 30, 2004
When Robert Downey is in session with his psychiatrist to cure his depression from a rare disfiguring skin disease, this movie truly 'sings' The quick witty banter between the two could have justified the whole film. But when the 'singing detective' imagines his new detective yarn we're treated to what looks like a long Robert Palmer music video from the '80s. Real empty-headed stuff. Also, childhood trauma lies at the root of this mystery and that goes way against the grain of the detective film noir style the movie was certainly aiming at. Uneven is the word.


Great Cast & Direction Drive Compelling Potter Update   April 10, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The 2003 film version of THE SINGING DETECTIVE is by turns funny, scathing, and poignant, a woefully underrated look into a writer's psyche. If you don't have time to watch Dennis Potter's landmark TV miniseries (also available on home video), Potter's screenplay for this movie version (written 2 years before his untimely death) does a great job of condensing the story of novelist Dan Dark's (Robert Downey Jr.) battle with severe chronic psoriasis and personal demons. Throughout the movie, the bitter, suffering Dark weaves in and out of reality and delirious re-imaginings of the people and events in his life as they'd appear in the titular novel starring Dark's tough private eye alter ego. Actor-turned-director Keith Gordon stages this wild ride through Dark's mind with a style that owes as much to David Lynch and the Coen Brothers as it does to Potter. The British miniseries' lip-synched 1940s musical set pieces are retooled as American 1950s rock 'n' roll numbers -- call me a Philistine, but I think the updating works even better than the original (and believe me, I loved the original)! As a writer, I found THE SINGING DETECTIVE to be a fine example of how one's life and experiences creep into one's writing no matter what genre you write in. Each and every member of the stellar cast is letter-perfect, with particularly good, sharp chemistry between Downey and, respectively, Robin Wright Penn (I've always loved her name; it's especially appropriate for someone playing a writer's wife :-), and producer Mel Gibson (as Dark's seemingly goofy but astute and compassionate therapist, Gibson is all but unrecognizable in bald drag; Greg Cannom's F/X makeup serves both Gibson and Downey well. In fact, Downey's psoriasis makeup is so good you might not want to watch this while eating!). It's a shame THE SINGING DETECTIVE didn't do better with critics or at the box office, or Downey probably would've been a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination. I could empathize with Downey as the angry, clever, pain-racked (physically and emotionally) Dan Dark even when he wasn't particularly likable. The versatile Downey could be a Bogart for the Aughties if he could keep his own personal demons under control. I also enjoyed seeing our household fave Adrien Brody in a relatively lighthearted (for this film :-) role as one of a pair of Dark's fictional hoods with a bumbling streak. Jon Polito completes the pair; he and Brody are like an amoral Abbott & Costello. Their repartee cracked me up, especially their "Patti Page" exchange early in the film (just watching Brody mouthing the barks in "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" is worth the rental price! :-). Give this new SINGING DETECTIVE a try next time you're in the video store and in the mood for something different. If you rent the DVD and like it, watch it again with Keith Gordon's commentary track on; he has lots of intriguing and entertaining things to say about the making of the film, particularly about the cast and how he and his crew got those great surreal effects on a low budget.