Very well executed

Please don't spend money on this.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Hard to know how this would have come across without having seen the English version first; as a comparison after the recent BBC re-broadcast, I found it fascinating (and was interested to discover at the end that Dennis Potter was apparently responsible for his own adaptation).It's an exercise in transpositions, from a resonant period in English history and myth (the 1940s) to an equally mythologically resonant American era (the filling station; the desert; the gumshoe; rock'n'roll): a decade later, but it might almost as well be a generation apart. It's hard to tease apart the changes necessitated by Hollywood (younger, prettier, more sympathetic protagonists) and those required by the change of format from TV serial to cinema and the drastic cut in running time involved.Some changes work better than others. The main plot weathers the transposition amazingly intact, given the necessary omissions: this is achieved both by drastic cuts to the flashbacks (Potter's original tends to flash back to the same scene four or five times before the full sequence of events is revealed) and by excision of sub-plots, both of which can be done fairly painlessly. By moving the sick man to a private room rather than an NHS ward all the material relating to the other patients can be automatically removed, although this does require the relocation of the final shoot-out!Having young and beautiful protagonists doesn't work so well (apart from anything else we lose the killer plot twist where Nicola is told that she is too old for the part), and a middle-aged dance-hall crooner makes for a more plausible undercover detective than the thrashing lead singer in a boy band. But Los Angeles is a neat fit for London as the city of dreams that symbolises a escape from working-class drudgery, and of course the private eye set-up is heavily drawn from American thrillers in the first place, so the 'mean streets' are simply coming home. I was amused to note that in this version the two hit-men get to enjoy a gun each (cue for much squabbling in the original) -- it being presumably unthinkable for their American equivalents not to be tooled up -- but of course this makes the accusation of 'murder' rather a strained one to sustain in the culminating scene.I don't think the famous song and dance sequences (in which various supporting characters break into surreal dance routines) work so well in this version, unfortunately. The music may simply be less well suited to the treatment, or the characters more photogenic to start off with and the transformation thus less grotesque. At any rate it wasn't so funny and/or touching and didn't seem so effectively done either: much more obviously mimed.Robert Downey Jr is nonetheless very effective as the eponymous detective and his alter ego -- and of course we now have fascinating parallels with his recent stint as Sherlock Holmes, of which there are hints in his performance here.

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.

I don't have the baggage of having seen the classic TV-series with Michael Gambon! So I watched it without prejudice! A man ( played by a terrific Robert Downey Jr ) Dan Dark is hospitalized with a debilitating skin-disease! He has vivid hallucinations in which he relives one of the cheap detectives he writes for a living! At all times persons burst out singing sweet songs from the fifties! Like "how much is that doggy in the window?" and "Mr Sandman". With the help of a psychotherapist ( Mel Gibson, almost unrecognizable) he tries to stay sane! Dan Dark is a real bastard but somehow you do feel for him. Watching him during his last session with the therapist is fantastic. All actors are great in this hidden gem! Especially Jon Polito and Adrien Brody as a couple of "hoods without a clue". Funny, touching, thrilling. This movie has it all. HIghly recommended!

This is one rather odd unusual movie. It mixes several movie elements such as comedy, musical and film-noir. It's however one mix that doesn't really work out and comes across as an odd one.It's also most certainly due to the confusing script that mixes truth and fiction and uses lots of flashback elements that also mixes past with 'present'. What is this movie really about? What story does it try to tell? Exactly what is the point of this entire movie and what does it try to achieve.The movie obviously tries to be an homage to the '50's and the '50's movie genre but it does so without having much style of its own. The clothes are right, the dialogs are right but the atmosphere really isn't, which is of course the most important element. The musical elements could had helped to let the movie work out better but the movie chooses to use evergreens instead new, specifically for this movie written songs. Also the fact that the actors are obviously play-backing to the real singers is a reason why it just doesn't ever work out in the movie. The movie tries to be stylish and fun but it's perhaps trying to hard, which causes it to work ineffective. This movie gave me the feeling that a different director could had still let this movie work out.The movie obviously doesn't try to be serious but it does this by actually having also very little humor in it. Yeah, you can say that this movie is a black comedy but this movie really isn't the best or most effective example in its genre.Too bad that the movie didn't really worked out, since it had a great and surprising cast. It was Robert Downey Jr's. first big role after his drug addiction. He of course got the role through his good friend Mel Gibson who is a producer of this movie. Downey Jr. does a good job and he once more shows how a great actor he is and how well he is capable of carrying a movie. Mel Gibson himself also plays a surprising role underneath a lot of make-up effects. The movie further more also features Adrien Brody in his first role since his Oscar-winning performance in "The Pianist". It really wasn't his greatest career choice.Has it's moments but in the end this movie leaves nothing more than a pointless and confusing impression.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/