Powerful

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Usually, when I think of romantic comedies, I think of films with recycled lines, main characters who are hardly engaging at all, and a bland, overused storyline of them meeting, hating each other, are forced to spend time together, fall in love, fall out, and then one magically knows where the other person will be at that exact moment so they can run over there and confess their undying love. However, this film, is surprisingly original and even though it has an out there story line, shows what relationships are like in real life. You're engaged from the start- as the characters are very relatable. The main character being Neil, a young man who has a run down video shop in the middle of his town who is competing with the big mega video store (and lets be honest- we all know someone like this in our own hometown). And then there's Violet, an eccentric, spontaneous girl. The characters have instant chemistry, as they both have a passion for adventure. This film has some brilliant, funny lines and scenes that actually make you laugh out loud (thinking of the scene where Violet 'breaks up' with Neil, and he's in hysterics while playing cricket). This film could've done a lot better with a better director and maybe a better script at times, but overall it is a good film with brilliant actors, and it is one of those small little films that just make you happy to watch them.

This is one of those movies that had the potential to be great and immensely entertaining. It's still a good movie, but it falls short in certain areas. The premise is what drives this movie. It's basically about this guy that is passionate about movies, but that is all he does. He watches movies and relates real life to movies and like a lot of people he gets bored with real life. But than he meets this loose cannon of a girl that always likes to go out and do crazy stuff. So yeah, cool premise. But it just needed something more, and more out of the box scenarios. Something to really bust out of real life and maybe even more scenarios where they put themselves in few movie scenarios. Overall though, this is still a different romance comedy that is really good for a romantic comedy.7.7/10

"Watching the Detectives" is a movie for movie watchers who like to sit around watching movies about people who sit around watching movies. Neil (Cillian Murphy) is such a person. He owns a small video store specializing in B-movies and other hard to find titles complete with a couch to just sit on and watch movies. But life gets in the way.Intrigued by a cute girl who walks into his store and frustrated by the big video chain stores opening down the street, he follows her and ends up doing stuff. Unfortunately for Neil, things that Violet (Lucy Liu) usually gets into are illegal by nature. But fortunately for Neil, he's seen characters like Violet in his movies, and now he's given a chance to live them out.I liked the character of Neil a lot. I liked the fact that he appreciated the comfort of his couch. He's cute and funny, and he would be smart if girls and life didn't get in the way. But I like Cillian Muprhy even more than I like Neil. He's got charisma and an unbelievably versatile talent that he can play just an ordinary guy. I didn't know that he could play ordinary with such a great comedic touch."Watching the Detectives" is a comedy for movie watchers - meaning you need to have seen classics like "Citizen Kane" and "Thelma & Louise" since this movie has a knack for giving away their endings. They probably also do it for a number of B-movies, but just ones that you likely haven't heard of. I would have appreciated a darker ending, but I still thoroughly enjoyed watching "Watching the Detectives".

While the premise of the movie was most attractive to me: "A film noir buff has his life turned on end by a femme fatale with a big adventure in mind," and the casting of Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu quite inspired, the execution was pretty ho-hum, and it's no wonder this movie went straight to video.Despite the premise, this movie's more of a twisted rom-com, in which Liu somewhat sadistically teases Murphy on by constantly lying to him about everything, and Murphy masochistically keeps going along like a puppy who's been whipped and likes it. It's cute... for a little while, and then you start wondering what kind of a fetishistic sex life they would have as a couple.There are a few weak tribute scenes to the film-noir genre, but the only truly geeky (and amusing) scene comes when a group of movie buffs try to guess where and why Liu stopped watching a videotape movie by looking at how much reel has been unspooled.I wish someone would give Lucy Liu a movie in which she's not portrayed as an Asian tigress, no matter how she does look like one.