Four of Them

-An affable young man (Josh Hartnett) gets embroiled in a gang conflict.

-I must say, I never much cared for Hartnett before, but here, he's so charming and nails the dialogue (the whip-fast witty brand of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). But, see, his character, Slevin, or Nick, or whatever you want to call him, has a condition called Ataraxia, which isn't even a medical condition, but a theoretical, philisophical one that supposedly frees an individual from worry or stress. This is used more as a plot device than anything, way too conveniant an excuse. Unless it was intended that way, in-story.

-The twist was so obvious. Damn.

-You know what? I've never thought of Lucy Liu as a comedic actress, despite the fact that the bulk of her work has been comedy or action comedy (or Kill Bill). It's this preconceived notion that I can't quite shake, no matter how many times I see the trailer for Watching the Detectives.

-Okay. So. Sir Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman face/off (let's just spell it like that from now on), and it is glorious. Kingsley has this really Jewish voice on, Freeman is all out for justice, neither one can leave their swankay digs for fear of the other assassinating them (they leave across the street from each other, by the way).

-Bruce Willis is really good, this meancing, silent, intense figure with a really bad hairpiece.

-You know what I love? Mathematicians' Answers. Here's a page.

-This might've been better had the screenplay or director got more involved in what the characters were doing. I mean *spoiler* you've got a protaganist who's not who he says at all, but the audience doesn't know this, therefore they must hide it from us. It's impossible to relate with this Slevin dude, who's so nonchalant about a situation(s, if you count his supposed reason for being there) that most people would be freaking the fuck out in. You know there's going to be a big reveal, because otherwise this guy is just the product of shitty writing, which can't be true, because at least the dialogue is catchy.

-And this is the problem with protaganists pretending to be someone else for the entire movie.

-But, for all you ladies and gents (admit it), he does spend the first third of the movie in a towel. I'm really not kidding.