Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

With the a Boston Film Festival going on this week Bostonist is on the lookout for anything that might give respite from the usual summertime fare at one of the local megaplexes. There are only so many indie films one can see at the Kendall, Coolidge or Harvard theaters without longing for the more comfortable seats at the Loews Boston Common.

On Sunday night Bostonist attended a screening for "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", a murder mystery/comedy from Warner Brothers penned and directed by Shane Black. KKBB is Black's first foray as director and is better known as the writer for a number of big studio action movies - all Lethal Weapons, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero, Monster Squad, Long Kiss Goodnight. In addition to the screening, Black and Val Kilmer were slated to do a Q&A. Mr. Kilmer is rumored to be one of the more difficult and eccentric actors to deal with so Bostonist had high hopes for a colorful question and answer.

The reaction from the capacity crowd at the LBC spoke volumes as to how well received a movie like this could be. Why "could"? Why not "will"? Concerns over the drawing power of the two stars, Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr., have already been mentioned (see comments in the IMDB movie profile [registration required]), as well as lukewarm reaction to the trailer and a less than exciting title. Bostonist almost didn't bite on the movie because "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" sounded kinda "Dumb Dumb".

The movie itself is very stylized and original, a bit all over the place, but overwhelmingly funny. Things are fast-paced and keep the viewer on their toes, never quite sure when the comedy will hit. There's plenty of great dialogue as would be expected from the person who gave us Riggs and Murtaugh. Bostonist can't pinpoint all too many movies that made him laugh out loud this consistently, and was surprised that this one elicited such consistently boisterous "yuck yucks" from the audience. This one's highly recommended - watch the trailer. The trailer leaves a bit to be desired, but will give you an idea for what's in store.

After the movie ended a large majority of the crowd stuck around with hopes that they would have Val Kilmer, along with Shane Black, around to answer some questions. Kilmer, however, "couldn't make it" because "he had transportation problems". Right. Black hung out and entertained the crowd that decided to stay and not rudely exit immediately after finding out Val Kilmer wasn't going to be around.

An eccentric, and admitted depressive, Black's Q&A illustrated precisely how one's personality can be projected into his art. The guy was all over the place and as a result, entertaining. Some notes from the talk:

• He had been out of the movie-making game for a while and lost some caché with the Hollywood types until he spoke with Joel Silver, who decided to bite on the project.
• Producers ideally wanted "A Harrison Ford" to take the part Kilmer had, but Black didn't think Harrison Ford would be into playing a gay private detective.
• An unnamed "Major Studio" Head is an idiot and thinks that flipping film over will show the front of an actors head, if the back of the head is currently showing.
• The inspiration for this movie stems from the terrible pulp-fiction murder mystery novels Black read as a child. While they were "garbage" in the artistic sense, for a young kid the stories were magic, so its worth was beyond what any critics might think. Such is the reason why movies like "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" are made.
• Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer are too intelligent for their own good and chock-full of wonderful literary minutiae.
• Lastly, some kid, probably an Emerson or Suffolk film student, while admitting it was tacky and probably unecessary, asked if he could give Black some of his scripts to read and comment on. Black agreed that it was tacky and unnecessary (zing), and declined.