The Singing Detective (2003)

Short: Dan Dark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a detective novelist suffering from a powerful skin disease. In his hospital bed, he hallucinates convoluted plots and bizarre musical numbers involving his wife, Nicola (Robin Wright Penn); his psychotherapist, Dr. Gibbon (Mel Gibson); a murderous lothario, Mark Binney (Jeremy Northam); his mother (Carla Gugino); his nurse (Katie Holmes); and two hoods (Adrien Brody and Jon Polito).

In sharp contrast to yesterday's review, I'm not sure I have much to say about this film. I knew that it opened to mixed, mostly disappointed, reviews, and I decided to wait until it was available on video.

Now I'm not entirely convinced that I should have done even that. While I wouldn't go as far as to say that I regret renting this movie, I wouldn't say that I would have missed out by not seeing it.

So, by my own standards, this movie failed because it won't leave a lasting impression. Dennis Potter (writer) and Keith Gordon (director) didn't do their jobs.

Mind you, I find the Potter bit confusing since he died it 1994. I understand that he must have written the screenplay before he died, but no other writer is credited, which makes me wonder how any rewriting was accomplished.

Basically, the story is jarringly sexual. If you watch the entire movie, then you know why things take on a hypersexuality in Dark's mind, but I still didn't appreciate watching half the things that I saw.

Downey Jr. is still one of the best actors of his generation, and I am always so glad to be reminded that he has yet to slip into a drug induced coma. This role must have taken incredible dedication on his part (the make-up alone must have taken 4 hours to put on).

The end is what really gets me, though. It's shocking, yes, but so dissatisfying on a psychological level.