The Singing Detective

Rating:
Summary: Oh God...please tell me this isn't happening
Review: Okay, I'm obviously in the minority here since the other reviews are glowing. They can't spell and they talk like shills for Gordon (director), but hey, everybody's entitled to an opinion. Point is... this is a bad movie. If you're some kind of wannabe film student who sits in Starbucks all day debating the state of Hollywood or how big bad corporations are ruining it for creative minds like yours...then you might like this movie. It is pretentious enough to appeal to your sense of "getting it" even though you don't, but for the rest of us... well, if you have no life then go for it. If your refrigerator needs cleaning, or your toenails need cutting...do that first! Your time will be better spent. The movie has an identity crisis... is it a musical? A noir? A neo-noir? Crime Thriller? A comedy? Black comedy? Here's the joke... Amazon has it categorized in just about every one of these! Nobody knows what this is. If you decide to watch this after all I've said, let me pass on a hint to enhance your viewing experience: Try watching it with the director's commentary on to see how seriously Gordon takes this, that is the best part.

Rating:
Summary: Great Cast & Direction Drive Compelling Potter Update
Review: The 2003 film version of THE SINGING DETECTIVE is by turns funny, scathing, and poignant, a woefully underrated look into a writer's psyche. If you don't have time to watch Dennis Potter's landmark TV miniseries (also available on home video), Potter's screenplay for this movie version (written 2 years before his untimely death) does a great job of condensing the story of novelist Dan Dark's (Robert Downey Jr.) battle with severe chronic psoriasis and personal demons. Throughout the movie, the bitter, suffering Dark weaves in and out of reality and delirious re-imaginings of the people and events in his life as they'd appear in the titular novel starring Dark's tough private eye alter ego. Actor-turned-director Keith Gordon stages this wild ride through Dark's mind with a style that owes as much to David Lynch and the Coen Brothers as it does to Potter. The British miniseries' lip-synched 1940s musical set pieces are retooled as American 1950s rock 'n' roll numbers -- call me a Philistine, but I think the updating works even better than the original (and believe me, I loved the original)! As a writer, I found THE SINGING DETECTIVE to be a fine example of how one's life and experiences creep into one's writing no matter what genre you write in. Each and every member of the stellar cast is letter-perfect, with particularly good, sharp chemistry between Downey and, respectively, Robin Wright Penn (I've always loved her name; it's especially appropriate for someone playing a writer's wife :-), and producer Mel Gibson (as Dark's seemingly goofy but astute and compassionate therapist, Gibson is all but unrecognizable in bald drag; Greg Cannom's F/X makeup serves both Gibson and Downey well. In fact, Downey's psoriasis makeup is so good you might not want to watch this while eating!). It's a shame THE SINGING DETECTIVE didn't do better with critics or at the box office, or Downey probably would've been a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination. I could empathize with Downey as the angry, clever, pain-racked (physically and emotionally) Dan Dark even when he wasn't particularly likable. The versatile Downey could be a Bogart for the Aughties if he could keep his own personal demons under control. I also enjoyed seeing our household fave Adrien Brody in a relatively lighthearted (for this film :-) role as one of a pair of Dark's fictional hoods with a bumbling streak. Jon Polito completes the pair; he and Brody are like an amoral Abbott & Costello. Their repartee cracked me up, especially their "Patti Page" exchange early in the film (just watching Brody mouthing the barks in "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" is worth the rental price! :-). Give this new SINGING DETECTIVE a try next time you're in the video store and in the mood for something different. If you rent the DVD and like it, watch it again with Keith Gordon's commentary track on; he has lots of intriguing and entertaining things to say about the making of the film, particularly about the cast and how he and his crew got those great surreal effects on a low budget.

Rating:
Summary: A pale imitation of the classic TV series
Review: The original BBC television series THE SINGING DETECTIVE, written by Dennis Potter, is by any standard one of the milestones of television. It was a weird but spectacularly successful blend of hospital drama, film noir, psychological thriller, and surreal musical that managed to strike the right balance between its disparate elements to create something utterly unique and magical. Michael Gambon was perfect in the lead, and he was complemented by a first rate cast, including Bill Patterson and Joanna Whalley.

Now we have a very odd thing indeed: a film version of a television series, complete with an all star cast of such performers as Robert Downey Jr., Mel Gibson (all but unrecognizable behind a balding head of light brown hair and thick glasses), Adrien Brody, Robin Penn Wright, Alfre Woodard, Carla Gugino (of SPY KIDS fame), Jon Polito, Katie Holmes, and Jeremy Northam. Despite a spirited, capable performance by Downey (talent intact after his incarceration) in the main role (Dan Dark, as opposed to the Philip Marlowe of the television series), the film simply isn't very successful. I had such high expectations for this one!

So, why does this movie fail? Primarily, two reasons. First, the original series was 450 minutes long, while the movie is only 109. In other words, the series had ample time to introduce the viewer to its strange, nightmarish, surreal world, while the movie, because of time limitations, simply plunges the viewer directly into the heart of things. For anyone who has seen the series, it will seem as if the movie is constantly in a rush, and as if it is always leaving things out. The movie comes across as far less varied and rich.

The other problem is that for the most part the movie lacks the energy and vitality of the series, almost as if there is less of a sense of what it is that they are trying to achieve. One watching the series will recognize that without the deft touch exerted by Potter on the script, the show could easily degenerate into something odd and unpleasant. This is precisely what happens in the movie.

One would imagine that with an all-star cast and a larger budget, the movie would at least be a far more attractive and visually compelling affair. I actually prefered the hospital wards of the series. The cast should have been an improvement, but I found nearly all the performers apart from Downey to be wasted in their roles. About the only thing that I found better in the film was Downey's makeup. The main character is suffering from an especially nasty case of psoriatic arthritis, and Downey does indeed look quite afflicted. However, psoriatic arthritis is far more treatable today than it was during the time when the television series was set (one of my best friends suffers from it, and tells me about the medications that she uses in fighting the condition), so it didn't make as much medical sense now as it did almost twenty years ago.

My greatest fear about this film is that it will skew people's assumptions about the original series. It is truly an unworthy successor, and I would urge everyone to see the original series, which is available on DVD. Those who like the movie will love the original even more, and even those who hate the movie will love it.

Rating:
Summary: Defining a Unique Style of Film
Review: THE SINGING DETECTIVE is a brave new world for cinema. Adroitly written, directed by Keith Gordon, and 'performed' by a wonderful ensemble of actors, this is not a 'film noir', not a musical in the vein of "Moulin Rouge" of Baz Luhrman, not a flashback to 'golden oldies': this film is a randy combination of all these elements and more. It is a thriller/spoof/comedy/tender statement about man's isolation and dependency on illusion to explain the past, and just plain bizarre but thoroughly entertaining stuff! The cast is headed by a bravura performance by Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role - a hospitalized man who deals with his childhood and life by creating a fictional movie in which he is embedded as a detective. Also superb are Robin Wright Penn, Jeremy Northam, Katie Holmes, Alfre Woodard, Mel Gibson, and Adrien Brody among other more minor roles. The staged 'musical numbers' are lip-synched favorites by the main actors and are sensational in the way they weave into the story line. You must be in an adventuresome mood to enjoy this movie, but give it a chance and it will mesmerize you.

Rating:
Summary: Very Unusual!!!
Review: The Singing Detective is a frantic, high energy and very weird cinematic experience. Dennis Potter wrote the screenplay for the film in 1992, two years before his death, based on his own 1986 BBC miniseries of the same name. Potter, who suffered from the same skin disease as our main character, very much wanted a feature film version of his miniseries, which may or may not closely resemble his own life. The script kicked around Hollywood for nearly a decade before director Keith Gordon, star Robert Downey Jr., and producer Mel Gibson became attached. The result is a fine example of entertainment - an eclectic mix of drama, film noir, and comedy, with plenty of fantasy musical numbers thrown in for good measure.

Robert Downey Jr. gives a truly amazing performance as Dan Dark, a pulp fiction author who is flat on his back in a hospital, suffering from a debilitating skin condition. If anything, his mind is in worse shape than his body. As he slowly recovers, he imagines scenes from his first novel, The Singing Detective, with himself as the lead character. His ex-wife, Nicola (a beautiful Robin Wright Penn), visits him at the hospital and plays a key part in his frantic imagination. He also has dreams and visions of his childhood, where he sees his mother (Carla Gugino) have an affair with his father's partner, Mark Binney (Jeremy Northam). His psychotherapist, Dr. Gibbon (an almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson), believes that things he experienced as a child have led to his sudden outbursts of violent temper. It is Gibbon's job to heal Dan's mind in tandem with his recovering body. Katie Holmes, as a nurse caring for Dan, Adrien Brody, and Jon Polito, as a pair of hoods, round out the excellent cast.

The Singing Detective is definitely different from any film to come out in recent years. It has a bizarre David Lynch like quality and a refreshing weirdness. The script is jumbled and moves frantically from one thing to another, but its gorgeous style, energetic performances, and fantastic musical numbers keep it entertaining. I wish it were a bit longer so I could understand the story a little better, but seeing this has made me desperate to seek out the original miniseries, which I have yet to see. The pacing can sometimes become tedious, and the concept of the film can be challenging for those unfamiliar with the source material, but ultimately "The Singing Detective" is a visual delight and an acting tour-de-force. It is one of the most unique films I have seen in years and I'm sure glad I saw it. Not recommended for everyone, but worth a try.



Rating:
Summary: An Abridged Version That Works
Review: This film is not anything like the 1986 British mini-series. This shorter version is a daring and mostly successful attempt by director Keith Gordon to fuse all the elements of the story into a madcap collection of tough reality and odd hallucinations. Dan Dark (Downey) is a bedridden author severely disabled by the worst case of psoriasis imaginable. He refuses any medication and thereby experiences hallucinations - or reality - or stories for his next book? Director Gordon teases us through out the movie. Downey is exceptional as the acid tongued, highly emotional, screaming patient who has a wisecrack quip for any lowly doctor or nurse that comes his way. He verbally abuses his wife who can barely keep up with attacks, but sometimes shines through when needed. There's a lot of paranoia in this story and the 40's film clips where Dan Dark is the detective investigating some murders is part tongue in cheek and part possible reality. The scenes are chunks of 40's detective clichés thrown into a series of sentences. It's masterfully amusing. When Downey gets nearly unbearable to watch as the pain stricken patient, the film switches to a hallucinatory dance and signing number driven by Dan Dark's imagination. Sometimes it seems like a diversion and other times it's sheer brilliance. All the actors, Robin Wright Penn, Adrien Brody, Katie Holmes and Mel Gibson (as the nearly unrecognizable psychiatrist) do masterful jobs and Dennis Potter's dialogue is amazingly crisp. It's a good story, albeit sometimes disjointed, but the entire experience is well worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: An Abridged Version That Works
Review: This film is not anything like the 1986 British mini-series. This shorter version is a daring and mostly successful attempt by director Keith Gordon to fuse all the elements of the story into a madcap collection of tough reality and odd hallucinations. Dan Dark (Downey) is a bedridden author severely disabled by the worst case of psoriasis imaginable. He refuses any medication and thereby experiences hallucinations - or reality - or stories for his next book? Director Gordon teases us through out the movie. Downey is exceptional as the acid tongued, highly emotional, screaming patient who has a wisecrack quip for any lowly doctor or nurse that comes his way. He verbally abuses his wife who can barely keep up with attacks, but sometimes shines through when needed. There's a lot of paranoia in this story and the 40's film clips where Dan Dark is the detective investigating some murders is part tongue in cheek and part possible reality. The scenes are chunks of 40's detective clichés thrown into a series of sentences. It's masterfully amusing. When Downey gets nearly unbearable to watch as the pain stricken patient, the film switches to a hallucinatory dance and signing number driven by Dan Dark's imagination. Sometimes it seems like a diversion and other times it's sheer brilliance. All the actors, Robin Wright Penn, Adrien Brody, Katie Holmes and Mel Gibson (as the nearly unrecognizable psychiatrist) do masterful jobs and Dennis Potter's dialogue is amazingly crisp. It's a good story, albeit sometimes disjointed, but the entire experience is well worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: Whoa, Terrible! Watch out. Like being kicked in the face.
Review: This movie starts off with a hooker being murdered while the John is there. Why is unknown to the viewers. Cut to Robert Downy Jr. in a hospital with a very unpleasant realistic looking skin condition. The doctors talk to him and we can understand that he has an unpleasant disposition. Then they lip-synch to At the Hop. Then back to the murder, where the hooker is being dragged out of a water reservoir. Now to Robert Downy Jr. again, acting unpleasant. We stay with him for a while. He gets rubbed down with an ointment, the nurse lip-synchs to Mr. Sandman. Now Robert goes to a psychiatrist and they talk, we learn more about his character, and jump back to the murder, which is going on in his head. I turn off the movie, put it away, and lament wasting half an hour.

It was a mish mash of nonsense that wasn't interesting at all. There was nothing that made me want to watch more of the movie. I didn't care about the murder, I didn't want to see more psoriasis, and I certainly didn't want to watch anymore lip-synching, which was so bad that I felt embarrassed for the actors.

I'm glad I turned it off because it would probably only get worse. And I'm glad this movie was a failure because it slightly compensates for making me endure such unpleasantness for thirty minutes. Do not watch unless you like terrible, terrible, boring things like Ulysses or Schizopolis.


Rating:
Summary: What's all the fuss about?
Review: This was no great movie. After suffering through the first half hour (but determined to see it through), I managed to do my ironing, balance my checkbook, and finish a crossword puzzle while this film droned on (and on, and on) in the background. Even the lovely Katie Holmes couldn't save this movie. I was disappointed, to say the least, after reading all the glowing reviews. The cuts between reality and musical/fanasy were handled much better in "Chicago." I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone as it it tedious and horribly uninteresting.

Rating:
Summary: Never bows to the common place!!
Review: We should all be grateful to Dennis Potter, Mel Gibson, Keith Gordon and Robert Downey Jr for giving filmgoers the opportunity to see that films can be cutting-edge innovative and that they don't have to fit a formula mold. The Singing Detective probably breaks every rule critics and audiences may have in their minds about the way a film should be, but I for one didn't care - it was a stimulating and drew me into its web right from the start.

Dennis Potter wrote a rich multilayered screen play that challenges and bedevils - watching it was work and fun and joy and emotive and playful.

Mel Gibson had the smarts to know how this film should be made and chose just the right people to pull it off, including himself as Dr. Gibbon. People have commented over and over about how different Mel looks in this role, but I think Dr. Gibbon tells us a lot about who Mel Gibson actually is.

Keith Gordon worked his Fellini-like magic on the screen play and with the actors and never bowed to the common-place. If you've ever seen "Waking the Dead", his touch in TSD is so present in the nuances of the dialogue and the darkness which he imbeds into the white-bright hospital scenes. I had wondered how he would accomplish jumping back and forth from the various 'Dark' worlds, but then I noticed the small repetitions, played out verbally and visually over the course of the film.

Robert Downey Jr came roaring onto the screen creating every aspect of Dan Dark with perfection - I saw no flaws. What I did see was his uncanny ability to hold Dan Dark's lightness just deep enough under the surface for us to wonder at first whether there was hope for him. Donwey's skill with the physicality of a role was also very evident, especially during the first stages of Dan's illness and in the scene where in a scene with his mother.

The dialogue is witty but sometimes Dan is hard to understand because of his infirmity - the DVD has English subtitles if that's a problem. Although I must say that as the film progressed, I realized it didn't seem to matter that I was missing a little dialogue here and there - the physical story telling took center stage a lot and as I said before themes were revisited to draw the collage together. In the end I knew exactly what had been said intuitively.

A big plus is Keith Gordon's commentary. One disappointment - I wanted Dan Dark to sing and dance more, but I know that wasn't the way to go.

I'm very clear that this rare breed of film should be revisited to get the full impact of its message of suffering, healing, love and redemption, so for me, buying it was a must. You have to be willing to jump into the film - get in the middle it. Besides wrongly holding TSD up against the mini-series, perhaps some of the harsher reviews are coming from those who subconsciously refused to take the plunge into Dan's world. It's a pretty organic piece that deserves full tilt participation, if you want to experience its complete message - if you want to find more than clues.

See The Singing Detective with no preconceived notions and the desire to evolve your thinking about the anatomy of a film and you will have a jolly good time and maybe learn something about yourself too.