Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is writer/director Shane Black's new post-modern take on his own well-known buddy action/comedy films. Black previously brought us the popular Lethal Weapon “guy movie” series.

KKBB is a story about actor/petty thief Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) who teams up with gay Hollywood tough-guy private eye Perry van Shrike, aka "Gay Perry” (Val Kilmer) and love interest/struggling actress Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan). Together this 21 st century “mod squad” trio solves an almost incomprehensibly convoluted murder plot. As is typical for an L.A. based detective mystery, the action takes them through both the seediest and the most glamorous sides of Hollywood.

Stylistically, KKBB owes much to Quentin Tarantino's ground breaking Pulp Fiction. And like Pulp Fiction , KKBB seeks to say and be many things at once. Like a fast-moving target avoiding categorization, KKBB is at once an L.A. entertainment industry in-joke, a buddy movie, a satire on Hollywood star-wannabe culture, a slapstick comedy, a romance, a gun-filled action film, and a very dense, confusingly Byzantine “who-done-it” detective story.

KKBB is also a farce, as it refuses to take itself at all seriously. There are many, out-of-character asides that narrator Downey 's character makes directly to the camera, reminding us how his story is all just make-believe. He's even given to changing the film's plot on a whim. In one scene all of the film's recently murdered characters walk into a room, miraculously re-animated, as Downey tells us he's decided to let them live. To further punctuate the flippant attitude of all this, Abraham Lincoln is among them.

Of course, all of this smug screenwriting is an example of a filmmaker who is trying to have his insufferably hip cake and eat it, too. The resulting danger is that in trying to say and be everything at once – the movie tends to be nothing at all. And as far as serious content, logic, and plot are concerned, KKBB is essentially a big nothing.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang belongs to the newest style of movie making that is very popular on campuses, particularly among the 20-30 year old educated straight white male demographic. Seeming at first to be brainy and mysterious, these films generally devolve into something that is self-satisfying to “guys” and vindicating of basic, crude, hetero “guy” instincts.

More often than not, the “redemption” and “hidden spirituality” hinted at in the endings of films like KKBB are little more than gratified sexual conquests. Underneath all their highbrow trappings, the appeal of these films remains skewed to those who like graphic depictions of violence,obscenities and nonsense. In other words – “guys.”

KKBB falls right inside this category. Personality-wise, lead character Lockhart acts like he's a hard-to-pin down, multi-nuanced man of substance who displays a wide range of sensitive behaviors. But beneath it all he's really just trying to get laid, and in every other frame gleefully gets into vulgar situations. For example, he tries to look up a women's dress or cop a quick feel. Just like one of the “guys.”

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang does succeed on some levels – most notably in its exciting pace, unpredictable style, and razor-sharp wit. It's very slick and fun to watch--even after one has given up on caring about its characters.

This film will appeal to those who are tired of ho-hum predictable movie plots that slog along in a formulaic way. It's a film that doesn't play by the rules, and it toys with viewer expectations. It imposes its own inner logic (or illogic) on itself. In it, one can see how the young new bad boys of Hollywood screenwriting are seeking to reinvent film genres from scratch.

Where KKBB really shines is in the novel way it pairs a straight male lead character with a gay one, with very appealing on-screen chemistry between Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer. As a gay/straight “buddy” detective team they are surprisingly watchable. Through their interesting interpretations of their respective characters, we are spared the predictable, old-school Odd Couple-type coupling--wherein the straight guy is typically “hetero” mannered and the gay one typically “gay” mannered.