Cady's Take:

This is very much Downey Jr.'s movie. The film itself is an eclectic mix of drama, film noir, and comedy as Downey weaves in and out of sanity, in and out of his real life and of course, his 50’s tough guy detective alter ego. Throw in a whole bunch of song-and-dance numbers and you have quite a movie!

Let’s talk cast, Robin Wright Penn plays Dark's wife, Mel Gibson, although unrecognizable, plays his psychotherapist, and is fantastic in this role. Equally talented Katie Holmes plays his nurse; 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). Adrien Brody is in there too!

The Singing Detective scenes are very stylized, with lots of shadow and darkness. The dream/memories also have a somewhat "unreal" feel to them, but it's not as strong as the book sequences. The real-life hospital scenes are presented with a bright, antiseptic look. Great cinematography.

As Dark slowly begins to emerge physically and psychologically from the shackles of his condition you almost feel captivated by the entire experience. It was confusing at times, but entertaining for the most part. It's not for everyone, but if you're into detective movies and character pieces you might just love it!

If nothing else “The Singing Detective” has a wonderful soundtrack. It’s a medley of cheesy fifties tune like “Doggie in the Window” and in fact we spend quite a bit of this movies in a fifties noir film, as one man’s unimaginable pain breaks his imagination wide open.

Robert Downey, Jr. plays Dan Dark, a writer of questionable talent, who is trapped inside his own body, as severe psoriasis seems to literally eat at his skin. Dark is confined to his hospital bed and the people in his life take on double duty as he creates an alternate world where he can flesh out (pardon the pun) his inner demons. Dan hates everything – his childhood was miserable and his adulthood does not seem to be getting any better. A promiscuous mother feeds his hatred of women while his disease allows him to retreat to an alternate world of his making. Not necessarily a more pleasant world than the one around him, but one in which he exercises control over others and himself.

While Downey Jr. is always fun to watch, this is not necessarily what I would call a “good” movie. Yes, there is a resolution, and yes, we do end up liking Dan more than we hate him, however the scene changes are confusing and do not tell a “story” the way most of us would like to be told. Of course, I realize that this is because “The Singing Detective” is a very subjective look at one man’s experience and so it is not “wrong” or “bad” because it is subjective. I enjoyed the highly stylized fantasy scenes as well. This is not a movie about answers but about one man’s observations. If you are ready to take a risk, rent “The Singing Detective.” It is always good to broaden the horizons.