ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Michael Ledo Robert Downey jr. plays Danny Dark, a writer of pulp fiction novel called "The Singing Detective." He is hospitalized with a skin disorder which apparently is psychological. His shrink is played by Mel Gibson, in an unorthodox role for him. Dark's novel is based on events in his childhood, making characters from people he had met. Danny is delusional and imagines things in the present, confounding the people in real life with the characters in his book. The dialogue in the movie is excellent. If you enjoyed the dark humor of the Joker in the Dark Knight, you will enjoy the ramblings of Downey early on. The real problem with the movie is that you realize that all the action in the film is delusional. As far as real action and plot, the film moves along as a one man play. Bad language, simulated sex, no nudity.

MariaEWilliams RDJs Acting – Robert said in the interview on the extras that he was scared about playing that kind of noir gangster character as they are always so cool. Well Robert it is very safe to say you pulled it off. Playing two characters in a film can be quite confusing for some actors but Robert Downey Jr takes to it like a duck to water. In the words of the singing detective "am I right or am I right?"Doctor Gibbon - Another notable character is that of Doctor Gibbon played by Mel Gibson. Doctor Gibbon helps Dan Dark deal with his bitterness that seems to have consumed him since he fell ill. Gibbon gets an insight into Mr Dark by reading his book, he then uses this to help Mr Dark on the road to his mental recovery.Dan Dark – He can seem spiteful and evil with his seemly random outbursts of violet verbal abuse directed to who ever is nearest to him at the time but, he is aware of this change in his personality and doesn't like it. There are moments when you see the person he used to be before reverting to the hatred spitting being he portrays so well. He is offered medication to help him deal with the pain of his condition. This medication is tranquillizers, the pain is at such a high level but he refuses. Lets just take a moment to admire the man for this. That takes courage and so much strength, to make it though each day with such a high level of pain when ever you move a single muscle.By the end of the film Dan Dark does reassemble himself into a different person personality wise. Perhaps he takes some of The Singing Detectives personality qualities and some of his original ones. I personally like to think he is a mixture of the two characters he portrays all the way thorough the film. As if to prove this point Dan Dark puts on a hat that we see The Singing Detective wear at the end as he walks out of the hospital he has called home for the past months.Nicola Dark – Some credit has to go to Dan Dark's wife Nicola for sticking by him through his illness and those violet verbal outbursts. Although she doesn't visit him at the start of his treatment, this is understandable because she doesn't want to get into a verbal match with him or just stand there while he shouts horrible statements at her. As the film progresses and his treatment, both physical and mental, is working his wife starts to visit him more and their relationship gets back on track. I am sure that having his wife present also helps with his recovery as he seems happy in her presence.The one thing that I was disappointed about upon watching the film was the fact that we don't get to hear Robert Downey Jrs lovely voice singing in the film at all (he does however sing the song "In My Dreams" over the credits) I do understand however what look the director (Keith Gordon) was going for. I think I would have made the same decision as he did as the overall look of those songs fitting into the film does work. If you think about it from Dan Dark's point of view he would use the songs in his hallucinations as he knows them, that's with the original singers singing them not himself. Still I can't help but feel disappointed at the missed opportunity to hear RDJ singing.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- The Singing Detective, 2003, An hospitalized 3rd rate hack writer of detective books suffering from his psychosomatic illness needs to free himself from his daydream fiction life of his alter ego, a singing detective to get mentally adjusted and well.*Special Stars- Robert Downey Jr, Robin Wright Penn, Adrien Brody, Jon Polito, Katie Holmes, Mel Gibson.*Theme- Your life could be a novel or a dream, it's up to you.*Trivia/location/goofs- Paramount Pictures, B & W film noir sequences with present day scenes, Rated 'R' for the multiple 40's sex scenes involving fictional call-girls and gangsters. Look for a heavily disguised famous lead actor & film producer on camera playing a helpful bald psychologist. Shot around downtown Los Angeles and the Silver Lake area.*Emotion- A rather crazy confusing film with too many 'flash-back' or dream sequences in film noir and back to plot present-day reality, but somewhat saved by the rest of the film's scenes and actors. It's all clues, with no solutions. This film has some spirited musical lip-sync songs with a killer 50's music tracks. It's a very odd plot and film.

Gordon-11 This film is about a man with a debilitating skin disease killing his time by imagining himself to be involved in crime, murder and seduction.I already thought "The Singing Detective" was very boring after watching fifteen minutes of it. And it did not get better throughout the film.First of all, the plot is incoherent and fragmented. The present, childhood memories and Dan's imagination are all independent of each other with no connections at all. I felt I was watching a bunch of jumbled up scenes.Secondly, how can this be classified as a musical? There are only three short scenes where the actors lip synch the songs. The songs don't even tell the plot, they are just there as background music. "Dreamgirls", "Hairspray" and "Chicago" are musicals, but this is certainly not.Thirdly, I feel cheated by the cover of the disc. It bills Katie Holmes and Adrien Brody , but they have such minor and dispensable parts. Oh wait, actually the whole film is dispensable. I thought the US$1.1 I spent on buying this film was completely wasted. Watching this film is pure torture.