The Singing Detective | | Cast : | Robert Downey Jr., Robin Wright Penn, Mel Gibson | | Director : | Keith Gordon | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 2003 | | DVD Released Date : | December 29, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | April 03, 2005 | | Summary | disappointing | Content
 | Despite supporting roles from the very talented and beautiful Carla Gugino, and screen legend Mel Gibson...this movie seemed very weak to me- like Carla and Mel were in it just to lend some credibility to Robert Downey Jr. (who I guess is really tarnished by his drug abuse) I've never seen the t.v. series that this movie is loosely based on, and so I can't draw comparisons. I can say though, it was a very, very , very strange movie. One minute the tortured patient (Robert Downey) is surrounded by doctors, the next- they're all singing and dancing 'the hop' while the hospital room morphs into a dance floor. It then goes into some distasteful scenes with more Robert Downey as he investigates who he is- a patient or a detective from his own novel. Mel Gibson's tiny role as the psychotherapist was to help explore that. Carla Gugina's tiny role was as his mother in his earliest memories- whom he thought commited suicide, but is now figuring out she was murdered. If you're a fan of Mel Gibson or Carla Gugino, I would suggest strongly that you pass on this one. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 27, 2004 | | Summary | wasn't quite right | Content
| In 1986 I saw The Singing Detective on PBS. It starred Michael Gambon and was simply incredible. It was probably one of the top ten miniseries to ever show up on TV. So, when I heard that Robert Downey Jr. was doing a movie version I was excited.
There's something wrong witht this movie and I can't quite put my finger on what it is.
Robert Downey is a fine actor and does a good job with a tough role as Dan Dark, a writer in the hospital suffering from a combination of arthritis and psoriasis gone beserk. He looks ghastly, feels ghastly and behaves viciously towards the hospital staff who force him to see a psychiatrist played astonishingly by Mel Gibson. Betweeen Mel's acting and makeup you'd never know it was him.
Dan is in such pain that he's hallucinating and when he's not doing that he comforts himself by thinking about his first book, The Singing Detective. It's set in the 50s and all the songs Dan sings come from that era as well. As he get's better and reluctantly works with the doctor Dan is forced to relive the worst thing that ever happened to him.
The movie largely stays faithful to the original material but somehow I didn't feel the same sympathy for Robert Downey's version of the character as I had for Michael Gambon. The father isn't as tragic and the mother didn't have the same impact. Robin Penn playing the ex wife was extremely unattractive. And the ending came just a litte to easy in this version and would tick off anyone who's been seriously ill either physically or mentally.
This version of Singing Detective is like Brahms being played by a music box. It's music but it doesn't compare to Brahms being played by a great musician. Buy the Gambon version instead or just watch this one on TV. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 12, 2004 | | Summary | Excellent | Content
| Admittedly, I haven't seen the original British miniseries, nor had I even heard of it before renting this movie. If you're in a similar situation, I'd definitely recommend giving this film a shot.
Robert Downey Jr. is brilliant in his role as Dan Dark, a mystery novelist hospitalized with a rather nasty skin disease. A bespectacled and bald Mel Gibson, looking for all the world like a senior citizen, is also excellent in a supporting role as Dark's therapist.
Overall, a top notch movie that provokes quite a range of emotions. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 11, 2004 | | Summary | not perfect but interesting nevertheless | Content
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When "The Singing Detective" was first produced as a TV mini series in 1986, it had a cumulative running time of well over 400 minutes. In this theatrical remake, the story has been pared down to no more than 106. I haven't seen the original - which enjoyed almost unprecedented critical acclaim in its time - so I have no idea how much of its quality has been lost in its currently truncated form. Hence, I will only be talking about this expurgated version, which stars Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson, both in virtually unrecognizable roles. It should be noted that the screenplay is credited to the late Dennis Potter, the author of the original work, so we can assume that director Keith Gordon simply cut and pasted - though a less charitable person might say "bowdlerized" - the much longer teleplay.
"The Singing Detective" tells the surrealistic tale of a writer of detective fictions who is suffering from a horrifically painful and disfiguring skin disease. As he lies in his hospital bed, his mind drifts back and forth between reality and fantasy, a hallucinatory condition brought on by fever and his own author's imagination. At times, Dan is acutely aware of his miserable situation in the here and now, with all its attendant physical and psychological agony. At other times he becomes lost in re-enactments of key scenes from his gumshoe fictions, memories of his miserable childhood, and elaborately staged song-and-dance numbers in which the characters lip-synch to musical standards from the `40`s and `50`s.
Because its style and subject matter are somewhat off-putting at first, "The Singing Detective" takes a bit of getting used to, but eventually the themes and stylistic elements begin to come together and the film takes off. The irony is that, for all the razzle dazzle of its form and style, the film is at its most intriguing in its quieter, subtler moments when the embittered hospital patient is forced to confront the demons of his own tormented psyche. Dan Dark is a man who obviously prefers the world of fantasy to the cold harshness of an often excruciatingly painful reality. In addition to his debilitating disease, Dan is also haunted by a failed marriage and an often tragic childhood that he tries to "correct" by entering the world of idealized fiction, one that he can manipulate and control. As the bombastic hospital psychologist figures out, Dan's illness is essentially psychosomatic in nature, one rooted in his inability to accept the realities of life in his own skin. In fact, Dan ultimately discovers that his disease is as much a product of his imagination as the scenarios and characters that make up his fiction. The illness becomes his way of not having to deal with his inner torments. Somewhat paradoxically, his writing becomes a form of therapy for him, helping him to deal with all that unresolved bitterness in his soul. The film is as much about psychological healing as it is about physical healing. Oddly enough, Dan's confrontations with his wife, psychologist and other hospital staff are actually far more interesting than what is happening in his rather puerile imagination. Still, towards the end of the film, when Dan starts to make some profound psychological breakthroughs, the fantasy scenes actually do begin to work and the complex structure pays off.
Downey does a fantastic job bringing Dan to life, conveying both the physical and emotional anguish the character is undergoing. Gibson has a great deal of fun playing the part of a paunchy, balding psychiatrist whose unorthodox methods wind up getting to the root of his belligerent patient's troubles. Robin Wright Penn, Jeremy Northam, Adrian Brody, Katie Homes and Alfre Woodard among others all deliver top notch supporting performances. And special praise must surely go to the large makeup staff whose work here is nothing short of miraculous.
"The Singing Detective" will probably not satisfy diehard fans of the original lengthy mini series. But for the rest of us who have seen no other version than this one, the film's audacious style and complex themes help the movie ride up and over its not inconsiderable flaws. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 10, 2004 | | Summary | Robert Downey Jr with a skin rash. | Content
| Adults Only! Contains sexual content. Hyper film noir.
I guess an actor must once in a while do a film that helps pay for the house and the therapist. Robert Downey Jr. did "The Singing Detective". Downey plays "Detective Dan Dark" who is in the hospital with a horrible skin condition all over his body that has lasted for three months. It is so bad he is losing his mind. he flashbacks to the land of 1950's film noir where he is a singer (lip-sync old 1950's tunes here). He also has written a book full of pictures which his psychotherapist (Mel Gibson) believes contains clues about his life.
He has a problem with women, especially his wife (Robin Wright). It goes back to when he was a child when adults would have sex in front of him of near him.
His wife has found his screenplay without him knowing about it. She plans on typing it herself and cashing in on it for herself while her husband is in the hospital.
That is Robert Downey Jr. singing "In My Dreams" during the end credits.
Some scenes were filmed east of Lancaster, California and north of Antelope Acres, California. |
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