Wonderful Movie

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This movie felt fresh, like a newly opened bag of jelly beans after years of eating chocolate covered almonds. Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate covered almonds. And there isn't even anything highly original about jelly beans or this movie, just a nice change, fruity and delicious! Lucy Liu and Cillian Murphy have fabulous chemistry, they're adorable and sexy. They're both very believable in these quirky roles. I could watch them both all day, and in fact I watched the movie a second time, despite the slightly disappointing ending. Maybe there was a point to the lack of ending, as in: just get out there and live, have fun, and eat some jelly beans!

Basically this is a pale shadow of High Fidelity, which was a witty and wonderfully acted film with several truly winning character turns. Watching the Detectives has none of that.The premise of a video store geek swept off his feet by a quirky mystery woman is a good one but is never fully or adequately explored, thanks to a very weak script and the miscasting of the leads, not to mention the lack of any real visual story-telling style. I mean, this film is centered around MOVIES, yet is itself incredibly uncinematic! That's a major failing right there.But the main problem is we simply don't care about the main characters because the script and the actors (Murphy and Liu) fail to make them true or sympathetic in any real way. So the film just becomes a series of episodes involving two people who seem, well, not terribly interesting.Oh, yeah, another thing: For a romantic comedy? It's not funny. And the romance isn't terribly romantic, either.So avoid it. Even at its 90-something minute running time it's just not worth sitting through...

I'm not much of a writer so I'm not sure how to say what I want about this movie. It reminded me of Breakfast at Tiffany's and was a refreshing break from my normal diet of action, Sci-Fi, adventure movies without being to sappy and "family friendly." Although it had it's moments of action and adventure as well, it's mostly a romantic comedy. It was nice to see a love story that didn't devolve to the level of something like "What happens in Vegas." I thought Lucy Liu and Cillian Murphy were both excellent, and as a male I must say that Lucy Liu was unbelievably cute (in a hot way) in this movie. The movies plot is less important than the way the plot evolves, sometimes comedy, sometimes parody, sometimes wacky, sometimes serious. And for those of us who watch a lot of movies, new and old, there are some great nods to classics of the past. What can I say, I was happy, motivated and hopeful after seeing this movie.

I tend to avoid romantic comedies, especially recent American-produced ones. Not because I'm single, but also I don't relate to the hunky guy, the object of affection for the high-strung, lonely lady, who desperately seeks Mr. Right, in a so-called humorous fashion. I'm not a boorish or a nebbish, but I feel what guy would date a woman who feels she's needs a man to be happy? Guess I'm too logical. However, there's a cute oasis called "Watching The Detectives", an indie film that charmingly destroys the conventions of courting. It also shares its title with the Elvis Costello tune, but didn't have the budget to secure the song's rights to put it on the soundtrack. Fair enough.Neil Lewis (a lively Cillian Murphy of "Red Eye" and "Batman Begins") is the owner of Gumshoe Video, a hole-in-the-wall video rental store that's a haven for VHS tapes. The man loves movies, but the types that won't be playing at the local multiplex: Cult. Exploitation. Grade-B. Foreign. Film Noir. In the shop, cinephiles discuss a movie, a genre or what scene did some unsatisfied renter stop a movie on a tape, unlike in the nearby corporate, sugar-filled rival "Media Giant" (a sub for Blockbuster).Problem is Neil's too much of a fantasy junkie, instigating pranks so life won't be so boring. That turns off his current girlfriend (Heather Burns), who ditches him. What to do now? Sunshine enters the store as Violet (the cooler than cool Lucy Liu of "Lucky Number Slevin", "Rise" and "Dirty Sexy Money") a quirky dame, who drags Neil into her eccentric atmosphere. He's enamored but she gets him into some very risky antics. You'll wonder who nuttier than a squirrel's winter stash but won't care while seeing two kindred spirits have chemistry.A member of the comedy troupe, Broken Lizard, Paul Soter ("Super Troopers") helms his script with the same raw courage that infested the indie films of the previous decade. I think Kevin Smith (the View Askew saga) was lurking about somewhere as two video clerks converse about which's better: Japanese death anime or Korean snuff cartoons.Murphy and Liu, who slyly echo Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn from "Bringing Up Baby" (a favorite of mine), look like they're slumming, but with most of the scripts masquerading as good material nowadays, who could seriously blame them, and their performances are too sweet for words. Jason Sudekis ("Saturday Night Live" and some "30 Rock" episodes) and Michael Panes are durable as the aforementioned clerks.The only snag is the film's lack of promotion by its' distributor, Peacearch. Sure, "Watching The Detectives", the second film Ms. Liu starred in that debuted at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, along with "Rise", is unconventional, but that's what gives this underdog gem some giddy, honest warmth. See this film, and you'll thank yourself.