As his filmography has made perfectly clear in almost every project he lends his name to, Shane Black is a massive fan of Christmas, so it was fitting he delivered one of the best and most perennially-underrated holiday capers of them all when Kiss Kiss Bang Bang arrived in October of 2005.
Despite winning rave reviews from critics and equally enthusiastic responses from audiences, the labyrinthine crime thriller was a box office misfire after barely managing to recoup its modest $15 million budget from theaters. Thankfully, the movie’s reputation only grows stronger by the year, and with the yuletide festivities gearing up to hit full throttle once more, a celebratory Reddit thread finds the phenomenal film basking in the warm and fuzzy glow of its annual stint in the spotlight.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang also holds a very important place in modern Hollywood history, with Jon Favreau being so enamored by the resurgent Robert Downey Jr.’s performance in the lead role that he viewed the troubled star as the potential candidate to play Tony Stark in a little project he was developing for the upstart Marvel Studios called Iron Man.
Outside of that, the chemistry between RDJ and Val Kilmer’s Gay Perry is off the charts, with Black’s signature rapid-fire dialogue and penchant for jet-black comedy combining to form a creative maelstrom of Christmastime excellence. It even ended on a sequel-baiting note, and we’re still not over the fact Kiss Kiss Bang Bang flopped on the big screen to kill any franchise potential.
On the plus side, it’s going to endure as a staple of the viewing calendar right around the time the tree goes up, and we can begrudgingly live with that.