[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kkbb.jpg]]

->''"Anyway, by now you may wonder how I wound up here. Or, maybe not. Maybe you wonder how silly putty picks shit up from comic books. The point is, I don't see another goddamn narrator, so pipe down."''
-->-- '''Harry'''

''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' is a 2005 WorldOfSnark BlackComedy film, acting as a self-aware parody of pulp detective novels and FilmNoir. Narrated by the [[DeadpanSnarker deadpan]] and [[LemonyNarrator lemony]] Harry Lockhart (Creator/RobertDowneyJr), the film opens as Harry flees a crime scene into a movie audition. Having just witnessed his buddy being shot and killed, Harry suffers an emotional breakdown in front of the producer, who mistakes him for a professional [[MethodActing method actor]] and casts him in a DetectiveDrama.

Sent to Hollywood for a screen test, Harry is partnered with a sassy, gay PrivateDetective called [[PunnyName Gay Perry]] (Creator/ValKilmer) to get a feel for his acting role. After stumbling upon childhood crush Harmony Lane (Creator/MichelleMonaghan), Harry heads on a routine stakeout with Perry; when the duo then inadvertently witnesses a body being dumped, they find themselves tangling with a surprisingly deep-rooted murder plot... [[GenreSavvy just like the pulp novels Harmony used to read as a kid.]]

The movie was directed and written by Creator/ShaneBlack in his directorial debut. Despite being a box-office bomb (thanks to ExecutiveMeddling), the movie was [[CriticalDissonance a critical success]] and went on to become a CultClassic.

To avoid confusion it's worth mentioning that two other films also exist with the same title, one from 1966 and one from 2001. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Likewise, no relation to ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang''. (This film was actually loosely adapted from a 1940s pulp fiction detective novel called ''Literature/BodiesAreWhereYouFindThem''.)

----
!!This film provides examples of:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A-M]]
* AbusiveParents: Ubiquitous.
** One example:
--->'''Perry''': Did your dad love you?\\
'''Harry''': Only when I dressed up like a beer bottle, how about you?\\
'''Perry''': Well, he used to beat me in Morse code, so it's possible, but he never ''said'' the words.
** Another example involve both dead girls' fathers[[note]]alright, two out of three, you pedant[[/note]].
* AccidentalInnuendo: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Harry after [[ItMakesSenseInContext accidentally grabbing Harmony's boob trying to get a spider]], only for Harmony to shrug it off to Harry's distaste:
-->'''Harry''': Listen to me. I grab your tit, it's a fucking biggie! ''[-ThatCameOutWrong.-]''
* AdaptationTitleChange: ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' was loosely inspired by an all-but-forgotten 1959 pulp mystery novel called ''Bodies Are Where You Find Them'' by Brett Halliday.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Harry retroactively reveals he's working for Perry]] in the present day.
* AnimatedCreditsOpening: An homage to Saul Bass and old detective novel covers.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking
--> '''Harry:''' Fuck this. Corpses, guys in masks, people kissing -- people. This is wrong.
* AskAStupidQuestion: A frequent occurence, usually from Perry.
-->'''Perry''': Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?\\
'''Harry''': A picture of me?\\
'''Perry''': No! The definition of the word idiot, which you fucking are!
* AnAssKickingChristmas: Lampshaded at Harmony's party, which is filled from wall-to-wall in semi-nude, writhing models in Christmas-themed costumes (including a ''reindeer'').
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Before the dog eats Harry's finger, he sticks it in a bowl of ice to try and preserve it so that he can have a doc reattach it later. Unfortunately, with amputated digits or limbs, it's important that if you do this, ''you have to wrap it in plastic first''. Direct contact with the ice destroys the nerve endings, making reattachment impossible. Justified in that Harry knows absolutely nothing about medicine...
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Harmony's sister, who uses a shotgun for suicide.]]
* BadassBystander: When Perry is attacked by a {{Mook}} in a park, he is saved the trouble of a gunfight when a hot dog vendor pulls out a handgun and blows the Mook away. Apparently the vendor didn't appreciate it when the Mook drove his car into his hot dog stand.
* BadBadActing: The way Harry stumbles through his lines during the audition. It takes a dramatic turn when the similarity to his current situation gets to be too much and [[EnforcedMethodActing he loses it]].[[invoked]]
* BarelyMissedCushion: A corpse is thrown from the roof and hits the edge of the presumably soft dumpster. It bounces.
* BedmateReveal: Harry is catching up with his [[ChildhoodFriendRomance childhood crush]] Harmony at a party. We then immediately cut to the next morning with Harry finding himself in bed with one of Harmony's seemingly clingy friends.
* BetterThanABareBulb: The DisneyDeath scene is a perfect example.
--> '''Harry''': Yeah, it's a dumb movie thing, but what do you want me to do, lie about it?
* BigFancyHouse: It opens with a party in Harlan Dexter's one (which is actually Shane Black's mansion, where he ''did'' throw such wild Hollywood parties).
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The case gets solved and the protagonists survive, but it doesn't change the fact that Harmony's sister ''did'' kill herself, and Harmony's rapist father suffers little retribution considering his crimes.]] One of the characters even notes that things turn bitter somewhat suddenly:
-->[[spoiler:'''Harry''': So much for un-reality. I said goodbye, watched Jonny's world go back on the fiction shelf. But while it lasted, brother, it was one for the books.]]
* BlackComedy
* BleedEmAndWeep: Harry breaks down after shooting a goon for the first time.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Harry's narration is conscious of the fact that he's narrating a film. In the end, Harry and Perry suddenly address the audience.
* BrickJoke:
** The 35 year old actress Harmony makes fun of at the bar [[spoiler: reappears at the very end of the film starring in the same Generos beer commercial Harmony was in.]]
** After Harry rips on the use of the CoincidentalBroadcast trope, a few scenes later he watches a news broadcast in which, for no good reason, the location of the climax is mentioned, exactly as Harry complained about earlier.
** Harmony mentions to Harry that she is afraid of spiders. When she passes out, one enters her bra.
* BuffySpeak:
** Almost every time Harry has to explain something.
** Also, people generally have a habit of speaking in tangent or mishearing:
--->'''Harry''': Maybe you should get in touch, I got five bucks says you can still get him.\\
'''Perry''': Really? That's funny, I got a 10 says "Pass the pepper". I got two quarters singing harmony on "Moonlight in Vermont".\\
'''Harry''': What?\\
'''Perry''': Talking money.\\
'''Harry''': ''(confused)'' A talking monkey?\\
'''Perry''': ''[[DeadpanSnarker (deadpan)]]'' Talking monkey, yeah. Came here from the future. Ugly sucker. Only says "Ficus".
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: SubvertedTrope via DisneyDeath. It looks like he was fatally wounded, but it turns out to be JustAFleshWound.]]]
* ButtMonkey: If someone is going to get smacked, tortured, beaten up or otherwise mangled, it's going to be Harry. No one else is even allowed to get shot near him without [[spoiler: the bullet hitting him, too. Every single time.]]
-->'''Mook''': You look chilly. Come back inside.\\
'''Perry''': Actually, I'm from back East. I'm kinda diggin' the cold. (''Mook pistol whips Harry'')\\
'''Harry''': Ow! Fuck! ''He's'' the one who said it!
* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:Perry does it for Harmony.]]
* CaptainErsatz: [[Creator/RaymondChandler Joe Chester's]] [[Literature/PhilipMarlowe Jonny Gossamer]] [[AuthorAppeal books]].
* CerebusRollercoaster: The movie frequently jumps between [[PlayedForDrama serious]] and [[PlayedForLaughs funny]]. One notable scene has [[spoiler:drugged Harry waking in a car, witnessing a murder, killing the mook in a cold, blind rage, having a dog steal and eat his finger, to breaking down on the phone to Perry.]]
* ChekhovsGag: Harry and Harmony's game of spot-the-celebrity-doppelganger ("Native American Joe Pesci", etc); a plot point later on is that [[spoiler:Harlan Dexter hired a similar-looking actress to impersonate his daughter.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Perry's "faggot gun", a miniature derringer Harry finds in Perry's glove box. As Perry says, homophobes avoid patting down his groin when checking for guns, which he later uses to his advantage.]]
** [[spoiler:Also, the revolver planted in Harry's room: Harmony, unable to get a distant Perry's attention, accidentally drops and misfires it, warning and saving Perry; and Harry inadvertently fires it playing Russian Roulette with a mook, leading to Dexter capturing them.]]
* ChekhovsGunman:
** [[spoiler: Harlan Dexter and his daughter]], [[{{LampshadeHanging}} lampshaded]] viciously by Harry during his narration.
-->'''Harry''': Ooo-kay... I apologize, that was a terrible scene. It's like, why was that in the movie? ''Gee, do you think it'll come back later, maybe?'' I hate it when movies do that. [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail TV's on, talking about the new power plant... hmm, I wonder where the big climax will happen]]?
** Harmony's three friends apply to this: Flicka tells Harmony that Harry is a detective (causing Harmony to push him into taking her case), and later sees Harry at the airport where she inadvertently gives him a clue (by [[spoiler:revealing Harmony is "Allison Ames"]]); and the "Homely Friend" and the waitress friend promptly return to cause more conflict between Harry and Harmony.
* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler:Harry used to be a magician, which helps him catch Perry's thrown mobile and catch the gun at the overpass.]]
* ChivalrousPervert: Harry has a serious case of this - no problem hitting on, looking at, or sleeping with women, but he has deep issues with any unsolicited contact and is uncomfortable with "easy" Hollywood girls. Early on in the movie he gets beat up preventing a guy from groping a sleeping Harmony at a party, only to hit on her hours after, and then sleep with her friend. Later, [[AccidentalPervert he touches her breast to get a spider]], and when says she didn't mind if he had copped a feel, he freaks out and says there's something wrong with her and the guys she hangs out with if she's become that blasé about being groped. He later adamantly refuses "pity sex".
* CoincidentalDisguiseComplementingTrait: Early in the film, Harry Lockhart's attempted burglary of a toy store goes horribly wrong, resulting in his friend and partner-in-crime getting shot dead by the shop owner, while Harry himself is forced to hide in an audition for a crime thriller film with the cops hot on his tail. At first, Harry only fits in because he's dressed in the same gear as the other auditionees, being otherwise a terrible actor. However, just as the cops are about to walk in, the script brings up the line "you got your partner killed," prompting Harry to suffer a very real HeroicBSOD. Not only are the cops completely fooled, but Harry gets the part!
* ContemplateOurNavels: A nice pause in the action where Harry looks back at his unrequited love's apartment and sighs.
* CountryMatters
-->'''Perry''': He called her a -- well, [[ParentheticalSwearing a bad name]]. (''{{beat}}'') '[[SubvertedTrope Cunt]]'.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Averted. After [[spoiler:he and Perry]] are shot, Harry briefly attempts to give [[spoiler:him]] [=CPR=]; cue [[BloodFromTheMouth blood spilling from the mouth]]. Blech.
* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler:Jenna Lane. Interestingly, it wasn't her ''death'' that screwed Harmony up - it was that Harmony was helpless to stop their father regularly raping Jenna from a very young age.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: [[WorldOfSnark Pretty much the entire cast spends the movie snarking at each other]], but none more so than Perry.
-->'''Harry''': Still gay?\\
'''"Gay" Perry''': Oh no, I'm knee-deep in pussy. I just love the name so much, I can't get rid of it.
* DeconReconSwitch: At times it's a DeconstructorFleet of detective clichés (Perry says that his client wasn't a smoking seductress, but a girl he's never seen because she hired by phone and paid in credit); then the tropes appear anyway (when Harmony tells Harry about what happened with her sister, she seductively inhales from a cigarette while asking "Are you a detective?").
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler: Harry and Harmony do not end up together, as far as we know. In the final scene, Perry claims that he and Harry are now a couple, although this could be a joke.]]
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Gay Perry.]] Then it becomes an ImagineSpot where all the other dead characters show up, as do UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln and [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]].
* DoggedNiceGuy: Harry. Really.
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:A couple of Harlan's minions outlive him, barely.]]
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Happens twice: When Harmony falls asleep at a party, her date feels up her thigh, prompting Harry to stand up for her and get beaten up in the process. When she faints later on, he tries to swat a spider from her cleavage, waking her up and making her think that he was groping her.
* ElectricTorture: Harry gets his genitals shocked by one of the villain's goons.
* EndingFatigue: [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by [[LemonyNarrator Harry]].[[invoked]]
-->'''Harry''': Don't worry, I saw ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]''. I'm not going to end this seventeen times.
* EnforcedMethodActing: InUniverse example with Harry's 'audition' in the beginning, where he's mistaken for an actor. Actually, he was running from the police and barged into the room by chance. It's perfect for the part he's reading from, however.[[invoked]]
* EveryoneComesBackFantasyPartyEnding: Lampshaded and parodied at the end when Gay Perry [[DisneyDeath reappears]] at the hospital accompanied by the assorted dead of the film, as well as [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln Lincoln]] and [[ElvisLives Elvis Presley]].
* ExactWords:
-->'''Pink-Haired Girl''': It's nothing against your boss. I'm grateful. I just --\\
'''Mustard''': I spoke to him. You'll never have to go through anything like that again. I swear.\\
'''Pink-Haired Girl''': Promise?\\
'''Mustard''': Yep. [[spoiler:(''He murders her''.) ]]
* FairPlayWhodunnit: Played straight, and also [[InvokedTrope invoked]] in the narration:
-->'''Harry''': How about you, movie-goer? Have you figured out the case of the dead people in LA yet?
* FalseRoulette: [[spoiler:Subverted. Harry really does leave a bullet in the gun, counting on probability.]] The results are brilliant.
-->'''Harry''': I just put in one bullet, didn't I?
-->'''Perry''': You put a live round in that gun?
-->'''Harry''': [stammers] Well yeah, there was, like, [[BookDumb an 8% chance]]--!
-->'''Perry''': '''[[SuddenlyShouting EIGHT?! WHO TAUGHT YOU MATH?!]]'''
* FakeOutMakeOut: Perry plants a big one on Harry to fool some passing cops.
* FakeoutOpening: Begins at a church fair with a kid doing magic. Yes, Harry lampshades this too.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Mustard, who amiably chats with his victims while either threatening them or preparing to kill them.
* FemmeFatale: Subverted by Harmony: she's coded this way, being alluring, sexual and a heap of trouble for Harry, but she's just a well-meaning screw-up like him.
* FilmNoir: Noir clichés are lampshaded repeatedly in the plot.
* {{Fingore}}: Harmony slamming her door in Harry's face -- and on his finger, breaking it clean off. [[spoiler: He has it reattached only to be torn off ''again'' and eaten by a dog.]]
* FirstPersonSmartass: Harry's narration.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** At the end of the second act, Harry and Harmony note that [[spoiler:everything turned out like a Jonny Gossamer novel, except in the books he always ends up getting tortured before escaping and shooting a bunch of mooks. Come the real close of the case, ''Harry then ends up getting tortured before he and Perry escape and have a shoot-out with Dexter and his mooks.'']]
** When Harry is retrieving Perry's phone from his pocket [[spoiler:after he gets shot, his ringtone is "I Will Survive". Of ''course'' he's NotQuiteDead.]]
** Perry strongly states Harmony's sister actually committed suicide. Until the end of the movie, viewers tend to think he's wrong.
* FreudianSlip: When Harry is narrating as he stares at Harmony's chest in-story:
-->'''Harry''': And yeah, looking back, I maybe should've said something, told her I wasn't really a nipple'''--[[VerbalBackspace DETECTIVE]]'''. Detective. Uhm, sorry...
* GeniusDitz: Harry. Most often he's just TheDitz, but if any situation requires the hands of a magician-turned-thief, he's definitely your guy.
* GenreRoulette: As a result of Shane Black attempting to do a CreatorsOddball and giving up. [[http://www.gq.com/story/shot-callers-shane-black-the-nice-guys In his own words:]]
-->It's half romantic comedy and half murder mystery. All that romantic stuff is leftover from my attempt to be Creator/JamesLBrooks, basically.
* GenreSavvy: References to Noir abound, and Harmony's extensive knowledge of pulp crime novels comes in handy. [[spoiler: There turns out to be a reason for that - Harlan Dexter, who played Johnny Gossamer in an old movie and has all those novels at his home, is behind the crime.]]
** Perry knows his film noir, too. Particularly the part about how mooks always stick guns directly against the hero's back, when professionals in real life know to [[CombatCommentator never, ever do this]].
** Perry also uses his savviness to get out of another such situation, when he [[spoiler:uses a homophobe's prejudices against him by keeping a tiny revolver stashed next to his crotch, knowing that the guy would never bother to check there]].
* GilliganCut: Harry delivers a BadassBoast when challenging Harmony's molester date to a fight. We then cut Harry getting beaten up like a helpless high school kid.
* GirlNextDoorTurnedSuperstar: Subverted. Harmony filled the "unattainable woman" role for Harry when he was young, but when they meet again in Hollywood, she never made it as a starlet and is still WaitingForABreak.
* GoodCopBadCop: Played for laughs.
-->'''Gay Perry''': You don't get it, do you? This isn't good cop/bad cop, this is fag and New Yorker. You're in a lot of trouble.
* GrammarCorrectionGag: One scene has Harmony telling Harry that "I feel badly" should be "I feel bad." He later tries to show off by 'correcting' Perry's "Sleep badly," only [[ButtMonkey to be corrected yet again.]]
* HaveIMentionedIAmGay: Every two minutes for "Gay" Perry, but no actual action (the [[FakeoutMakeout fake kiss]] doesn't count).
* HeroicSecondWind: [[spoiler: Harmony calls Harry and motivates him to utterly destroy the Big Bad and remaining Mooks, despite the fact he had just been shot]].
* HiddenWeapons: Perry keeps a small gun hidden under his ball sack.
-->'''Perry:''' Homophobes never check there.
* HilariousOuttakes: Ones that are almost funnier than the actual film.
* HollywoodCalifornia: Harry is a FishOutOfWater in the Hollywood scene.
* HollywoodHomely: Lampshaded by Harry in-universe of course; after referring to Marleah as "the ugly friend" he swiftly [[VerbalBackspace backtracks]] into ''homely'' friend. She's not ugly, she's homely!
* HollywoodSpelling: Averted when Perry briefs Harry on their assignment, giving the name of his client as "Allison Ames, A-M-E-S". (Although he probably could have clarified how "Allison" was spelled as well.) This ensures that, when we hear the name again, we remember it.
* HorribleHollywood: How things are difficult for actors is occasionally brought up. And at least one part of the narration resembles Shane Black remembering his experiences as a writer...
* HowManyFingers:
-->'''Harmony''': (''puts four fingers up'') How many fingers?\\
'''Harry''': Will you put that cat down? I'm allergic.
* HowWeGotHere: Once the narration starts, it has Harry saying the events were "last Christmas" (it returns to the present day in the very last scene), and there are also flashbacks showing how he and Harmony got to the party.
* ICallHerVera: Perry's "faggot gun".
--> '''Perry''': It's only good for a couple of shots, then you have to drop it for something better.
* IdiotHero: Oh, Harry.
-->'''Perry:''' You! '''Stop''' multiplying!
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace[=/=]JugglingLoadedGuns: The scene in which Harry [[spoiler: accidentally shoots a mook he and Perry are interrogating]] seems to straddle the line between these tropes.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Harry in the climactic scene, apparently out of sheer HeroicResolve. Meanwhile, the villains [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy can't hit the broad side of a barn]].
* IntoxicationEnsues: When Harry's painkillers kick in:
-->'''Harry''': Honey, put me on the list, I'll drop by. I'll see if I can stir up the kettle, stick out my hat, see if anyone shoots at it. (''bursts into giggles'')
* KnightInSourArmour: Perry's the second type. He's mildly corrupt in the way of all FilmNoir protagonists, but still does the right thing, despite [[DeadpanSnarker bitching the whole way]].
* LampshadedTheObscureReference: When two goons appear to accost Harry, one of them introduces himself and his colleague as "Ike, Mike, and Mustard"[[note]]Salt, Pepper, and Mustard, your standard-issue dinner condiments[[/note]]. Harry doesn't get it, and even the other goon outright agrees that it's pretty damn obscure, and the two start arguing over it.
* LampshadeHanging: So much so that Harry's narrative questions the tropes and clichés being used. For example, at the end of the party sequence:
-->'''Harry''': Oookay, I apologize. That is a terrible scene, it's like ''"Why was that in the movie? Gee, you think [[ChekhovsGunman maybe it'll come back later]] maybe?"'' I hate that: a TV's on, talking about the new power plant -- hmm, wonder where the climax might happen.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: A lot could be written about the many different ways in which the fourth wall is nudged in this movie.
** Characters frequently comment on the quality of the writing, catching each other on misused phrases, overly obscure references. At one point a man complains that the death threat he's receiving is syntactically ambiguous.
** Same can be said about acting and Hollywood. Some characters refer to each other performing skills and comment on actors' careers :
--->'''Perry''': [to Harry] Shit. Better be improving your acting.
** At the climax as Gay Perry is about to explain the plot to Harry and Harmony he says "Do you see where I'm going with this?" Equally him talking the characters and the writer talking to the audience.
* LegFocus: Harmony has nice legs, as noted by Harry when discussing her in his narration.
-->Jeez, look at those stems, will you? Not that that's what constitutes why she should be here.
* LemonyNarrator: Harry narrates the film, and peppers it with a ton of snark, GenreSavvy asides, and {{Take That}}s.
-->[[BreakingTheFourthWall How about it, filmgoer?]] Have you solved the case of the... [[BuffySpeak dead people in L.A.]]? [[TakeThat Times Square audiences, don't shout at the screen. And stop picking at that, it'll just get worse.]]
* LittleUselessGun: [[spoiler: Subverted with Perry's tiny Derringer, which turns out to be ChekhovsGun.]]
* MaleGaze: Harry misses plot point 2 because he's staring at Harmony's chest. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] because he's also narrating and commits a FreudianSlip while he's trying to relate the plot point.
* MeaningfulName: The "Chapter Titles" taken from Creator/RaymondChandler works. "Trouble Is My Business" (Harry's life in four words), "The Lady In The Lake", "The Little Sister" (both are characters with plot-triggering deaths), "The Simple Art Of Murder" (the climax, with plenty of murder), and "Farewell My Lovely" (the epilogue).
* MediumAwareness[=/=]NoFourthWall: Harry is completely aware that he is narrating a story, but it takes a unique twist when he's even aware of stuff happening in the movie; during one flashback sequence, he even points out a bad camera shot:
-->'''Harry''': I don't want to put this on you, but if you've been paying attention, I shouldn't have to-- great, no wonder, Ma and Pa Kettle. [sarcastic] ''"I got an idea, why not put these two lame-o extras in front of the mammoth '''fucking''' lens?"'' Boo! Scat! Fat lady, leave!
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: When the mooks at the Christmas party appear: [[note]]For the record, "Ike and Mike" are old-timey nicknames for salt and pepper, so "Ike, Mike and Mustard" are your standard-issue diner condiments. It's also a metaphor-within-a-metaphor: "salt and pepper" is slang for white-black mixed-race pairing, which the mooks are, which makes ''Harry'' the mustard. The term itself makes sense, but the metaphor itself is still distorted.[[/note]]
-->'''Mook 1''': Well now, here we all are. Ike, Mike and Mustard.
-->'''Harry''': What the hell does that mean?
-->'''Mook 2''': You know, I'm with him on this one, man. [[LampshadedTheObscureReference That's pretty fucking obscure]].
-->'''Mook 1''': Horse shit, I hear that all the time!
-->[...]
-->'''Mook 1''': You wanna know who we are? I'm the frying pan, see? And my boy over here, he's--
-->'''Mook 2''': Mustard. I'm Mr. Mustard, baby.
* MistakenForGay: Given Harmony witnesses the FakeOutMakeOut listed above:
-->'''Harry''': I sent her home believing, A, we'd meet tomorrow to go over her case, and, B, I wasn't actually gay. [[YouDoNotWantToKnow Do not ask me how I did B.]]
* MoodMotif: A [[SourceMusic diegetic]] example occurs when [[spoiler:Harry and Perry are dying: a barely conscious Harmony calls Harry on a Perry's phone, prompting Perry's ringtone ("I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor) to play as Harry is spurred into fighting.]]
* MoodWhiplash: For [[ParentalIncest some reason]], the topic of Harmony's sister Jenna just sucks all the comedy out of the room. This is lampshaded in the end by Harry's narration.
* MsFanservice: Harmony Lane. She wears a SexySantaDress through a portion of the film and goes nude at one point.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N-Z]]
* NasalTrauma: Occurs courtesy of PistolWhipping at the hands of Gay Perry resulting in a lot of blood and pained expletives
* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler:It actually is a suicide, even though the characters (except for Perry) assume it isn't and the suicide fits cleanly into one theory on what happened]].
* NominalHero: Before [[CharacterDevelopment losing some of it]] near the end, Perry was this fused with a Type II AntiHero.
* NoNameGiven:
** ThoseTwoGuys who dice metaphors. Even in the credits, their actors are referred to as their final nicknames: "Mr. Frying Pan" and "Mustard".
** {{Zig zagged|trope}} with Shannyn Sossamon's character -- even though she is eventually named (Mia Fry), she is still dubbed "Pink Haired Girl".
* NonchalantDodge: Perry wins this award for insulting a roomful of party-goers, then deftly ducking a champagne flute thrown at him without so much as a blink.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: A funny example. Perry forcibly kisses Harry to make some cops move along. Harmony witnesses the kiss and asks why they were making out. Cut to Harry [=VOing=] that he managed to convince her he wasn't gay and that [[NoodleIncident he's not going to tell us how.]]
** Another case is Harry taking out a spider that entered Harmony's bra. She of course thinks [[AccidentalPervert he was copping a feel]] - not before showing she was somehow OK with it.
-->'''Harmony''': Look, Harry, you grabbed my tit. It's life, all right? It's no biggie.
-->'''Harry''': Listen to me. I grab your tit, it's a fucking biggie! ThatCameOutWrong.
* NWordPrivileges: Gay Perry casually throws around the word "faggot". Considering he's called ''Gay Perry,'' no-one's gonna protest his right to do so.
* OldFriend: Harmony was Harry's childhood crush; when she shows up, [[HilarityEnsues hijinks ensue]].
* OneHitPolykill: A bullet goes through [[spoiler:Perry and hits Harry, but they both survive.]]
%%* TheOneThatGotAway: Harmony for Harry
* OnlyAFleshWound: Happens twice to Harry.
** [[spoiler: A gunshot wound to the shoulder doesn't seem to slow him down at all in the final showdown.]]
** This also occurs near the start of the movie after Harry is shot in the arm through his partner. Harry is still able to run from the cops and accidentally pass an audition with no trouble.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: The Jonny Gossamer author Joe Chester, who stated that "the whole series was bullshit" and that "he was in it for the money."
* OverlyLongGag: Harry meets Harmony several times while standing at her door entrance. When she gets mad, she slams the door in his face, and every time, right before it slams loudly, we get an undistinct shot of him leaning with his hand in the doorway, as if she is going to shut his fingers in the door. While not so much of a gag by itself, it kinda CrossesTheLineTwice in a BrickJoke way, when she [[spoiler:''actually'' cut one of his fingers this way]].
* ParallelPornTitles: {{Parodied|Trope}}; Harmony's colleague hides a pirated movie for her in a "[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Cock-rings]]" box.
* ParentalIncest:
** The reason Harmony leaves for L.A. is that [[CerebusRollercoaster her father is raping her little sister, Jenna.]]
** [[spoiler:Harlan Dexter is a borderline example of this, given he apparently had no qualms sleeping with a doppelgänger of his own daughter. Finding out about this was what [[DrivenToSuicide drove Jenna to suicide]], since she thought Harlan was her own real father, and didn't realize that what she saw wasn't actual incest.]]
* PlaceWorseThanDeath
-->'''Harry''': Swell, they're enjoying Baltimore. I'm lying here with my brains out.\\
'''Perry''': I've been to Baltimore, you win.
* PlayingWithATrope: And having the time of its life.
* PocketProtector: [[spoiler:Subverted: Harry, after being shot, pulls out a Johnny Gossamer book with a hole in it.]]
-->'''Harmony''': (''laughing'') Oh, cool! It stopped the bullet, Harry! (''She pokes her finger through the hole in the book and frowns'')\\
'''Harry''': No, not really. (''passes out'')
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Harmony's sister, Jenna, who only appears thrice as a background character: as an out-of-focus girl being taken from her bed; as a pair of feet after her suicide; and as a blur through the window when she spots Dexter.]]
* PrivateDetective: Perry is a professional private detective, while Harry is supposed to be learning the trade for a role.
* PrivateEyeMonologue: Harry's [[LemonyNarrator tangy]] narration.
-->I was tired. I was pissed. I was wetter than Drew Barrymore at a grunge club.
* PunnyName: [[GayParee "Gay" Perry]].
* RealityIsUnrealistic: The fact [[spoiler: Perry]] survives his gunshot wound despite it being coded as fatal in movie language ("Bad" place to get shot, BloodFromTheMouth). Harry even lampshades how cheap it seems that he survived, but it's what "really happened".
* ReallyGetsAround: Harmony back in Indiana. [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Harry was the only one she never slept with,]] other than his best friend Chook Chutney. And when she offers to do it with him [[spoiler:she confesses on having slept with Chook. [[EveryoneHasStandards Harry understandably is pissed and kicks her out his room]].]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Perry delivers one to Harmony's and Jenna's father at the end of the film.
* RedHerring: [[spoiler:The murder case involving Harmony's sister Jenna. Granted, it is one of the events that sets the main plot in motion, but the case itself turns out to be a standard, pretty irrelevant case of suicide.]]
%%* {{Retirony}}: Harry's partner in crime.
* RevolverCylinderSpin: While interrogating a thug as to the whereabouts of Harmony, Harry does this after loading [[RussianRoulette a single bullet]] into his revolver, using it to threaten him. Believing that the chances of the bullet being first in the cylinder are "only eight percent", he immediately pulls the trigger. [[BoomHeadshot It doesn't end well for the thug.]]
-->'''Perry:''' Eight percent? Eight? Who taught you math?!
* SawAWomanInHalf: DoubleSubverted in the opening, where a young Harry is sawing Harmony in half for a magic trick. Then she starts to scream, and it looks like something has gone wrong and she's in actual danger. Then we see that she's fine, and she announces she wants to be an actress when she grows up. Then [[ParentalAbuse her dad slaps her]].
%%* ScaryBlackMan: Mustard.
* SexySantaDress: Harmony's Christmas cocktail outfit is a skimpy Christmas dress trimmed with [[FluffyFashionFeathers white feathers]].
* ShootOutTheLock: Perry shoots open the trunk lock of the sinking car in order to free the girl, [[spoiler: who was dead at that point to begin with.]]
* ShoutOut:
** Director Shane Black has stated that the Literature/PhilipMarlowe books by Creator/RaymondChandler are a heavy influence on the movie;
*** [[ShownTheirWork Every chapter]] is named after a Chandler work: "Trouble Is My Business" (novella), "Literature/TheLadyInTheLake" (novel), "Literature/TheLittleSister" (novel), "The Simple Art Of Murder" (essay), and "Literature/FarewellMyLovely" (novel).
*** Harmony also holds a love for novels that are very aesthetically similar to Marlowe books (albeit written by the fictional [[CaptainErsatz Joe Chester]]).
** The title itself is a ShoutOut to both the [[HistoricalInJoke '60s slang]] for noir spy movies and the unused ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' theme "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".
** Harmony's baseball bat has "Wonder Girl" written on it, acting as a reference to Roy's "Wonder Boy" bat in ''Film/TheNatural''.
** The {{Buddy Cop|Show}} script Harry reads involves a character telling another to "Go spit", referencing ''Film/LethalWeapon'' (which Shane Black [[MythologyGag previously wrote]]).
** This sequence with a [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare classical]] BeamMeUpScotty, lampshaded :
--->'''Harry''': I BET you if you look in their childhood, there is something rotten in [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Denver]].\\
'''Harmony''': [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Denmark]].[[labelnote:ex.]]The correct phrase is ''"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".''[[/labelnote]]\\
'''Harry''': There too.
** When [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] an irrelevant scene that blatantly holds some type of {{foreshadowing}}, Harry compares it to a scene involving the cook in ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' (on which Shane Black was an uncredited script doctor, so this may be a case of either SelfDeprecation or TakeThat).
* ShutUpHannibal: Harry interrupts Mr. Fire's "tough guy" speech with [[spoiler: a few bullets to the chest.]]
* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: Harmony slept with every guy in high school but Harry, who was her UnluckyChildhoodFriend, and his friend Chutney out of loyalty to Harry. [[spoiler:Except that she slept with Chutney, too. Needless to say, Harry is not pleased to learn this.]]
* TheSnarkKnight: Perry to Harry mainly.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Perry and Harry. ''Constantly.''
* SpiritualSuccessor: Shane Black's later film ''Film/TheNiceGuys'' has a very similiar buddy-comedy neo-noir vibe, and a few of the jokes echo the ones in this movie. Notably, both films involve a scene where a male character covers up the nudity of a dead woman.
* SpitTake: Harmony gets a couple in response to Harry's celebrity-doppelganger-spotting, with him apparently [[InvokedTrope timing them to the exact moment she's taking a drink.]]
* StraightGay: "Gay" Perry, who is a badass and generally avoids gay stereotypes. On the other hand, he has several CampGay moments, such as having "I Will Survive" as a ringtone. And he has perfect hair.
* SuddenlyShouting:
-->'''Harmony''': [[spoiler:She predicted that murder, Harry! She sent you and Perry to that exact spot!]]\\
'''Harry''': That whole thing is wild. You know what else is nuts? '''''THAT YOU CUT OFF MY FINGER!'''''
* TakeThat: Harry gets several, which covers other people, movies, and even viewers on occasion.
-->'''Harry''': I was tired. I was pissed. I was wetter than Creator/DrewBarrymore at a grunge club.
* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:Subverted. Perry puts himself between Harry and a mook, simultaneously shooting the mook and taking a bullet... but the bullet goes straight through Perry and hits Harry anyway.]]
* TestesTest: Harry wakes up in the hospital after a shocking ordeal involving electrical torture (to the groin) lots of shooting, a car chase, and a fall from an overpass. The first thing Harmony asks him if hes alright down there.
* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: Harry initially claims to be fine with sharing chastely, but gets uncomfortable when she cuddles up to him and he gets a boner.
* ThisIsReality: This is the main point of the film: tearing down all the palatable trappings of a cool detective story, leaving a very sour reality-based story, but with a veneer of winks-to-the-audience and snappy banter reminding us why the fake stories are fun in the first place.
--> '''Perry''': Do not play detective. This is not a book. This is not a movie.
* ThisLoserIsYou: Harry occasionally chides the audience in his narration.
** "How about you, movie-goer? Have you figured out the [[BuffySpeak case of the... dead people in LA]] yet? Times Square audiences, please don't shout at the screen, and stop picking at that, it'll just get worse."
** "And for all you good people in the Midwest, [[ClusterFBomb sorry we said "fuck" so much]]."
%%* TookALevelInBadass: Harry.
* TotallyRadical: A lot of the dialogue is written in a deliberately dated, noirish 1940s slang. See LegFocus above for an example; who calls women's legs "stems" anymore?
* TrappedInASinkingCar: Perry tries to free a girl from the trunk of a sinking car. His desperate attempt to ShootOutTheLock of the trunk results in [[spoiler:giving the girl a headshot]]. However, she was already dead from a broken neck.
* TrouserSpace: Gay Perry keeps a tiny derringer in the crotch of his pants, knowing that homophobic straight men never check a man's crotch too thoroughly. He's right.
* UnreliableNarrator: Harry occasionally criticizes himself for his poor narration.
* UnwantedAssistance: Harry kindly asks Perry to quit antagonizing Aurelio, the man who has just ''strapped electrodes'' to Harry's privates. However, the trope is usually invoked by Perry, who often has the situation in hand until Harry comes bumbling through it.
* UrineTrouble: Harry spotting a corpse next to him while he's taking a leak, then turning around mid-stream. Oops.
* UseYourHead: When Harmony is attacked by a man in the park, she knocks him out cold with a headbutt to the face.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Harry and Perry gradually become this.
* WalkInChimeIn:
-->'''Perry''': See that? Obedient little bitches, too.\\
'''Girl''': Fuck you! (''throws glass, misses'')
%%* WithFriendsLikeThese: Harry and Perry.
* WorkingTheSameCase: ''[[GenreSavvy Just like in those detective pulps they used to read.]]''
* WorldOfSnark: Just read the examples with dialogue in this page, and you can see the entire movie runs on SnarkToSnarkCombat.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Harry throwing Perry's pistol in the lake so it won't be found. His [[BrokenTreasure $2,000, customized Vektor CP1]] given to him ''by his mother'', now practically gift-wrapped for the cops to find when they dredge the lake.
[[/folder]]
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