Customer Reviews

The Singing Detective

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Few if any reviewers here indicate having watched Keith Gordon's director's commentary on this DVD. I think it would alter some of their judgements. As Gordon explains, the film script was in fact written by Dennis Potter, whose original "Singing Detective" ran as a much longer miniseries on British TV 20 years ago, and the changes to an American setting with 1950s American pop music were really Potter's own ideas. If the transition to feature film format loses something in the translation, it is in part due to his reconceptualization of his original creation.

As the commentary reveals, much of the inventiveness in this new version is not apparent in a single viewing. While it may seem to truncate and over-simplify the lengthier TV version, there is still complexity and ambiguity enough to entertain and engage a thoughtful viewer appreciative of good screenwriting and wonderful performances. Robert Downey's dual role as the embittered writer and the Bogart-style detective of the title reveal the mercurial range of this amazing actor, and his scenes with Robin Wright Penn, who plays his wife, are a brilliant portrayal of two people equally matched in their struggle to preserve a relationship and, at the same time, the integrity of themselves as individuals.

Strong cast. Interesting contrast of visual styles. Rated R for a wide range of disturbingly graphic and lurid visual imagery, including the main character's horrific skin condition. Granted, this "Singing Detective" is no substitute for the original, but seen on its own merits, it still stands up well on its own.

The original BBC television series THE SINGING DETECTIVE, written by Dennis Potter, is by any standard one of the milestones of television. It was a weird but spectacularly successful blend of hospital drama, film noir, psychological thriller, and surreal musical that managed to strike the right balance between its disparate elements to create something utterly unique and magical. Michael Gambon was perfect in the lead, and he was complemented by a first rate cast, including Bill Patterson and Joanna Whalley.

Now we have a very odd thing indeed: a film version of a television series, complete with an all star cast of such performers as Robert Downey Jr., Mel Gibson (all but unrecognizable behind a balding head of light brown hair and thick glasses), Adrien Brody, Robin Penn Wright, Alfre Woodard, Carla Gugino (of SPY KIDS fame), Jon Polito, Katie Holmes, and Jeremy Northam. Despite a spirited, capable performance by Downey (talent intact after his incarceration) in the main role (Dan Dark, as opposed to the Philip Marlowe of the television series), the film simply isn't very successful. I had such high expectations for this one!

So, why does this movie fail? Primarily, two reasons. First, the original series was 450 minutes long, while the movie is only 109. In other words, the series had ample time to introduce the viewer to its strange, nightmarish, surreal world, while the movie, because of time limitations, simply plunges the viewer directly into the heart of things. For anyone who has seen the series, it will seem as if the movie is constantly in a rush, and as if it is always leaving things out. The movie comes across as far less varied and rich.

The other problem is that for the most part the movie lacks the energy and vitality of the series, almost as if there is less of a sense of what it is that they are trying to achieve. One watching the series will recognize that without the deft touch exerted by Potter on the script, the show could easily degenerate into something odd and unpleasant. This is precisely what happens in the movie.

One would imagine that with an all-star cast and a larger budget, the movie would at least be a far more attractive and visually compelling affair. I actually prefered the hospital wards of the series. The cast should have been an improvement, but I found nearly all the performers apart from Downey to be wasted in their roles. About the only thing that I found better in the film was Downey's makeup. The main character is suffering from an especially nasty case of psoriatic arthritis, and Downey does indeed look quite afflicted. However, psoriatic arthritis is far more treatable today than it was during the time when the television series was set (one of my best friends suffers from it, and tells me about the medications that she uses in fighting the condition), so it didn't make as much medical sense now as it did almost twenty years ago.

My greatest fear about this film is that it will skew people's assumptions about the original series. It is truly an unworthy successor, and I would urge everyone to see the original series, which is available on DVD. Those who like the movie will love the original even more, and even those who hate the movie will love it.

This movie didn't seem to get very good reviews. After seeing it myself, I'm stumped. It's malevolent and weird, but it certainly isn't dull; it's surreal, but not to the point that you can't tell what's going on. Plus, the acting is great and the concept disturbing. As unpleasant as parts of it were, I'm going to watch it again.
Part of the problem is, this movie is a remake of a much better TV series. The TV series ran 7 1/2 hours, and this movie has *somehow* been cut down to 2. Okay. You can guess what happened. In an attempt to trim off fat, they whittled the plot down to an incomplete skeleton. But it all still makes sense, and I enjoyed doing my own job of guessing and reconstruction.
I think the other problem is that people see the title, and expect a fun, flashy crime story. This movie is not what you'd call "fun", unless you love a good Lynch or Cronenberg marathon.
Also, if you want to ogle Robert Downey Jr.--and that's a good and admirable pastime, I applaud it--this movie will bother you. He spends most of it looking like he's in the last stages of radiation poisoning. His dreamworld alter-ego is handsome, but played as a flat-voiced, shiny-eyed Invasion Of The Body Snatchers doppelganger. I had to remind myself that it was only an actor in makeup; the illness portrayed here is horrible seems very real. Downey is ferociously good, filled with rage and scorching the paint off the walls, and it's disturbing.

Yeah, Downey is great in this; he goes from a sick, vicious, venomous invalid in the first half to a slightly-less sick, more charming, more frightening nut case in the second half. More frightening, as he becomes less insane? Absolutely. In the first half of the movie, you know what he will do--he's going to break every bone in your body, if he could just get past the pain enough to lever himself out of bed. In the second half, he is a gentler lunatic, still lashing out, but also experiencing moments of dotty clarity; he is picking up pieces of his own broken mind and saying "Oooh. Look at that." Watching the expressions flicker across Downey's face is amazing. There is a moment when his wife says something to him, something innocent which still brings up a flare of insanity. You see a blaze of fear and paranoia, an "Uh oh, what am I doing?" moment, then a forced calm as he reminds himself that he shouldn't follow that impulse.
Anyway, enough. I highly recommend this movie if you like good acting, if you like being disturbed, if you want some Twilight Zone to chew on. It is much more unnerving than some horror films I've seen, and the ending is happy in a horrifying way. Go ahead, it's great, you just have to like this sort of thing and be in the mood for it. Watch it on Halloween, I dare you.

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.

The Singing Detective is a frantic, high energy and very weird cinematic experience. Dennis Potter wrote the screenplay for the film in 1992, two years before his death, based on his own 1986 BBC miniseries of the same name. Potter, who suffered from the same skin disease as our main character, very much wanted a feature film version of his miniseries, which may or may not closely resemble his own life. The script kicked around Hollywood for nearly a decade before director Keith Gordon, star Robert Downey Jr., and producer Mel Gibson became attached. The result is a fine example of entertainment - an eclectic mix of drama, film noir, and comedy, with plenty of fantasy musical numbers thrown in for good measure.

Robert Downey Jr. gives a truly amazing performance as Dan Dark, a pulp fiction author who is flat on his back in a hospital, suffering from a debilitating skin condition. If anything, his mind is in worse shape than his body. As he slowly recovers, he imagines scenes from his first novel, The Singing Detective, with himself as the lead character. His ex-wife, Nicola (a beautiful Robin Wright Penn), visits him at the hospital and plays a key part in his frantic imagination. He also has dreams and visions of his childhood, where he sees his mother (Carla Gugino) have an affair with his father's partner, Mark Binney (Jeremy Northam). His psychotherapist, Dr. Gibbon (an almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson), believes that things he experienced as a child have led to his sudden outbursts of violent temper. It is Gibbon's job to heal Dan's mind in tandem with his recovering body. Katie Holmes, as a nurse caring for Dan, Adrien Brody, and Jon Polito, as a pair of hoods, round out the excellent cast.

The Singing Detective is definitely different from any film to come out in recent years. It has a bizarre David Lynch like quality and a refreshing weirdness. The script is jumbled and moves frantically from one thing to another, but its gorgeous style, energetic performances, and fantastic musical numbers keep it entertaining. I wish it were a bit longer so I could understand the story a little better, but seeing this has made me desperate to seek out the original miniseries, which I have yet to see. The pacing can sometimes become tedious, and the concept of the film can be challenging for those unfamiliar with the source material, but ultimately "The Singing Detective" is a visual delight and an acting tour-de-force. It is one of the most unique films I have seen in years and I'm sure glad I saw it. Not recommended for everyone, but worth a try.

The film is a strange animal, all right, a work sans genre, and at times Gordon seems to have overreached himself, grasping for effects he isn't quite able to achieve. The various styles, moods, and genres give the film a slightly garish, amateurish feel, yet in the end (perhaps consciously on Gordon's part) this very awkwardness works in the film's favor. The Singing Detective is a remarkably ingenuous work, fresh and daring, almost childlike in its lack of pretension, and easily one of the most original American movies of the last twenty years. Above all, it showcases Robert Downey Jr.'s raging, embittered psoriasis-afflicted pulp writer, inside whose head the whole movie (more or less) takes place, and Downey gives an inventive, powerful performance, what may be the apotheosis of his enormous talent. Praise for Downey notwithstanding, on its release Gordon's film met with a wall of critical resistance, a veritable consensus of contempt. This may have been due in part (in the UK at least) to a fondness for Potter's original TV series; but it was perhaps due even more to the basic incompatibility of Potter's idiosyncratic, scathing vision with mainstream (critical) tastes. Whatever the case, the movie once again tragically failed to find its audience.

As with his previous adaptations, Gordon respected the source material without revering it, and as a director, he has a rare gift: the ability to fuse his own sensibility and talents with his subject at a fundamental level. In the case of The Singing Detective, it was a somewhat less seamless fusion; Potter's vision (his bizarre blend of musical fantasy with bleak psychological realism) was so startlingly original it required another sensibility at least as strong and eccentric to fuse with. Gordon doesn't quite possess (yet) the surrealist gifts to make Potter's vision his own, or to take it to the next level (David Lynch might be the only director capable of that). He's a proficient director in every way, and seems to be blessed with a natural rapport with actors (perhaps why so many good ones want to work with him). Yet Gordon isn't a visionary director, and this was a visionary script. Fortunately, he had a visionary actor at a career peak to take up the slack, and Downey carries the day.

The Singing Detective isn't a masterpiece; it's flawed and fractured and at times thin, even facile and occasionally redundant (most especially in the pseudo-noir sequences). But it's an imaginative and fearless piece of cinema, an admirably eccentric work that manages to do something like justice to a brilliant piece of writing. Full of inventive delights and heartfelt touches, it leaves most other recent American films in the dust. Yet it flopped badly, both in the UK and the US, being so poorly reviewed that many people (myself included) gave it a miss, wary of the stench of failure. As it happened, the bad smells came not from the film but from critics too corrupt and jaded to recognize a work of art when they saw it.

(Excerpt from "True to the Muse: Keith Gordon's Life on the Fringe," from DOGVILLE VS. HOLLYWOOD, by Jake Horsley)

THE SINGING DETECTIVE is a brave new world for cinema. Adroitly written, directed by Keith Gordon, and 'performed' by a wonderful ensemble of actors, this is not a 'film noir', not a musical in the vein of "Moulin Rouge" of Baz Luhrman, not a flashback to 'golden oldies': this film is a randy combination of all these elements and more. It is a thriller/spoof/comedy/tender statement about man's isolation and dependency on illusion to explain the past, and just plain bizarre but thoroughly entertaining stuff! The cast is headed by a bravura performance by Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role - a hospitalized man who deals with his childhood and life by creating a fictional movie in which he is embedded as a detective. Also superb are Robin Wright Penn, Jeremy Northam, Katie Holmes, Alfre Woodard, Mel Gibson, and Adrien Brody among other more minor roles. The staged 'musical numbers' are lip-synched favorites by the main actors and are sensational in the way they weave into the story line. You must be in an adventuresome mood to enjoy this movie, but give it a chance and it will mesmerize you.

What can I say? I was a Singing Detective virgin, being ignorant of the British TV show or the story line. I bought it for Robert Downey, Jr. It is weird, disturbing and pulls you in like a moth to a flame. I have watched it several times now, getting a little more understanding every time I do. My favorite scene is the Mr. Sandman number. How funny!

The acting is supurb; why this didn't get any critical acclaim is beyond me. Robert Downey Jr proves, yet again, that professionally no one can touch him. He is a rare class of actor that can deliver any range be it humor or tragedy. This role had to be a challenge though with the total body make up needed for Dan Dark's horrible skin condition; not to mention the emotional roller coaster the character is on. The man appears to cry real tears at one point! Kudos RDJ!! I wish The People could vote for Oscar winners and not "The Academy". There would be a lot of different winners. RDJ would have several of the gold guys on his mantelpiece if I had anything to do with it.

I don't care for the ending at all; I probably don't totally understand it yet. For a SD newbie, trying to figure out which scene is in Dan Dark's tortured mind or is for real is part of the fun of this film. I intend to see the British series as soon as I can. Maybe I can understand the ending better. Hummm......

It's not for everyone but for those willing to take a risk and actually have to think about a story rather than just watch it, oh, do try this film.

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.

Author Dan Dark is trying to recover from a severe case of psoriasis, which causes him immense physical pain and sometimes the occasional hallucination. As he re-works his first novel, "The Singing Detective," in his mind -- sometimes imaging the people surrounding him as characters in this book, sometimes breaking out in song -- Dr. Gibbon, a psychlogist, tries to help Dark get at the root of his ailment by examining the events of his past.

Writer Dennis Potter re-works his TV mini-series into a fine film, mingling musiclas, film noir and a good human drama. Robert Downey, Jr., is excellent as Dan Dark, suffering both with the terrible skin condition an with his deep-seated emotions behind the characters in his first book. His delivery of Potter's fast-paced dialogue as well as his finesse with the character are amazing. Probably one of his best performances. The supporting cast also gives fine performances that truly enhance the film: Mel Gibson as Dr. Gibbon; Adrien Brody and Jon Polito as the two bumbling hoods; Katie Holmes as Nurse Mills; Jeremy Northam as Mark Binney; and Robin Wright Penn as Nicola/Nina/The Blonde. The makeup is also wonderful, especially both the work done to give Downey, Jr. psoriasis, and the almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson.

My only gripe is that the editing is sometimes a bit choppy making some scenes not flow as well as they could. Other than that, this is a great movie, filled with fine performances and a sharp, strong script.