Product Details

• Actors: Cillian Murphy, Lucy Liu, Josh Pais, Mark Harelik, Heather Burns
• Format: Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Peace Arch/Genius
• DVD Release Date: August 12, 2008
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0018PH3KQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,008 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 08/12/2008 Run time: 94 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Be kind. Rewind and buy Cary Grant., August 21, 2008

By 

C. Donato "kweenb" (Yuma, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Watching the Detectives (DVD)

I understand why this film was never widely distributed. How it made it into production is amazing to begin with, not to mention attracting such talents as Murphy, Liu, and Burns.

The beginning hooks you like an old Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn flick, but it doesn't reel you in. We get much more background on Neil than we ever do on Violet and this is very unsatisfying. Their interchanges are more interesting than enlightening and do little to reveal much about what's really going on inside the "bored", albeit whacko, lead chick's brain.

Murphy gives a great performance as a small-time video store owner (Neil) engrossed in classic flicks, but we never see the "inside" of Violet (Liu), a real-life femme fatale who wanders into his store one day. And we don't know if Neil ever sees the inside of Violet.

Many scenes drag, do not move the characters along, or are not really pertinent to the plot. Character arcs are virtually nonexistent. If you see the movie once and try telling the story to someone, you'll find it difficult to do so.

Bottom line - this could have been a really good movie. If Violet had, in fact, been a detective or an FBI agent and Neil had somehow become involved in her mission, we're talking future classic here. We're talking Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ALOT OF LAUGHS IN A SHALLOW POND!!!, December 28, 2008

By 

Sheri L. Williams "WESLEY D." - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Watching the Detectives (DVD)

This movie is hilarious beyond belief. Staying up late and catching it on Showtime at 6:30 in the morning was like finding a diamond in the rough. This movie lacks major character development more like a television show that you should have been watching for a few weeks and then got a 2 hour finale special. You never really get any character insight you never fully get to know who NEIL is (CILLIAN MURPHY BATMAN BEGINS SCARECROW) or the even more mysterious Violet (LUCY LIU CHARLIE'S ANGEL'S). Half the movie is spent with Neil half the movie is spent with Neil trying to get Violet's phone number& figuring out where she lives. Neil is quite the classic movie buff and hates the big time establishment "MEGA VIDEO" (something like blockbuster) for their lack of love and knowledge of movies they own. He has his own set of nerdy movie friends who bicker over different movie topics, whereas Violet is a very bizarre and spontaneous character who comes and goes her friends like herself are very kooky and random but play minor various roles throughout the movie. She meets Neil and tries to get him to portray the characters he watches in movies rather than just talk about them this leads Neil on an adventurous life risking few days or weeks. The movie loses you in confusion numerous times, amazingly and surprisingly funny if you want a change of pace, just bored out of your mind or you want to see Lucy Liu and Cillian Murphy out of their normal character watch it. It won't disappoint if you fall under those 3 categories. My rating 3.5 out of 5 stars. IT HAS POTENTIAL.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, January 11, 2009

By 

L. M. Bays - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Watching the Detectives (DVD)

This movie was purely entertaining. If you are looking at for a film for quality this is not the one; but if you are looking at a movie to cheer you up I suggest it. It was really cute and funny; and Cillian Murphy was quite good looking in the flick.