Watching the Detectives (2007)

Director:

Paul Soter

Writer:

Paul Soter (written by)

Release Date:

11 September 2008 (Russia)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Sometimes love is stranger than fiction

Plot:

A film noir buff has his life turned on end by a femme fatale with a big adventure in mind.

Plot Keywords:

Film Geek | Film Buff | Robbery | Co Worker | Driving Blindfolded

Cast

Cillian Murphy	...	Neil
Lucy Liu	...	Violet
Jason Sudeikis	...	Jonathan
Michael Panes	...	Lucien
Callie Thorne	...	Marcia
Michael Yurchak	...	Buddy
Heather Burns	...	Denise
Mark Harelik	...	Detective Barloe
Ali Reza	...	Detective Lowenstein
Josh Pais	...	Andy
Brett Gelman	...	Glenn
Lonny Ross	...	Eager Customer
Paul Scheer	...	Annoying Customer
Richard Waddingham	...	Dennis - Bald Giant
J. T. O'Connor	...	Bald Creep
Joel Garland	...	Bald Customer (as Joel Marsh Garland)
Erik Stolhanske	...	Chad
Daniel Raymont	...	Commercial Guy
Jack Bethke	...	Bouncer
Bryan Paulk	...	Frisbee Guy
Katie Davidson	...	Frisbee Girl
Dennis Gubbins	...	Jay
Rohit Sang	...	Media Giant Clerk
Tara Orr	...	Millie (as Tara Lynn Orr)
Steve Lemme	...	Waiter
Anthony St. James	...	Gary Leathers
Josh Gad	...	Mark
Connor Fox	...	Craig
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Matthew Backer	...	Cool Bro (uncredited)
Alix Elias	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Lou Irizarry	...	Umpire (uncredited)
Tommee May	...	Underground Cocktail Waitress (uncredited)
Annie Roig	...	Customer (uncredited)
Paul Thornton	...	Blackjack Gambler (uncredited)

Directed by
Paul Soter

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Paul Soter		written by

Produced by
Carina Alves	....	co-producer
Bill Benenson	....	executive producer
John Flock	....	executive producer
Pamela Hirsch	....	co-producer
Gary Howsam	....	executive producer
Galt Niederhoffer	....	producer
Celine Rattray	....	producer
Irving Schwartz	....	executive producer
Reagan Silber	....	executive producer
Randy Simon	....	executive producer
Daniela Taplin Lundberg	....	producer
Lewin Webb	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Nathan Barr

Cinematography by
Christophe Lanzenberg		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Jeff Canavan

Production Design by
John Nyomarkay

Set Decoration by
Tora Peterson

Costume Design by
Kurt and Bart

Makeup Department
Brian Abbott	....	makeup department head
Erin Ayanian	....	makeup artist: Lucy Liu & Cillian Murphy
Colleen Callaghan	....	hair department head: Lucy Liu Personal
Joseph Whitmeyer	....	key hair stylist
Elizabeth Gerbino	....	makeup intern (uncredited)

Production Management
Beau J. Genot	....	post-production supervisor
Peter Pastorelli	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nicholas R. Bell	....	second assistant director
Anthony Blanco	....	second second assistant director
Mariela Comitini	....	first assistant director
Jason Fesel	....	second second assistant director
Andrea Roa	....	additional second assistant director

Art Department
Paul Ahern	....	storyboard artist
Lauren Baron	....	art department intern
Robert Caradonna	....	scenic (as Bobby Caradonna)
Michael Cory	....	assistant property master
Thomas A. Delillo	....	lead set dresser
Shannon Finnerty	....	on-set dresser
Jonathan Huggins	....	carpenter
Abbey Katz	....	graphic artist
Mandy Lamb	....	props
Vanessa Merrill	....	art department coordinator
Holly Moore	....	charge scenic
Gregory D. Neumunz	....	swing set dresser (as Gregory Neumunz)
Jessica Nyssen	....	scenic (as Jessica Nissen)
Chris Potter	....	property master
Erica Torres	....	art department production assistant

Sound Department
Steven Avila	....	sound effects editor
Trip Brock	....	supervising sound editor
Adam De Coster	....	foley artist
Michael J. Fox	....	adr supervisor
Ken Ishii	....	sound mixer
Craig Kyllonen	....	ADR recordist
Peter D. Lago	....	sound effects editor
Patricio A. Libenson	....	dialogue editor (as Patricio Liebenson)
Greg Mauer	....	foley mixer
Chris McDonough	....	foley artist
Greg Morgenstein	....	adr recordist
Rick Owens	....	foley artist
Eric Reuveni	....	adr editor
Eric Reuveni	....	adr mixer
Jonathan Rimas	....	adr mixer
Mark A. Rozett	....	sound re-recording mixer
Steven Utt	....	transfer engineer
Kelly Vandever	....	sound re-recording mixer
Ben Whitver	....	first assistant sound editor
Julie Wilde	....	boom operator
Brian S.M. Wroth	....	dialogue editor

Visual Effects by
David Tecson	....	visual effects

Stunts
Jodi Michelle Pynn	....	stunts (as Jodi Pynn)
David Shumbris	....	stunts
Manny Siverio	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Mark Beattie	....	best boy electric
Manuel Billeter	....	camera operator
Maceo Bishop	....	Steadicam operator
Jess Fogel	....	electrician
Shawn Greene	....	gaffer
Rick Griggs	....	key grip
Nicholas Hahn	....	assistant camera
Mark T. Karinja	....	electrician
David Kavanaugh	....	electrician
Mark Koenig	....	additional grip
Ludovic Littee	....	assistant camera
Daniel Luebke	....	additional grip
Brian C. Mackey	....	film loader
Nick Maczka	....	additional grip
Matthew Mendelson	....	electrician
Jessica Miglio	....	still photographer
Jeff Niggemeyer	....	electrician
Joseph Paolini	....	best boy grip
Nicole Rivelli	....	still photographer
Randy Schwartz	....	second assistant camera
Simon Shen	....	electrician
Walter Strafford	....	additional grip
Paul Swan	....	dolly grip
Josh Taylor	....	gaffer
Sean Taylor	....	electrician
Travis Tips	....	electrician
Vance Tucker	....	third grip
Alan Wolfe	....	first assistant camera
Casey Wooden	....	grip

Casting Department
Barbara Harris	....	adr voice casting
Meredith Jacobson	....	extras casting
Laura Verbeke	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Colleen McTigue	....	key costumer
Amy Pickering	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Sai-Bing Ho	....	post-production assistant
Matthew W. Johnson	....	iq artist
Betsy Solorzano	....	digital intermediate producer
Lance Spindler	....	color timer

Music Department
Ryan Amon	....	composer: additional music
Kyle Kenneth Batter	....	composer: additional music
Jesus Castanon	....	assistant music editor
Allison Wright Clark	....	co-music supervisor
Mark Petrie	....	composer: additional music
Joel J. Richard	....	additional source music
Brian Richards	....	music supervisor
Adam Sanborne	....	composer: additional music
Mark Skillingberg	....	music editor
Michael Suby	....	composer: additional music

Transportation Department
Peter Reith	....	transportation captain

Other crew
John A. Accardo	....	production assistant
Robyn Alcock	....	production office coordinator
Adi Amit	....	production secretary
Steve Boyle	....	post-production accountant: JFA, Inc.
Mia Bruno	....	set intern
Nicole Bukowski	....	accounting clerk
Alvin Charles	....	set intern
Carol A. Compton	....	script clearance
Steve Faughnan	....	location scout
Claude Forest	....	insurance broker
Dan Gloeckner	....	set production assistant
Erika Goldfarb	....	office production assistant
Marshall Johnson	....	location manager
Sara Lane	....	production accountant
Andrew Lang	....	assistant to director
Leonard Mah	....	set intern
Stephanie A. Marquardt	....	script supervisor
Trinidy McMahon	....	set production assistant
Craig Peck	....	production assistant
Anthony Michael Salerno	....	set intern
Rob van de Laar	....	craft service
Chad Williams	....	location assistant
Shane Williams	....	assistant location manager

Thanks
Jay Chandrasekhar	....	thanks
Ralph Cioffi	....	thanks
Lou Coulson	....	thanks
Michael A. Feder	....	thanks
Kevin Heffernan	....	thanks
Keya Khayatian	....	thanks
Steve Lemme	....	thanks
Erik Stolhanske	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Plum Pictures
• Peace Arch Entertainment Group
• Hart-Lunsford Pictures

Distributors

• Empire (2008) (Romania) (all media)
• Peace Arch Entertainment Group (2008) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Peace Arch Entertainment Group (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Peace Arch Releasing (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Audio Visual Entertainment (2009) (Greece) (DVD)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2008) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• G2 Pictures (2009) (UK) (all media)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2008) (Thailand) (DVD)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2009) (Taiwan) (all media)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2009) (Vietnam) (DVD)
• Officine UBU (2008) (Italy) (all media)
• Peace Arch Home Entertainment (2008) (Canada) (DVD)
• SP Films (2010) (Argentina) (all media)
• Splendid Film (2008) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Abel Cine Tech  cameras and lenses
• All-Star Animals  animal handlers
• Available Light Productions  grip and lighting equipment (as Available Light)
• Axium  payroll
• Coast to Coast Catering  catering
• Cutting Edge Group  music services
• D.R. Reiff & Associates  insurance
• Eisner & Frank  production legal
• IndieClear  script clearance
• Lightnin' Production Rentals  transportation equipment
• Mayflower Studios  adr recording studio
• Mega Playground  video dailies
• Monkeyland Audio  post-production sound services
• Monkeyland Audio  sound post-production
• Monkeyland Audio  sound re-recording
• Pride Equipment Corp.  camera cranes and dollies (as Pride Equipment)
• Soundtrack  ADR Facility
• United Talent Agency (UTA)  domestic sales

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Poland:90 min (DVD version) | USA:91 min | Argentina:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (one scene) | Color

Certification:

Germany:6 | USA:Not Rated | Australia:M | Argentina:Atp | UK:15 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Bayonne, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Plum Pictures

Trivia:

The title of the film is taken from a 1977 Elvis Costello song, from the album "My Aim Is True".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Neil and Violet go to the cat lady's house to watch the game, the cats constantly keep changing spots between shots.

Quotes:

Lucien:Ya know, we could do this later if you want?
Neil:Oh god Lucien, she's ruined it for me Lucien. I mean it's all so boring now!
Lucien:Hey, hey let's put in a movie?
Neil:No, no more movies. It's no use, it's not enough anymore, ya know? It's just all so mundane and so predictable Lucien. Oh hey look! It's Jayson. Jayson's going to come in here and he's going to hand me a package, and then he's going hand me his thing, and I'm going to sign the thing and I'm going to hand it right back to him, and then he's going to get in his truck and he's going to drive of. Oh, it's... it's so predictable Lucien, it's not enough anymore, ya know? Where's the... where's the adventure, you know?
[while signing Jayson's package]
Neil:there's no adventure man. Where's the adventure Lucien?
Jay:You signed it Neil Adventure.
[Neil signs it again]
Jay:You crossed out Adventure and wrote adventure again.
Neil:What does it matter Jayson? Huh!
[...]

Movie Connections:

References A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Soundtrack:

OUR SWORDS

Cillian Murphy proves his versatility and Liu is cute as a button in this enjoyable but extremely lightweight comedy.

The premise is not original, the acting is good but not exactly to write home about and technically it's not a great accomplishment. But is 'Watching The Detectives' entertaining? Definitely. Lucy Liu fits the role of the play-in-the-field perfectly (her role reminded me of her character in Lucky Number Slevin) and Cillian Murphy really proved to be a surprise in a comedy role. I've only seen his really intense, sometimes scary roles and couldn't believe he was going to be somewhat enjoyable as a light character but I was very wrong.

The antics they get in to are fairly original and there even were several laugh-out-loud moments, for instance when the waiter is just a little too comfortable with spraying a glass of water on a woman he doesn't know on the request of a guy he doesn't know. :-). And when Lucy starts talking about her weirdo ex-boyfriends me and my friends were in stitches. The following scenes are quite amusing too, as Cillian gets paranoid over every bald guy he sees.

I mentioned some of the more original stuff above but there's also formulaic stuff present. WTD is never intended to be a film we can take something away from, it's harmless escapism that ironically enough deals with escapism a lot of the time :-). The relatively negative connotations concerning movie freaks certainly left a bad taste in my mouth after viewing, after all isn't that the target audience of these small films? I somehow feel they didn't find the right balance between respecting film and commenting on over-obsessive film freaks. Also the fact that they can't differ people who watch sci-fi, anime and stuff from the people who enjoy quality movies (like the mentioned Seventh Seal or Casino). Seems a bit ignorant.

In the end, DTW is better than a lot of comedies but it never goes deep, we (us guys) just fall in love with Lucy Liu all over again and that's never a bad way to spend ninety minutes.

7.5/10