Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Robert Downey Jr. | ... | Dan Dark | |
Robin Wright | ... | Nicola / Nina / Blonde (as Robin Wright Penn) | |
Mel Gibson | ... | Dr. Gibbon | |
Jeremy Northam | ... | Mark Binney | |
Katie Holmes | ... | Nurse Mills | |
Adrien Brody | ... | First Hood | |
Jon Polito | ... | Second Hood | |
Carla Gugino | ... | Betty Dark / Hooker | |
Saul Rubinek | ... | Skin Specialist | |
Alfre Woodard | ... | Chief of Staff | |
Amy Aquino | ... | Nurse Nozhki | |
David Dorfman | ... | Young Dan Dark | |
Eddie Jones | ... | Moonglow Bartender | |
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Lily Knight | ... | Woman Physiotherapist |
Clyde Kusatsu | ... | Visiting Japanese Doctor |
"While hospitalized with an extreme case of psoriasis, novelist Dan Dark reworks his first book in his head. Feverish, paranoid and prone to musical outbreaks, he confuses himself with his protagonist, a detective investigating the murder of a prostitute in 1950s Los Angeles." Written by Mag-Helder Thélot
THE SINGING DETECTIVE (3 outta 5 stars) Excellent main performance by Robert Downey Jr. as a writer of detective stories who is stricken with a horrible skin disease which makes his every movement extremely painful. He is basically trapped in his hospital bed and at the mercy of the doctors, nurses and attendants. With nothing else to do he begins to hallucinate... mixing up plots of his novels with personal details from his past. Also people he talks to tend to start lip-syncing old 50s tunes for no particular reason. Mel Gibson has a great supporting role as a psychiatrist who thinks that there may be a psychological component to Downey's suffering and seeks to get to the bottom of it. Odd, little film has a lot of interesting scenes and characters... unfortunately there are a number of scenes that kind of fall flat, too. Not to worry, the movie is still well worth seeing... if for no other reason than to see a balding Mel. Gibson produced the movie... which is probably the only reason they were able to afford to get him in a small, independent movie like this.