A film noir buff has his life turned on end by a femme fatale with a big adventure in mind.
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Title: Watching the Detectives (2007)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| 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 | |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Neil, a self proclaimed film geek and owner of Gumshoe video, has always been content to live vicariously through his favorite films noir. But when he meets Violet, a real-life femme fatale, his mundane world gets turned upside down and the line between reality and the movies quickly begins to blur. Will Neil step up and embrace a life full of adventure or retreat back to his comfortable couch? Written by Anonymous
Plot Keywords:
film geek | crazy woman | cult film | video store | video store clerk |Taglines:
Sometimes love is stranger than fictionParents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
11 September 2008 (Russia) See more »Also Known As:
Liebe lieber ungewöhnlich - Eine Beziehung mit Hindernissen See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
$2,000,000 (estimated)Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
(DVD)
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Neil: No, she was... she was, you know, she was pretty consistently out there.
Jonathan: Yeah alright then, she's not bi-polar.
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Written by Jon Greathouse (as Jon G. Greathouse) (ASCAP)
Courtesy of S3 Music and Sound
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Did You Know?
Trivia
In order to keep as authentic of an American accent as possible, Cillian Murphy didn't use his true Irish accent on set until the film finished shooting. See more »Goofs
When Violet interrupts Neil's bath and he is supposed to be naked, he is wearing some kind of cloth to cover his masculine parts. See more »Quotes
Jonathan: Did she have any wild mood swings?Neil: No, she was... she was, you know, she was pretty consistently out there.
Jonathan: Yeah alright then, she's not bi-polar.
See more »
Soundtracks
Skunkified MonkWritten by Jon Greathouse (as Jon G. Greathouse) (ASCAP)
Courtesy of S3 Music and Sound
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Watching the Detectives - Neil (the very talented Cillian Murphy) owns a rundown video store that specializes in obscure B movies and film noir. His life consists of watching movies and chatting while his life goes nowhere. One day he meets an intense free-spirit girl named Violet (Lucy Liu) who plays pranks on him compulsively. The film contains many delightful nods to gumshoe film noir.
The plot is simple, and it seems like the sort of film that was made for film buffs, with more references than you can shake a stick at. It even feels like the sort of film I would make, and doubtless director/writer Peter Soter speaks from experience. The premise is enjoyable, as is the chemistry between Cillian Murphy, who is the show, and Lucy Liu. She perfectly plays the "crazy" girlfriend. She's like fire. Violet burns brightly, but often burns the gullible Nick with her pranks. Nick reminds me of me. And I love myself, and love Cillian Murphy, so this film really spoke to me.
The films message, which is to get out and enjoy life, might rub some film aficionados the wrong way for criticizing the wholeness of their lives, so their umbrage is understood, though unfortunate. I know fully well that screens are no substitute for real life and take every opportunity to do something else. They are a nice distraction when things are stagnant though.
It's just all in good fun, often very good fun. The shenanigans that Nick and Violet get into are just too much. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this film. Watching the Detectives is cleverly written, often very funny and quirky and idiosyncratic as hell. As this is the case, it's not for everyone but eons better than most of what has come out this year. I'm dismayed Watching the Detectives didn't get a full release. I suppose there aren't enough ironic film buffs out there and fans of Cillian Murphy, whose performance makes the movie. This and Breakfast on Pluto are a great set of companion films. Watching the Detectives gets an A-