Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Remember Robert Downey Jr. in the revelatory Wonder Boys (which, like 2005's Thank You for Smoking, contained superfluous Katie Holmes)? Like Steve Zahn or Sam Rockwell, he made you wish he would get more work.

Well, he got more work, and as Harry Lockhart, Mr. Downey astonishes. Maybe it's all that Mexican Black Tar heroin and Wing Chun Kung Fu, but Downey's line readings are unlike any in the industry.

Val Kilmer departs from his usual roll playing Val Kilmer to play a gay private investigator - not much of a stretch for him - and he finally entertains.

Shane Black, who after writing nine crappy films, must have locked himself in a room with some clever friends for a weekend, because the dialogue is a huge improvement from "Aww, man, fat kid farted!" (The Monster Squad (1987)).

It's the perfect antidote to the committee-made films of the past year.