The Singing Detective

R

Released Nov 7, 2003

1h 49m

Drama

Musical

List

39%

Tomatometer

108 Reviews

40%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

Hospitalized for a severe skin disease, a bitter writer (Robert Downey Jr.) imagines he is the gumshoe from his novel.

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Critics Consensus

Delightful performance from Robert Downey Jr. can't save The Singing Detective's transition from TV to the big screen.

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Empire Magazine

Rated: 2/5

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

Jeremiah Kipp

Slant Magazine

Potter's gaze into the man's dark sexual and familial secrets isn't about one man's oppression, but about his self-imposed melodrama.

Rated: 1.5/4

Jan 17, 2004

Full Review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

Perpetually feels as if it were a good idea that was never fully thought through.

Rated: 2/5

Dec 7, 2003

Full Review

Kaleem Aftab

The List

This film seems confused to the point that it is impossible to come to grips with the intriguing study of one man's fetid psyche which the film is supposed to essay.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 17, 2019

Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

The film's colorful song-and-dance set pieces rely on lip-synced '50s songs that are the weakest link in a bumbling but gregarious movie.

Rated: C

May 9, 2009

Full Review

Film Threat

Rated: 1.5/5

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

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Jennifer E

I only made it 30 minutes into this boring movie. Horrible dialog.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/10/24

Full Review

Landon S

This movie was awful. What was going on. Singing was the only decent part of the film. Robert Downey jr was a dirty skeeze pig in this movie and it's no wonder this movie gets bad reviews.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

04/03/24

Full Review

Valeria M

Un'ottima idea e un ottimo cast che non spiccano il volo.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

05/27/23

Full Review

steve d

I am embarrassed for everyone involved.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It is entertaining even if you don't always know what is happening. RDJ does look pretty disgusting in this but there is moments when he doesn't. Only thing i didn't enjoy was that they didn't actually have RDJ sing, I feel like they should have.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The Singing Detective was not at all what I expected. It is a film that is all about a writer who is suffering in the hospital and he hallucinates about multiple different stories, which all start converging around him. I’m never all that fond of movies that have no clearly defined rules or proper grounding in reality and this one falls into that a number of times. Occasionally the fantasy makes sense and it is a symptom of his real-life paranoia, but other times it is chaos to the point where I can’t connect the dots. The visions are very random and don’t contain a consistent theme because his mind wanders a lot. I like some of the therapy sequences with Mel Gibson, because that’s when reality seems to be the most important aspect. I also would have been fine if they wanted to spend more time in the world of his book with a detective and gangsters, but that never feels like a priority. The ending makes no sense to me, and I was left scratching my head. I’m sure there are some people who might enjoy this kind of mind-bending exploration of a writer’s damaged psyche, but I was underwhelmed. Also, it was very disappointing that The Singing Detective was a Lip-Syncing Detective through most of the film.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

07/06/18

Full Review

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Keith Gordon

Director

Robert Downey Jr.

Dan Dark

Robin Wright

Nicola

Mel Gibson

Dr. Gibbon

Jeremy Northam

Mark Binney

Katie Holmes

Nurse Mills

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Synopsis

Hospitalized for a severe skin disease, a bitter writer (Robert Downey Jr.) imagines he is the gumshoe from his novel.

Director: Keith Gordon
Producer: Mel Gibson, Steven Haft, Bruce Davey
Distributor: Airborne Productions Inc., Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Icon Entertainment International, E1 Entertainment, Haft Entertainment
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Musical
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 7, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 21, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $336.5K
Runtime: 1h 49m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SR

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