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      The Singing Detective

      R Released Nov 7, 2003 1 hr. 49 min. Drama Musical List
      39% 108 Reviews Tomatometer 40% 5,000+ Ratings Audience Score Hospitalized for a severe skin disease, a bitter writer (Robert Downey Jr.) imagines he is the gumshoe from his novel. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Jan 31 Buy Now

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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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      Audience Reviews

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      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 Audience Member Tiresome and uninvolving adaptation by Dennis Potter of his original 1986 TV series. A twitchy and often inaudible Downey Jr lies in a hospital bed, deliriously imagining ghosts from his past as noir characters in a murder mystery. Only when he starts psychiatric sessions with Mel Gibson in a bald skullcap does his psoriasis start to heal and the pieces fall into place. But you'll have long since ceased caring. A vanity project par excellence. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

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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 Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Hospitalized for a severe skin disease, a bitter writer (Robert Downey Jr.) imagines he is the gumshoe from his novel.
      Director
      Keith Gordon
      Executive Producer
      Stan Wlodkowski
      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
      Sound Mix
      Surround, Dolby SR
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