Watching the Detectives

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

7.4K

YOUR RATING

A film noir buff to the extreme is given a taste of his own medicine and has his life turned upside down by a kooky femme fatale with a big adventure in mind. Sometimes love is stranger than fiction.

Play trailer1:39

1 Video

22 Photos

Comedy Romance

A film noir buff to the extreme is given a taste of his own medicine and has his life turned upside down by a kooky femme fatale with a big adventure in mind. Sometimes love is stranger than... Read allA film noir buff to the extreme is given a taste of his own medicine and has his life turned upside down by a kooky femme fatale with a big adventure in mind. Sometimes love is stranger than fiction.A film noir buff to the extreme is given a taste of his own medicine and has his life turned upside down by a kooky femme fatale with a big adventure in mind. Sometimes love is stranger than fiction.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

7.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Videos1

Trailer 1:39

Trailer

Photos22

+ 16

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Storyline

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Did you know

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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.

Goofs
During Neil's "concert" for Violet, she accidentally burns a cardboard cutout's eye. Later when Neil is crying over their breakup while ringing up a customer, it shows the cutout burn-free.

Quotes
Denise: I bet you're gonna say next it's not you, it's me.
Neil: No, no, no, it's definitely you. Look, Denise, you're not enough like Katharine Ross in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Denise: I don't know what that means!
Neil: She was so supportive, you know. She... she didn't make Paul Newman feel stupid. She went along with it.

Alternate versions
There are no less than four different versions of this film available: Runtimes are "1h 34m (94 min)"--general theatrical release, "1h 31m (91 min) (United States)"--theatrical release, "1h 34m (94 min) (Argentina)" and "1h 30m (90 min) (DVD) (Poland)".

Connections
Features La rue rouge (1945)

Soundtracks
Break & Hip
Written by Adam Sanborne (BMI)
Courtesy of S3 Music and Sound

User reviews43

Featured review

8/10

Life getting in the way of watching movies is fun, funny and enjoyable

"Watching the Detectives" is a movie for movie watchers who like to sit around watching movies about people who sit around watching movies. Neil (Cillian Murphy) is such a person. He owns a small video store specializing in B-movies and other hard to find titles complete with a couch to just sit on and watch movies. But life gets in the way.

Intrigued by a cute girl who walks into his store and frustrated by the big video chain stores opening down the street, he follows her and ends up doing stuff. Unfortunately for Neil, things that Violet (Lucy Liu) usually gets into are illegal by nature. But fortunately for Neil, he's seen characters like Violet in his movies, and now he's given a chance to live them out.

I liked the character of Neil a lot. I liked the fact that he appreciated the comfort of his couch. He's cute and funny, and he would be smart if girls and life didn't get in the way. But I like Cillian Muprhy even more than I like Neil. He's got charisma and an unbelievably versatile talent that he can play just an ordinary guy. I didn't know that he could play ordinary with such a great comedic touch.

"Watching the Detectives" is a comedy for movie watchers - meaning you need to have seen classics like "Citizen Kane" and "Thelma & Louise" since this movie has a knack for giving away their endings. They probably also do it for a number of B-movies, but just ones that you likely haven't heard of. I would have appreciated a darker ending, but I still thoroughly enjoyed watching "Watching the Detectives".