gridoon2024 Review of Kiss Kiss - Bang Bang

Kiss Kiss - Bang Bang (1966)

Crazy, surreal, increasingly bizarre spy comedy

[6/10 · 1 December 2011]

"Kiss Kiss....Bang Bang" starts out as a pretty regular spy flick, distinguished only by a sense of humor that occasionally even breaks the fourth wall. Then it turns into a heist movie, and this is probably its least successful part. But after that point, about an hour in, it abandons all pretenses of seriousness and becomes a full-blown spy comedy - and one of the craziest, most surreal Europsy entries I've seen so far. There are sights and sounds in this film that you won't easily find anywhere else, like a genius parrot, a talking pigeon, an amusement park train chase, and a car-boat in the Venice canals! (and this is a whole decade before "The Spy Who Loved Me"!) Giulianno Gemma and George Martin make an unbeatable acrobatic team. The film may not be "Better than Bond!", as Gemma claims at one point, and it also may be too long, but it does try hard to entertain, and if you're in the right mood it will. **1/2 out of 4.