Redundant and unnecessary.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fresh and Exciting

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This movie felt fresh, like a newly opened bag of jelly beans after years of eating chocolate covered almonds. Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate covered almonds. And there isn't even anything highly original about jelly beans or this movie, just a nice change, fruity and delicious! Lucy Liu and Cillian Murphy have fabulous chemistry, they're adorable and sexy. They're both very believable in these quirky roles. I could watch them both all day, and in fact I watched the movie a second time, despite the slightly disappointing ending. Maybe there was a point to the lack of ending, as in: just get out there and live, have fun, and eat some jelly beans!

I tend to avoid romantic comedies, especially recent American-produced ones. Not because I'm single, but also I don't relate to the hunky guy, the object of affection for the high-strung, lonely lady, who desperately seeks Mr. Right, in a so-called humorous fashion. I'm not a boorish or a nebbish, but I feel what guy would date a woman who feels she's needs a man to be happy? Guess I'm too logical. However, there's a cute oasis called "Watching The Detectives", an indie film that charmingly destroys the conventions of courting. It also shares its title with the Elvis Costello tune, but didn't have the budget to secure the song's rights to put it on the soundtrack. Fair enough.Neil Lewis (a lively Cillian Murphy of "Red Eye" and "Batman Begins") is the owner of Gumshoe Video, a hole-in-the-wall video rental store that's a haven for VHS tapes. The man loves movies, but the types that won't be playing at the local multiplex: Cult. Exploitation. Grade-B. Foreign. Film Noir. In the shop, cinephiles discuss a movie, a genre or what scene did some unsatisfied renter stop a movie on a tape, unlike in the nearby corporate, sugar-filled rival "Media Giant" (a sub for Blockbuster).Problem is Neil's too much of a fantasy junkie, instigating pranks so life won't be so boring. That turns off his current girlfriend (Heather Burns), who ditches him. What to do now? Sunshine enters the store as Violet (the cooler than cool Lucy Liu of "Lucky Number Slevin", "Rise" and "Dirty Sexy Money") a quirky dame, who drags Neil into her eccentric atmosphere. He's enamored but she gets him into some very risky antics. You'll wonder who nuttier than a squirrel's winter stash but won't care while seeing two kindred spirits have chemistry.A member of the comedy troupe, Broken Lizard, Paul Soter ("Super Troopers") helms his script with the same raw courage that infested the indie films of the previous decade. I think Kevin Smith (the View Askew saga) was lurking about somewhere as two video clerks converse about which's better: Japanese death anime or Korean snuff cartoons.Murphy and Liu, who slyly echo Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn from "Bringing Up Baby" (a favorite of mine), look like they're slumming, but with most of the scripts masquerading as good material nowadays, who could seriously blame them, and their performances are too sweet for words. Jason Sudekis ("Saturday Night Live" and some "30 Rock" episodes) and Michael Panes are durable as the aforementioned clerks.The only snag is the film's lack of promotion by its' distributor, Peacearch. Sure, "Watching The Detectives", the second film Ms. Liu starred in that debuted at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, along with "Rise", is unconventional, but that's what gives this underdog gem some giddy, honest warmth. See this film, and you'll thank yourself.

This is an original movie with some amazingly funny and surprising moments, some preposterously bad acting and action, and a premise and resolution that really strains the imagination. Plus some very very good lines. It's a movie that plays, rather joyously, at 'being dumb' (Lucy Liu's nipple pops out of her dress and remains there for a whole scene) but creates hysterical situations and carries them off thru the sheer pleasure of Murphy's enthusiasm. Liu's athleticism is on subtle display and it is pretty amazing. It also has two of the best rock and roll moments I've ever seen in films; one, a great indie band in a club running thru the heart riff of a unique song and two, a highly produced backyard karaoke performance that perfectly resolves the needs of the film's moment. The ending is kind of forced but to come up with a real resolution of this story would take a writer of true genius. Summary: not so good, but you can't find this many laughs of this quality very easily. A must-see for a totally non-serious I-don't-know-what-to-do-today day.

The premise is not original, the acting is good but not exactly to write home about and technically it's not a great accomplishment. But is 'Watching The Detectives' entertaining? Definitely. Lucy Liu fits the role of the play-in-the-field perfectly (her role reminded me of her character in Lucky Number Slevin) and Cillian Murphy really proved to be a surprise in a comedy role. I've only seen his really intense, sometimes scary roles and couldn't believe he was going to be somewhat enjoyable as a light character but I was very wrong.The antics they get in to are fairly original and there even were several laugh-out-loud moments, for instance when the waiter is just a little too comfortable with spraying a glass of water on a woman he doesn't know on the request of a guy he doesn't know. :-). And when Lucy starts talking about her weirdo ex-boyfriends me and my friends were in stitches. The following scenes are quite amusing too, as Cillian gets paranoid over every bald guy he sees.I mentioned some of the more original stuff above but there's also formulaic stuff present. WTD is never intended to be a film we can take something away from, it's harmless escapism that ironically enough deals with escapism a lot of the time :-). The relatively negative connotations concerning movie freaks certainly left a bad taste in my mouth after viewing, after all isn't that the target audience of these small films? I somehow feel they didn't find the right balance between respecting film and commenting on over-obsessive film freaks. Also the fact that they can't differ people who watch sci-fi, anime and stuff from the people who enjoy quality movies (like the mentioned Seventh Seal or Casino). Seems a bit ignorant.In the end, DTW is better than a lot of comedies but it never goes deep, we (us guys) just fall in love with Lucy Liu all over again and that's never a bad way to spend ninety minutes.7.5/10