The Singing Detective

The Singing Detective

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Movie Reviews of The Singing Detective

Movie Review: Downey gives the bravura performance of his career!
Summary: 5 Stars

I am also a huge fan of The Singing Detective. I've seen this film five times on the big screen and I'm about to see it several more times on DVD.

It pains me to admit that my husband didn't care for TSD the first time he saw it!
I should say he didn't care for MOST of the movie. He loved the music and he liked the ending, but the drive home from the theatre was a little difficult because he was very grumpy! To break the tension, I decided to turn on the TSD soundtrack since he seemed to love it so much!
Then I decided that it was time for him to get a little background on the film.

I thought I had already "prepared" him for it, but obviously I hadn't prepared him enough!! I talked to him about it - a lot. He listened. I explained a little bit about the medicine, Dark's hallucinations, the psoriasis, the detective book, the tremendous guilt Dark felt about his "betrayal" of his mother etc. I noticed he was becoming a little more receptive to chatting about this very compelling story.

A few days later, he started singing "Three Steps to Heaven" with a big smile on his face and told me that he "just can't seem to get that song" out of his head. He asked me if he could borrow the soundtrack to put in his car while he ran some errands. I told him he couldn't - I love it too much - but I let him take my car so he could listen to "Three Steps to Heaven" and the whole soundtrack again and again and again.

When he came back from running his errands, I said to him, "It sounds like you might be changing your mind about this movie."

He said with a big smile on his face, "How can you get the guy with the psoriasis out of your mind?"

That was his word-for-word reply!
He was starting to "get" it! He was starting to "get" Downey!
Join the club!!!

We talked about it a lot more and he became very interested in the discussion!
Then he went off on another errand and listened to his precious soundtrack some more!
When he came home, he said, "OK, I'm READY to see this movie now!"
We saw it together a second time! He loved it so much we went back a third time.
He's now a huge fan of the movie and of Robert Downey Jr!

The only way to FULLY appreciate this movie is to do a little homework on Potter. The audience has to be an "informed" audience. In the book Potter on Potter, Dennis Potter says, "First of all, it's not in any sense a précis of the original series, and secondly, it is totally rethought." Keith Gordon has said many, many times that Potter wouldn't have been interested in a "re-make". He was very happy with the British series exactly as it was. Gordon said, "By changing the whole format, he was, I think, trying to take his basic idea and style, and create something new. Sort of the way a composer might take a piano piece they've written and turn that into a symphony, using the same basic melody and structure."

I'm so incredibly impressed with Potter's new The Singing Detective "symphony"!
It was masterfully conducted by Keith Gordon.
Robert Downey Jr. gave the bravura performance of his career!

Summary of The Singing Detective