Michael Ledo Robert Downey jr. plays Danny Dark, a writer of pulp fiction novel called "The Singing Detective." He is hospitalized with a skin disorder which apparently is psychological. His shrink is played by Mel Gibson, in an unorthodox role for him. Dark's novel is based on events in his childhood, making characters from people he had met. Danny is delusional and imagines things in the present, confounding the people in real life with the characters in his book. The dialogue in the movie is excellent. If you enjoyed the dark humor of the Joker in the Dark Knight, you will enjoy the ramblings of Downey early on. The real problem with the movie is that you realize that all the action in the film is delusional. As far as real action and plot, the film moves along as a one man play. Bad language, simulated sex, no nudity.

ramsri007 The Singing Detective is surely not an easy movie to watch. Downey's cracked up skin makes it all the more difficult visually. Robert Downey Jr. plays the main character, Dan Dark. Dan is a writer of cheap, lurid detective novels, who is hospitalized for a severe case of psoriasis. He is shown to be in immense pain and is almost disabled from going about his normal routine due to the painful lesions. In the process he hallucinates to an extent that he cannot decipher the real from illusion due to which he is almost on the verge of losing his mind. He often lapses into a fantasy world in which he is the main character in his own novel. But soon the characters from the novel start to appear in the real world. We are taken on a journey into Dan Dark's dark & unpleasant mind? Downey, as always leaves his imprint as an actor par excellence. We meet Dan's wife, played by Robin Wright. Mel Gibson plays a rather strange psychologist who may well be able to help Dan if only Dan actually wanted to be helped. Doctor Gibbon helps Dan Dark deal with his bitterness that seems to have consumed him since he fell ill. Gibbon gets an insight into Mr Dark by reading his book, he then uses this to help Mr Dark on the road to his mental recovery. The movie is about how Dan Dark fights the demons he has created for himself and overcomes them to go on with his life.

Jackson Booth-Millard I had heard about the leading actor starring in this film, and then I found out that it was based on a popular six part television series with Sir Michael Gambon, but having seen Bewitched, The A Team and Charlie's Angels I don't think it mattered that I hadn't seen the television version before the film. Basically Dan Dark (Robert Downey Jr.) is suffering from the terrible conditions of arthritis and an extreme case of psoriasis, but he is also going through paranoia and bad writer's block. With his fever and mental condition dwindling, to escape his pain and concerns he has a habit of going into his own fantasy world, where he confuses himself with the leading character of the story he plans to write, The Singing Detective. In this fantasy world Dan is an undercover detective in a 1930's setting, and he often goes into a musical number, and this also happens sometimes when he sees people in the real world, he sees them doing it too. His love interest/wife Nicola (Robin Wright Penn) comes into the hospital often to see if he is improving physically and mentally, and he is often seen by psychologist Dr. Gibbon (Mel Gibson) who tries to get through to him and make him see reality, and stop obsessing about his writing. Dan does have his skin condition improve, but his mental state is not so much the same, and it comes to the point where his fantasy world may be coming into or taking over reality, until by the end he has almost become his title character, but it does not seem to matter to Nicole. Also starring Jeremy Northam as Mark Binney, Katie Holmes as Nurse Mills, Adrien Brody as First Hood and Jon Polito as Second Hood. I can see what the critics mean that Downey Jr. overacts some of the scenes, but he's not too bad, Wright Penn could have had a bit more time on screen, and Gibson certainly does make an impression as the doctor, he is almost unrecognisable. This is based on the work of Dennis Potter, who suffered the same conditions as the leading character, but I am sure that the critics are right that the original version did not need a remake film, despite some good costume and lavishly lit sequences, but I did find the musical numbers catchy, and overall, I didn't think it was a terrible period musical drama. Okay!

Neil Welch I was 24 when the BBC screened Dennis Potter's 6-part series The Singing Detective starring Michael Gambon as a hospitalised psoriasis sufferer. I watched it avidly, of course, because of the extensive outcry against it: notoriety was ever good for the box office. And I confess that I was too young and inexperienced to properly comprehend its strange and beguiling mix of real life, fantasy, fever dreams, flashback, pastiche mimed musical numbers, and the meaning and purpose of the way they were interwoven.17 years later, Hollywood films a Potter-scripted revision of the piece, substantially shorter, transplanted to the USA, and brought forward in time some years. I can't really compare them, because my recollections of the TV piece are sketchy.So I am commenting solely on this movie. It retains the mix of the original, but it is substantially easier to come to terms with what is being done: what is fever, what is imagination, what is recollection, and why each section is presented in that way. Robert Downey Jr as the protagonist (here renamed Dan Dark from the Philip Marlow of the original, each name having its own significance) as hugely impressive, but everyone shines.And the makeup....