Robert Downey Jr. considers Kiss Kiss Bang Bang “the best film I’ve ever done,” and it led to his famous Marvel casting. Robert Downey Jr. has starred in numerous movies throughout his career, yet Kiss Kiss Bang Bang stands out for the Academy Award winner. Released in 2005 as Shane Black’s directorial debut, the neo-noir black comedy crime film follows thief Harry Lockhart (Downey) as he accidentally auditions for a movie role that lands him in the middle of a murder investigation in LA with an investigator known as Gay Perry (Val Kilmer). 534n1m

Die Hard is often considered one of the greatest Christmas action movies, but others live up to the Bruce Willis film.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bangis arguably Shane Black's most underrated movie against the giants of Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3, and 2016's The Nice Guys. The 2005 movie gained a large cult following years after its premiere, which is in part due to its arrival on numerous streaming platforms, and it now sits at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Robert Downey Jr. stars as the lead, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang follows the unfortunate events of Harry Lockhart, who also provides narration for a large proportion of the movie.

With 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, Robert Downey Jr.’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang deserved better at the box office. As one of the most famous actors in the world, Robert Downey Jr. has a long career in movies, known best for his role as Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a character he played for 11 years until Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame. The actor will also soon leave another mark on the MCU when he plays the iconic Fantastic Four villain, Doctor Doom.

With its voice-over, body doubles, and callbacks, the ending of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang can be confusing on first watch. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a neo-noir comedy directed and written by Shane Black. The film follows and is narrated in voice-over by Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.), a small-time burglar who lands in the LA movie scene when an ission of guilt is mistaken for method acting. In LA, during Christmas, when so many Black movies are set, Harry gets tangled up with private eye "Gay Perry" van Shrike (Val Kilmer), and together the odd couple solves a murder mystery.

Action cinema legend Shane Black has set many of his classic movies around the Christmas season, directing and writing a string of genre films — including Iron Man 3 — that all take place during the holidays. When Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon, the struggling young screenwriter did not expect the mismatched buddy cop movie to make him a superstar. However, the huge success of the film soon turned Black into Hollywood’s most in-demand action movie screenwriter. Within a few years, he was one of the biggest names in blockbusters. All the Shane Black movies have a lot in common, from their spiky dark humor and fast-paced dialogue to their moments of explosive, unexpected violence. However, one of the oddest elements that crops up in numerous, otherwise unrelated Shane Black movies is a Yuletide setting.

Most of writer/director Shane Black's work takes place at Christmas, including Iron Man 3, and there's a good reason for that. While Black was a movie fan growing up, some of his biggest influences were really pulp detective novels and thrillers. This informed his love of flawed heroes and witty dialogue, and following the success of Lethal Weapon - a screenplay he sold at age 22 - he became one of the highest-paid writers in Hollywood history. After a long break following another Christmas movie The Long Kiss Goodnight, Black returned as a writer/director with the likes of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott, True Romance is one of the most beloved romantic crime movies out there, thanks to Tarantino's trademark dialogue and pop culture references and Scott's expert direction, which gave the movie its off-beat style. In fact, the cult classic has often been regarded as one of the best American movies from the 1990s and one of Scott's best.

Crime comedies are unique in that they take two beloved genres and mash them together to create movies that so many viewers love and enjoy. Some crime comedies are heist movies, while others take a slightly different approach and introduce romantic storylines or a darker sense of humor.

In an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience last year, Robert Downey, Jr. boldly declared Shane Black’s neo-noir comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang to be the best movie he’s ever made. He stars as a small-time crook named Harry who stumbles into an audition during his escape from a crime scene and before he knows it, he’s scored an acting gig in Los Angeles.