So, there's a video of an acceptance speech by Iron Man Robert Downey Jr, saying "i was a junkie etc" but thanks to Mel Gibson (i know, the irony) for casting me in
The Singing Detective (2003) -
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314676/reference/
and i thought, "i haven't watched this", and so i did.
There is no singing in this film.
Ok there is a little bit of singing. But to mark it as a "musical" is a gross misrepresentation. let's say that there are short and occasional uses of songs in the soundtrack that are introduced by the characters on screen, but the two quickly disjoint. It's no more of a musical than any film that has a song with lyrics in it.
"The Singing Detective" of this film is the alter ego of Pulp writer Dan Black, currently hospitalized for a skin disease, which in turn leads to varying levels of hallucinations. These in turn are the recurring characters which make up the majority of the film.
There is a main, "imaginary" plot about his alter ego investigating the relationship between a man and a prostitute, and two gangsters who kidnap her. Depending on the hallucination, these characters have more serious, or more absurd dialogue.
The hospital plot instead involves Mel Gibson as the doctor who is trying to figure out the Freudian issues that are generating the hallucinations to begin with.
I can see why this film wouldn't be liked by the common audience. It's not quite absurdity as Barton Fink, or some Lynch film, but it's still weird. Fortunately it's weird up to a level that i can still enjoy, the dialogue is good, RDJ is good, Gibson is .. weird .. and Katie Holmes is a babe. There is a waaaaay too long penis-joke scene that is frankly hilarious for how long it's stretched out.
Eh .. it's allright. It's certainly different that whatever other film you watched this week, so, with that in mind,
6.5/10 - better than the current IMDb rating.