Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- feverish
- surreal
- darkly comic
- cult movie night
- surreal cinema session
What critics said
Critics generally found Robert Downey Jr.'s performance compelling, but many felt the compressed film adaptation lost the emotional discovery and power of the source miniseries.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Dan Dark mentally reworks his novel while identifying with its detective protagonist and confusing imagined events with his hospitalization.
Dan's feverish mental world erupts into musical episodes that express paranoia, desire, and imaginative escape.
The 1950s Los Angeles detective story, criminal figures, and murder investigation are filtered through parody and hallucination.
Dan's hospitalization and extreme psoriasis frame his feverish paranoia and altered relationship to his fictional detective.
Films like The Singing Detective, and why
Pennies from Heaven
surreal musical storytelling, noir parody, and blurred boundaries between fantasy and psychological distress
Dancer in the Dark
stylized crime narrative, musical interludes, and heightened psychological subjectivity
The City of Lost Children
darkly comic detective conventions, hallucination, and unstable reality
Moulin Rouge!
noir-inflected mystery, feverish imagination, and eccentric musical performance
Movie Details
- Director
- Keith Gordon
- Release Date
- 2003-10-24
- Runtime
- 109 min
- Rating
- 5.1 / 10 (152)
Cast
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Robin Wright
- Mel Gibson
- Jeremy Northam
- Katie Holmes
- Adrien Brody
- Jon Polito
- Carla Gugino
- Saul Rubinek
- Alfre Woodard
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Singing Detective about?
- A hospitalized novelist's feverish imagination turns his noir fiction, musical fantasies, and painful reality into one unstable detective mystery.
- What is The Singing Detective like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Singing Detective as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Singing Detective violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Singing Detective as mild.
- What did critics think of The Singing Detective?
- Critics generally found Robert Downey Jr.'s performance compelling, but many felt the compressed film adaptation lost the emotional discovery and power of the source miniseries.
- Which films are like The Singing Detective?
- Films with a similar feel include Pennies from Heaven, Dancer in the Dark, The City of Lost Children, and Moulin Rouge!.
- How long is The Singing Detective?
- The Singing Detective runs 109 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Singing Detective?
- In United States, The Singing Detective is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
