Just saw “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” a Hollywood-detective-thriller-comedy romp starring Robert Downey, Jr. (Harry), Val Kilmer (Perry), and Michelle Monaghan (Harmony). This flick has more than a few moments where it winks at word nerds in the audience.
Harry: Umm, clearly I’m interrupting. I feel badly. Let me… What are you drinking?
Harmony: Bad.
Harry: Bad? Sorry… feel…?
Harmony: You feel bad.
Harry: Bad?
Harmony: Badly is an adverb. So to say you feel badly would be saying that the mechanism which allows you to feel is broken.Perry: Go. Sleep badly. Any questions, hesitate to call.
Harry: Bad.
Perry: Excuse me?
Harry: Sleep bad. Otherwise it makes it seem like the mechanism that allows you to sleep…
Perry: What, fuckhead? Who taught you grammar? Badly’s an adverb. Get out. Vanish.
And this little tidbit:
Perry: I want you to picture a bullet inside your head right now. Can you do that for me?
Gunman: Fuck you. Anyway, that’s ambiguous.
Perry: Ambiguous. No, no, I don’t think so.
Harry: No, I think what he means is that when you say “Picture it inside your head,” okay, is that a bullet will be inside your head. Or picture it in your head.
Perry: Harry, will you shut up?
Harry: Well, he’s got a point.
There’s a little more riffing about word nerds and math skills. You can watch the scene here (warning: graphic language and violence).
