The Singing Detective

Ironically, The Singing Detective probably would have been better without the awkwardly integrated songs that signal frequent shifts into fantasy for the picture's acrimonious antihero--a second-rate pulp novelist hospitalized with literally crippling, full-body psoriasis that serves as a metaphor for his rampaging inner demons. As an acerbically droll psychological drama about the writer's noir-fiction imagination slowly seeping into his tormented reality, this new adaptation of Dennis Potter's highly acclaimed 1986 BBC miniseries has many layers of mesmerizing Freudian substance, brought vividly to life by Robert Downey, Jr.'s fearlessly hostile but slowly warming performance. So when his doctors break into a low-budget production number lip-sync of "At the Hop," the film seems to overshoots its intended farce; that said, if you grin and bear the songs as wacky intermissions from the deeper themes, the balance of the movie is an almost hypnotic excursion into the fevered mind and wounded soul of the protagonist. Directed by the intrepidly atypical Keith Gordon, who has a penchant and a talent for psyche-driven stories in which things are often not what they appear (A Midnight Clear, Mother Night, Waking the Dead), this is recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Keith Gordon and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package--but an excellent commentary track by Gordon--for an ambitious if flawed film.] (R. Blackwelder)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—Aug. 25, 2015—Olive, 109 min., R, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 2003's The Singing Detective features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD stereo soundtrack, but no bonus features. Bottom line: this oddball noir musical makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]