Yes, the same Shane Black who is often (though wrongly) credited with pioneering the buddy/action movie by penning "Lethal Weapon" and then running the action genre into the ground with increasingly preposterous characters and premises in subsequent scripts. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, he prowls the mean streets of a Chandleresque L.A. with a fond eye for the tough guys and tougher gals from beloved detective tales of yore. With a cast that very much gets the joke, headed by Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan, the Warners release will certainly attract cineastes and older audiences and might well bring in the younger crowd, too.

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