Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Reunion: Michelle Monaghan Joins Due Date

When Due Date, the next film from Todd Phillips, was announced, I wasn't all that interested in seeing the director do another road trip comedy. Then Zach Galifianakis signed on, followed soon by Robert Downey, Jr. Now Michelle Monaghan has taken the film's female lead role. A Kiss Kiss Bang Bang reunion? Can you say "hell, yeah"?

Monaghan sadly might not have a huge screen presence in the film. Variety reports that she plays the pregnant wife of Downey; the whole point of the film is that he is racing to make it home before she gives birth. Somehow he pulls in a whacko traveling companion, played by Galifianakis. So expect a bunch of shots of her worrying and/or pissed off, maybe a few remote phone calls between her and Downey, then some sort of reunion at the end. Speaking of reunions, can we get a little Val Kilmer in this? One scene?

Really, though, half the reason this isn't getting lumped in with another casting notes amalgamation is that it is a great chance to evangelize Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. OK, Shane Black's directorial debut plays a bit like he took his notebook of ideas built up over a decade or more and turned it into a screenplay, but it is also one of the most entertaining, smart and wonderful cop/detective/buddy movies in the past decade. Black gets great stuff out of his trio of leads, Downey, Monaghan and Val Kilmer. No one saw the damn movie when WB released it in 2005, but I think I have yet to meet anyone who's seen it since and didn't love it. So if you're a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang virgin, please, queue it, rent it, love it.

And hey, Due Date might be pretty good, too. The Hangover was a lot of fun (either if you saw it early, or could get over the hype) and I hope Phillips makes this one work, too.