10 Moments That Literally Stopped Movies
2. All The Fourth Wall Breaks - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a thoroughly entertaining neo-noir from Shane Black, melding the writer-director's trademark barbed wit with exemplary performances from Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan.
The film is framed by the hilariously self-aware narration of thief-turned-actor Harry Lockhart (Downey Jr.), who occasionally stops the movie mid-story to chat to the audience about the very conventions of filmmaking and storytelling itself.
For instance, while Harry is explaining how he came to meet Harmony (Monaghan), the film reel grinds to a halt and he curses the fact that he left a bunch of information out, before going back to fill the audience in.
Mere minutes later when Harry is introduced to Parry von Shrike (Kilmer), he stops the film again to call the scene "terrible" and criticise its unsubtle foreshadowing.
The pièce de résistance, however, comes right at the end of the movie, when we've faded to black and are waiting for the end credits to roll. At this point, Harry interjects for one final address to the viewer, captured on a cheap DV camera.
Harry talks about how crazy the story got until Perry interrupts him, telling him to stop narrating before reminding the audience to validate their parking as they exit the cinema, and apologising to midwestern audiences for the abundance of the word "f**k".
And after that verbose interlude, Black finally rolls the actual credits.