This movie had a lot of hilarious moments and, thank god, unique funny characters that weren't the same old generic personalities. This film is about being spontaneous, creative and adventurous every day, rather than the far more boring one-dimensional act of watching others (ie. staring at a TV). It's about the sort of fun you had as a kid - relying on your imagination rather than some bad TV writer. You won't get the same predictable humour (well except for a few scenes like the one where they sit around and guess where the tape is at, it was so obvious you can see it coming a mile away), the characters don't follow any formulaic character arcs or other rubbish, which adds to the realism. The ending is a bit of a let down considering the rest of the film is so brilliant. A film for outside-the-box minds.

I'm not much of a writer so I'm not sure how to say what I want about this movie. It reminded me of Breakfast at Tiffany's and was a refreshing break from my normal diet of action, Sci-Fi, adventure movies without being to sappy and "family friendly." Although it had it's moments of action and adventure as well, it's mostly a romantic comedy. It was nice to see a love story that didn't devolve to the level of something like "What happens in Vegas." I thought Lucy Liu and Cillian Murphy were both excellent, and as a male I must say that Lucy Liu was unbelievably cute (in a hot way) in this movie. The movies plot is less important than the way the plot evolves, sometimes comedy, sometimes parody, sometimes wacky, sometimes serious. And for those of us who watch a lot of movies, new and old, there are some great nods to classics of the past. What can I say, I was happy, motivated and hopeful after seeing this movie.

At one point, Violet (Lucy Liu) tells Neil (Cillian Murphy) that why she constantly seeks out for an adventure. She said "because I'm bore-phobic". It mean that she can't really get on with her life by doing some mandatory activities. Well, I think her reason and the way this film go is very ironic. Because "Watching the Detectives" is a cheer boredom. Have any of these characters actually doing something exciting for once? Neil is a geek who runs his own very small video rental shop. He and his other geek friends usually hang out around the shop and watching movies together while debating about them afterward. But Neil's life is completely turned around when Violet walks into his store. She's an eccentric woman who hides a little secret from him. Anyway, after some dates, they decide to see each other. The problem is Violet is a person who keep doing prank jokes on Neil and can't really doing something normal, whereas Neil is completely opposite to hers. The question is. Is they are going to be in love at the end? You bet."Watching the Detectives" is a cliché romantic-comedy to its core. And they made it even worst by pretending to be something else. From the first couple of set-up, we know that Neil is pretty laid-back guy who didn't really commit to anything. And then, Violet enters the scene, looking all weird and annoying. So at this point, we all know that we're going to sit though all meaningless situations to find out how they're going to end up in the end. Is it worth waiting for? I would say no.As I said, they tried to give something more for the audience. "Watching the Detectives" is trying to talk about commitment. To observe how far people go to reach for something they desire. We knew in the end that insane things that Violet has done is all the test how far Neil is ready to go to win her heart (or whatever). Well, I think it is completely bullshit. This movie will end pretty quick if Neil just said to himself "Forget about it, that girl is one of a nutjob !" After collaborating with many great directors recently (Danny Boyle's "Sunshine" and "28 Days Later", Ken Loach's "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" and Neil Jordan's "Breakfast on Pluto" to name a few), it's pretty weird choice for Cillian Murphy to make a movie with one of Broken Lizard comedy troop, Paul Soter. By all means, He's not bad (as usual), but such a talent actor like him shouldn't be wasting his time in the movie like this. On the other hand, Lucy Liu is dreadfully awful as Violet. Her acting is a mess. I mean it's all over the place and so over-the-top. Tony Montana would have been proud.The last but not least mistake that movie made is a completely irrelevant title. You simply can't really connect a dot between the plot and its title; and then you will end up thinking that it makes no sense at all. In short, "Watching the Detectives" is pleasant if forgettable motion picture that you might have a chance to catch it on cable TV so quick that you couldn't imagine.BloodyMonday Rating: 1.5/4

I absolutely loved it!!! and that is said with all my confidence. This movie is the movie lovers movie and shows all it is worth with movie references, spoofs (The movie as a whole is not a spoof) and a few twists from movies previously made. The show is so mindbreakingly clever and witty that after wards the viewer is left with a very happy feeling that they viewed something worth seeing. The film is hilarious for 1 even 2 views and is SO much better then other crap coming out nowadays. I do not want to tell you the end but it is worth it as there is 2 or 3 twists you will NOT see.Overall a fan of movies will love this and even a person who ONCE a week sits down for a movie will enjoy this cinematic Masterpiece. I rate this film 82%.