Watching the Detectives

Movies about movie-lovers are nothing new, and the themes presented here have been covered in earlier, more memorable films: a geeky but lovable guy owns an independent film store (High Fidelity with movies instead of music), where he spends his days talking to fellow cinephiles and wishing his life could be like a film (Free Enterprise). Then he meets a wacky, exciting girl (Something Wild, Forces of Nature) who challenges—and changes—his life. Leads Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu are well-known and appealing, especially Murphy, who shows a different side to his personality.

Shelf Talk: Your best bet for Watching the Detectives is to push Murphy, whose growing fame will only be helped by his villainous reprise in this summer’s The Dark Knight. Both he and co-star Liu are featured prominently on the cover art. Watching the Detectives was featured at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which could give it a leg up on other small DVD premieres.