Cillian Murphy is the last guy that most people would ever imagine popping up in a romantic comedy, but he pulls it off remarkably well in Paul Soter’s directorial debut, “Watching the Detectives.” Best described as “‘High Fidelity’ for the movie lover,” the film stars Murphy as Neil, a self-proclaimed film buff who runs an old-school video store that specializes in genre flicks and cult classics. When a sexy spitfire (Lucy Liu) enters his store one day, Neil’s world is turned upside down as he’s forced to keep up with her spontaneous and adventurous lifestyle in order to win her heart. A lighthearted rom-com made for film geeks by film geeks, “Watching the Detectives” is much better than I was expecting. Cillian Murphy delivers a solid performance in the lead role, while Lucy Liu piles on the charm as the ultimate high-maintenance girlfriend. Though it may shock some to discover that the movie was written and directed by Soter (one-fifth of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard), it’s a more-than-respectable “solo project” that should finally earn him a shot at stepping behind the camera for the Lizards’ next project.
