Harry Monument is an affectionate, cheesy homage to film noir, replete with sardonic voiceover and stylized narrative. Writer/director/producer/editor/cinematographer and more Richard Evans' love of gritty Forties B-films comes through loud and clear. In a way, the film's limited budget and non-professional actors lends a certain air of credibility to the absurd, convoluted story that, on the surface, seems nearly impossible to synopsize but here goes nothin' ...

Hard-boiled cop Harry Monument (Danny Ward) is found dead in a Los Angeles park, near a heap of French fries – Harry's partner, Keno Argyle (Dave Draper), becomes swept in his mysterious death after landing a job as a stand-in on a kung fu movie, only to be kicked in the head by an excitable director. Thanks to the blow, he subsequently imagines himself in Los Angeles, doggedly pursuing Harry's killer, while fending off Hedda McGill (Shannon Connell), a seductive siren and attempting to discover the secrets of a sinister cookbook, a one-eyed building inspector (Michael McVay), a bunch of stolen bricks and, uh, drowned little people. (I wish I were making all this up.) Crooked homicide cops Blume (Ken Church) and Quinlan (Jim Scullin) plumb the depths of the underworld along with Keno, which leads them all to the identity of Harry's killer.

Make no mistake – this isn't some high octane noir riff like this year's Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang or a cheeky clip job like Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid; Harry Monument was made on a shoestring budget with a largely non-professional cast. Yet despite all of its perceived drawbacks, there's a kicky sense of fun that pervades the entire piece. Harry Monument ain't high art, but for fans of film noir and crime-themed B-movies, it'd sure make for a swell Saturday night at home.

The Video:

Harry Monument is presented with a passable 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that unfortunately reveals the seams of this apparently shot-on-video feature (according to the credits, a Sony VX2000 mini-DV cam). The image tends to look a little blown out at times and there's some video noise here and there; it's far from reference quality but some visual defects aside, it's a pretty solid image.

Much like the visual end of things, Harry Monument is outfitted with a serviceable Dolby 2.0 stereo soundtrack that gets the hard boiled dialogue across, as well as the over-the-top score, with no drop-out or distortion – it's an OK mix.

The only supplemental material included are 10 minutes of deleted scenes, presented in anamorphic widescreen – although a teaser at the end of the deleted scenes promises an upcoming DVD release of "French Freud Potatoes: The Making of 'Harry Monument.'"

It's goofy, it's extremely low-budget and it wears its affection of tough guy crime films on its sleeve, but Harry Monument just might win over those who love the halcyon days of Bogie and Bacall as much as writer/director Richard Evans so clearly does. Rent it.