Watching the Detectives is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Paul Soter. The film stars Cillian Murphy as the film geek owner of an independent video rental store whose life is turned upside down when a femme fatale (Lucy Liu) comes into his life.

Plot

On a dark film noir black-and-white scene where a 1940s style detective shoots a villain—for trying to return a late video. The lights come up, revealing that it is a commercial for Gumshoe Video, and the detective is Neil, the store's owner, who is premiering the ad for friends at a party at his modest cinephile video store. His girlfriend Denise, who appears in the commercial, does not show up at the celebration.