The Nice Guys (2016)
Action, Comedy, Crime
Directed By: Shane Black
As a general rule of movie geekdom, when Shane Black makes a new film you go see that film as soon as possible. When the guy who is responsible for such films as The Monster Squad, Lethal Weapon, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang gets back behind the camera it is kind of a big deal. He took his shot at spectacle with Iron Man 3, a divisive film which I love, and now he's back with his latest film The Nice Guys. A throwback crime comedy that pits itself in the heart of 1970's L.A. to tell the story of two Private Eyes on the trail of a mysterious death of a porn star.
Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) and Holland March (Ryan Gosling) may share the same profession but they handle their business in vastly different ways. Jackson has an affinity for brass knuckles and Holland has a knack for exploiting old ladies for their retirement cash. When the two stumble upon the same case of a strange girl with connections to a famous porn stars death, they reluctantly team up to solve the case and split the payday. What they don't know is that this case goes much higher up than the sleazy 70's porn industry and they are going to have to do a lot more than just find this girl to make it all go away.
As a film geek I am always sucked in by a story that takes me back to a past period of time in Hollywood, whether it be the golden age or whatever I love to see the streets of L.A. as they once were. The Nice Guys not only aesthetically sets itself in the 70's but by using impressive digital effects actually recreate the old streets and literally transport us back in time. Most notably with a gorgeous shot of the classic Tower Records with an amusing billboard for Jaws 2 plastered above it.
Luckily for us this film has so much more to offer than pretty shots of a Hollywood we'll never see again. Black has crafted a classic L.A. murder mystery full of cover-up, collusion, and sketchy government activity. With every interview they take or clue they find their investigation slowly pieces together into something wildly different than they thought when taking the job.
When we first started reading about the film some people had their reservations of the cast, sure Crowe and Gosling are A-list stars but how would they fair in a Shane Black action comedy? Put those worries to rest because they are a perfect fit and the two strike amazing on screen chemistry that makes them a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Even with this being an intelligent mystery watching them interact on screen is more interesting and enthralling than any whodunit plot.
A large part of their chemistry is built through great comedy, if there was one thing that surprised me this this flick it's how laugh out loud funny it was from start to finish. Shane Black & Anthony Bagarozzi wrote a stellar script that achieves what even most straight up comedies don't. It kept me laughing all the way until then end, it never loses that bonkers sense of humor Black seems to do so well.
With all the spectacle at the movies these days it's easy to forget that sometimes all we want out of a flick is a good story and great characters to fall in love with. I had an absolute blast being with these guys for two hours and could have easily sat through another sixty minutes. Gosling and Crowe are at their best here and with the chemistry they strike I can only hope well see the two together again in anything. The Nice Guys is the perfect counter-programming to all the massive blockbusters we are being flooded with this summer so get to the theater for some old school entertainment.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
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