#340: THE NICE GUYS

2016
Directed by Shane Black
Mystery, Comedy, Action.

It feels like it's been a while since I had my last Ryan Gosling fix, but fortunately he has come back after a little break making The Big Short, and now this new film The Nice Guys. Here he is paired up with Russell Crowe, an actor I've always found to be very hit and miss. The Nice Guys is part Comedy, part Action and part Neo-Noir detective Drama. Set in 1978, it has a very vintage look and feel that was very well accomplished. Visually it reminded me of the films Anchorman and Boogie Nights, as the characters all wear their Disco influenced attires and go to seedy parties. 

Ryan Gosling plays a private investigator who is also a widow, left alone to look after his very mature 13 year old daughter. Russell Crowe's character isn't as fleshed out, with not a lot said about his personal life, but he essentially beats people up for money (I'm starting to see why they chose Russell Crowe for this role). At first he is sent to beat up Ryan Gosling for getting too deep into a missing persons case. Crowe comically breaks Gosling's arm in one of the funnier scenes in the film, and so they have fun with Gosling having to spend the entire film with his arm in a cast. Eventually the two "nice guys" end up working together when they realise they have the same pair of gangsters out to get them. They are also on a mission to try and find missing teenager Amelia.

The Nice Guys has two strong elements going for it. The first is that the acting is top notch. Gosling and Crowe have a very radiant chemistry on screen and make an unlikely good buddy duo. Certainly this is one of Crowe's best roles in a while now, and it seems naturally tailored to his personality. But the real star of the show is newcomer Angourie Rice, who plays Gosling's teenage daughter. Normally one of my pet peeves in cinema is children in leading roles, but she didn't annoy me one bit! The character is a little odd though, considering she is said to be 13, she looks closer to 16, but throughout the film she is seen driving cars, watching pornos and taking out bad guys. The running gag of the film is that she is better at solving the mystery than her PI dad is, and so she tags along for the entire film. I'm just not sure why they didn't make her character a bit older so that her personality traits were more fitting. The other strongest element of the film is that it has a pretty compelling mystery with some thrilling scenes. The best scene of the film takes place in a Playboy-esque mansion where a huge sex party is being held, and two have to interrogate people and search for clues. It definitely has nods to Film Noir and detective films. 

There were however some glaring issues with The Nice Guys. The biggest one being that, you could tell this film was attempting to be comedic all the way through, but I felt like so many of the "jokes" completely bombed. I laughed out loud only twice during the film, and I found the rest of the cinema were pretty quiet for most of the film too. The attempts at humour were so weak that I just couldn't understand why it needed to have Comedy parts at all. Especially when the writers have done a pretty good job coming up with a good Mystery/Thriller story. The drama elements work well too, with Gosling struggling to raise his daughter alone. The Nice Guys also feels the need to cram in big Action sequences. There are plenty of fist fights, gun shootouts and even a couple of car chases thrown in there. Again these Action scenes didn't really feel that necessary or add much to the film. In fact a rather large Action sequence near the end was so over the top and ridiculous that it ended up padding out the plot unnecessarily and I was just left wanting the film to reach it's conclusion. When the film does end, it throws in a sequelbaiting part which may be a little ambitious. 

Ultimately I have to say that I enjoyed The Nice Guys enough to recommend it. The Mystery plot is what compelled me the most, and the performances are very remarkable. Maybe others will enjoy the jokes and the big Action scenes more than I did, but for me they fell very flat. I think this film could have been improved with a re-edit, taking out some of the goofier parts and focusing more on the Mystery plot, and it would have been a tighter film. The movie definitely shares its blueprints with director Shane Black's earlier film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The Nice Guys is a good one watch film, but not great enough to be worth revisiting. 6/10.