The Nice Guys (2016)

Director: Shane Black
Writers: Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi
DOP: Philippe Rousselot
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice

It is the 1970s Los Angeles where a mismatched pair of private eyes are investigating a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star. One of the private eyes (Russell Crowe) is not officially a one and the other (Ryan Gosling) is a bit dim and has to contend with his daughter as well (Angourie Rice).

Shane Black made his name at a very young age as the writer of Buddy Cop film 'Lethal Weapon'. I haven't seen any of his subsequent films credited solely as a writer He took a break from cinema in the mid 90s and came back as a director with the excellent yet underrated 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'. The Nice Guys was written before KKBB and he has called this one as a spiritual cousin to it. I, in fact liked this one even more than KKBB probably because of the simple reason that the lead pair of actors are much more likable for me in this instance. Never been a big fan of Robert Downey Junior. Shane Black, as Video Essayist The Nerdwriter points out, is very good at using violence on screen with consequential effects. One of the most hilarious things about this film is that the bystanders do get hit quite disproportionately. It is billed as a mystery comedy and the mystery part of it is in the Big Lebowski mould where it is quite hard to make sense of it and that is not really the point anyway. You do raise your eyebrows when the daughter character doesn't want anyone killed in a couple of instances but one suspects that was also an in-joke and them poking fun at the genre cliches. Things do get quite ridiculous towards the end in a self aware manner and you have Ryan Gosling's character quipping that he is invincible giving us a nod to the plot armor he has. There are so many quotable lines and it is definitely worth revisiting.

The banter between Ryan and Russell is excellent and Angourie Rice amply supports and sometimes even steals the show. It is one of those films which greatly exceeds your expectations.They do set it up for a sequel but the disappointing box office numbers suggest that it might not be forthcoming.

Fuck Marvel!!

Fuck DC!!

Fuck Disney!!

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was also another one that bombed at the box office. Apparently they are planning a TV series titled 'The Nice Girls'.

Rating: 4.25/5