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The Nice Guys: Epic Fun – Fingers Crossed for a Sequel!
By Sandra Olmsted
While writer/director Shane Black’s parody of 1970s film noir and buddy cop films has its problems, all of them can be overlooked because The Nice Guys is just fun. Also, the stars, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, have just as much fun playing their roles as the right audience can watching the film.
Jackson Healy (Crowe) is a for-hire enforcer who takes any “freelance” assignment to rough up and warn off he can. All his clients need is the cash to pay for his services. When Amelia (Margaret Qualley) hires him to warn Holland March (Gosling) to stop looking for her, Healy soon finds himself up to his neck in an auto industry conspiracy. Meanwhile, Holland has been hired to track down Amelia by her mother Judith (Kim Basinger), the chief of California’s Department of Justice. Holland will also take any job for money because he has a daughter to support, a house to rebuild, and a wife to mourn.
After Healy pays Holland a professional visit and insists Holland stop looking for Amelia, a couple of plot twists quickly necessitate that Holland and Healy team up to figure out what is really going on with Amelia. Along the way, the duo gets much needed assistance from Holland’s 13-year-old daughter Holly (Angourie Rice). Soon the trail of Amelia and those who want her silenced leads straight through late 1970s Los Angeles’ porno industry and drug scene to Detroit’s big three auto show.
Add a fire death that is probably murder, a missing girl who starred in her boyfriend’s experimental film which everyone wants to get their hands on, a mother who might be concerned with something besides her daughter’s safety, corrupt cops, a porn star’s suspicious death, and political activists who might be eco-terrorists. Fortunately for Healy and Holland, Holly makes an exceptionally cool, collected, and organized Girl Friday for the unlikely heroes.
The Nice Guys rocks for a number of reasons despite a few problems which don’t mar the fun but prevent Black’s film from being great. Black gleefully channels and perfects his past successes, starting with Lethal Weapon (1987, screenwriter), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005, screenwriter/director), and Iron Man 3 (2013, screenwriter/director). The Nice Guys is witty, and Crowe and Gosling let down their hair and have fun, which is delightful to watch in itself. They also have great chemistry and excellent timing which makes the comedy – both slapstick and wisecracking – work perfectly. Although only Healy, Holland, and Holly are fleshed out beyond two-dimensional stock characters, these three actors easily carry the film.
A totally groovin’ sound track helps sets the scene even though the period piece elements are haphazard in creating a complete version of 1970s LA; however, the hokey use of setting, props, and costumes adds to the fun.
Black also has fun parodying film noir, buddy films, and cop movies, especially those made in the 1970s, and he even manages to include a business corruption theme and ecological message without being too heavy handed. The fast paced action of fights, car chases, gun battles, and explosions makes the 116 minutes run time fly.
Rated R for violence, sexuality, nudity, language and brief drug use. The Nice Guys is adult fun and farce that begs for a sequel re-teaming Crowe, Gosling, and Rice. So suspend your disbelief and groove with the fun of The Nice Guys, a Warner Bros. release, which is in theaters now.
