'The Nice Guys' - Film Quickie

Writer, director Shane Black has a filmography with more ups than downs. He likes to write and direct films that don't take themselves seriously. In a pop culture where witty Marvel movies run rampant, Black's directorial films such as 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', 'Iron Man 3', and 'The Nice Guys' take advantage of this for better or for worse. Although most of his films miss the mark for me, 'The Nice Guys' is a clear standout that maintains a fatuous, exuberant tone with plenty of laughs to go around.

'The Nice Guys' is a buddy cop movie set in 1970s Los Angeles: a time where corruption is rampant and the porn industry is raking in millions. Amidst the chaos of LA, the story focuses on muscle man Jackson Healy (Russel Crowe) and private investigator March (Ryan Gosling). March is hired to find a porn star named Misty Mountains, who we know died in a car accident. Marchs' search for Misty leads him to try and track down someone who worked on a porno with her recently, Amelia (Margaret Qualley), who happens to have hired Jackson Healy to protect her. Unlike March, Healy is hired to intimidate and hurt individuals rather than investigating them. And so he conveys the message to March that he should stop looking for Amelia. When they realize something abnormal is going on with the dead-not-dead porn star and everyone else involved with a particular adult production, March and Healy team up to find the truth.

What's great about 'The Nice Guys' is that it knows its audience and the type of film it wants to be. Right from scene one, the audience is made clear that this is a dark comedy. Misty Mountains is found dead and then followed up with a goofier introduction to our leads. Healy beats up pedophiles and March comedically begins an investigation on a dead man who's been missing since his funeral.

The film sets aside darker moments early on to bring Crowe and Gosling together, which allows the comedy to proceed rather than to drag. Every scene between the two has a genuine laugh-out-loud moment. Crowe's character acts more like the straight man to Gosling's more hysterical personality. This dynamic works near flawlessly because of the amazing chemistry between the two. The blend between begrudged partners to closer friends is the right amount and doesn't feel forced.

To me, this film's humor is a combination of witty Tarantino and the Coen Brother's 'Burn After Reading.' 'The Nice Guys' find humor in the darkest of scenarios, similar to 'Django Unchained' or 'Pulp Fiction', and the outlook from 'Burn After Reading' that there is no real point to the film. Until about an hour in, there isn't even a main antagonist. The story focuses on the duo and their investigation, which relegates a cohesive narrative to a lesser priority. The plot only moves when the script commands it to. Main plot points are discovered by literally falling on March and Healy, or March and Healy falling on them. 'The Nice Guys' tries minimally to be more than it is but not enough to the extent that other modern comedies do. There’s a scene midway through the film in which Ryan Gosling’s mediocrity has stumbled him down a hill, drunkenly trying to impress a girl at a party. As one of multiple scenes, he falls into a clue, a rotting corpse of someone he’s been looking for. And his response is hilariously unpredictable. He doesn’t respond in a cool Ryan Gosling way. No, he harnesses a Lou Costello impression and high pitch screams. It is beyond amusing, one many slapstick moments throughout 'The Nice Guys.'

Somehow this film hits every spectrum of comedy that resonates with me. I love a good combination of slapstick, witty humor, and creative character interaction. 'The Nice Guys' is an underrated film that deserves more than it got. For those that have seen the film and thought it was just okay, I urge you to go back and give it a second view. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Tallerico, B. (n.d.). The nice GUYS movie review & Film summary (2016): Roger Ebert. Retrieved May 03, 2021, from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-nice-guys-2016