The Nice Guys (2016)

Director: Shane Black

Story: Anthony Bagarozzi and Shane Black

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling

Music: John Ottman, David Buckley

Time: 116 minutes

Bottom-line: One of the best scripts in the last year or two!

Shane Black’s The Nice Guys brings together an unlikely duo: Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, and believe me, they are by far, the funniest pair of 2016! The comedy thriller also features Angourie Rice, Margaret Qualley and Kim Basinger in the supporting roles. Whether or not the story wins your admiration, the chemistry between the leads will certainly make it worth a watch!

You’re a detective, and two days into the case you realise the only thing that has changed is that the sun went down twice.

1977, LA: The story begins with a car crash that kills a porn star Misty Mountains. The scene then shifts to Private Detective Holland March (Gosling), who is approached by Mrs. Glenn, the aunt of Misty who claims to have seen her niece alive two days after the crash. March is greedy, and uses every opportunity he can to make a little extra money. He accepts the case because a missing girl called Amelia (Qualley) is also involved. Meanwhile we see that Amelia has approached enforcer Jack Healy (Crowe) to protect her, before disappearing. Healy confronts March, only to be later attacked in his house by two thugs who also enquire about Amelia’s whereabouts. So for the sake of her safety, Healy decides to team up with March (and March’s daughter Holly (Rice)) to find Amelia before the thugs do. How their adventure turns out, and what the connection is between her and Misty is what the film is about.

 

(From left) Crowe as Healy, Gosling as March and Rice as Holly

The script is fast-paced, thrilling but most importantly, genuinely and effectively humorous. Every scene throws a few one-liners (few memorable ones too!) or some comic element for us to enjoy, and rarely are they clichéd or boring. The voiceovers and other dialogues – with superb voice modulation and body language too – make this is really good comedy. The thrills and plot twists are present around every corner too – there are fistfights, shootouts, murders, people jumping off buildings and what not! The scene at the party where March gets drunk and accidentally discovers something is one of the funniest sequences in the film. The script really impressed me with its blend of laughs and thrills.

The interesting lead combination is the first thing that caught my attention. Both Crowe and Gosling play characters who are roughly the same age as the actors themselves. The former is “locked and loaded”: the grim-looking, tough enforcer who is focussed on getting a job well done, and the latter is cunning, smart and lazy, not to forget “charmed and dangerous”. The drama caused by their misunderstandings, stupidity and nature of their somewhat polar opposite characters is what drives the film! Crowe and Gosling deserve praise; the humour wouldn’t have been half as fun without their acting skills. Gosling, in particular, with his incredibly funny expressions of fear and shock, stands out. Another commendable performance is by Angourie Rice, who seems to play the sanest person among the characters!

The period settings, costumes and the cinematography all contribute to the on-screen presentation. But what really makes The Nice Guys a smashing entertainer – a step ahead - (although the box office collections don’t reflect this) is the chemistry between the leads and the biting script.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91%