by Frank Calvillo
When I told one of my best friends/fellow cinephile that I would be reviewing The Nice Guys, he flat out didn’t know what movie I was talking about. After showing him the trailer though, he commented: “It’ll be a fat bomb, but it’ll also be hilarious.” Well, so far he’s been partially correct as The Nice Guys is perhaps one of the funniest movies I’ve seen all year thanks to a pair of committed performers and a script co-written by director Shane Black, whose blend of dark comedy and storytelling here adds another unmistakable highlight to his already-impressive career.
In The Nice Guys, amateur detective Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) and private investigator Holland March (Ryan Gosling) find themselves paired together after being hired by the head of L.A.’s justice department (Kim Basinger) to find her missing daughter whom she feels may have fallen in with some of the city’s known porn producers. Aided by Holland’s daughter Holly (Anjourie Rice), the two find themselves in one dangerous, yet sidesplitting, situation after another as they battle a number of obstacles, assassins and each other’s eccentricities on their quest to find out the truth behind their case.
What makes The Nice Guys stand out more than any other comedy of its kind, is the decidedly no holds barred attitude when it comes to the film’s action and dark humor. Numerous acts of violence are committed at the drop of a hat which are free of the kind of safe watered down fare that comes with most studio releases. Vital characters are knocked off at at a moment’s notice and the kind of injuries sustained throughout The Nice Guys are oftentimes beyond painful to see, yet also funny to watch. It may not be to everyone’s tastes to see violence combined with comedy, but Black mixes the two so well in moments which surprise and prompt laughter from even the most conservative of moviegoers. For audiences tired of safe, filtered action comedies, such an approach is so refreshing as it makes the film an enjoyably unpredictable rollercoaster ride from start to finish.
While most films tend to pick one brand of comedy and ride it all the way until the credits roll, usually either clever wordplay or slapstick, The Nice Guys becomes one of those rare breeds which opts for both. The violent shootout scenes are made all the more hilarious by many of Gosling’s pratfalls, each of which bring forth laughter at his endearing ineptitude as a detective. Meanwhile, the exchanges of humorous dialogue between the two never fail to prove solid comic gold. “Look on the bright side,” Holland states near the end of the film as he reflects on past events. “Nobody got hurt.” When Jackson looks back at him with disbelief and replies: “People got hurt,” Holland retorts: “Yeah, but I’m saying, I think they died quickly so I don’t think there was much suffering.”
The Nice Guys is most definitely looking to be another addition the various buddy cop movies of the past, as well as buddy movies in general. While the film is so lovingly paying tribute to past titles such as the Lethal Weapon series, it sets itself apart thanks to the chemistry among its main characters. In other examples of the genre, the two central characters have a clearly established shorthand and rapport with one another, which clearly allows them to get the job done. Here, Jackson and Holland share such an awkward chemistry where they are continuously missing each other’s cues and misreading one another’s signals, only solving the case and making it out alive by sheer luck and chance rather than skillful teamwork. This brand of awkward chemistry is very much the film’s secret weapon and without it, I’m convinced The Nice Guys would not work as well as it does.
I don’t see how it will be possible not to award Golden Globe nominations to both Crowe and Gosling. Their work here is not only comedic, it’s downright genius in its hilarity. Known primarily as dramatic actors, the two manage to turn in the kind of work normally expected from someone like Robin Williams or Jim Carrey. Although Gosling plays the fool and Crowe the straight man, both actors garner plenty of laughs for their characters, revealing another side of their acting abilities for a project which will surely be seen as a worthy highlight in their respective filmographies in the future .
The fun extends to the supporting cast, which includes Matt Bomer (perfectly menacing as a chilling assassin), Yaya Dacosta as a double agent of sorts and especially Rice, who is so good, that she manages to almost outshine her famous co-stars. Only Basinger seems out of place, even when exchanging lines with her former L.A. Confidential co-star, playing a character that should have been provided more screen time, but instead was written rather quickly. Her storyline is summed up in such a rushed final scene which is made all the more worse thanks to Basinger’s awkwardness at having to play both exposition and resolution at the same time.
It should be noted that the case that both Jackson and Holland are working on, which serves as the basis for The Nice Guys, comes firmly in second place when pitted against the many laughs to be had throughout the film. However, the mechanics of their case, which involves the porn industry and the issue of the ever-growing smog problem in Los Angeles, was very relevant considering the state of the city during that decade. It’s a skillfully-weaved plot, which proves engrossing in its own right, even if it’s forced to hang in the shadow of such a strong blend of comedy.
