The Nice Guys (2016)

Plot: In 1977 Los Angeles, two private eyes, Jackson (Russell Crowe) and Holland (Ryan Gosling), search for the cast of a pornographic art movie before they are killed by unknown thugs. Holland's daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) tags along. They criss-cross LA with parties, meetings, car chases, and shoot-outs.   [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The Nice Guys is both a detective movie and a spoof of a detective movie. It emphasizes exaggerated characters instead of a high joke count. The plot mocks the twists of thrillers, and it sets-up humorous sitcom scenes.

I liked Russell Crowe, and he commanded the scenes that he was in. Ryan Gosling played an unlikeable character, and I didn't care for him. I don't know if it was the writing or the acting. Angourie Rice's character provided the lightness to the movie and gave it personality. I am certain we will see the fifteen year old in a more movies.

I was entertained but some parts dragged. They achieved a high body count, but most of the fighting not bloody. There was one scene where they come up an elevator into a gun fight, and they just stay in the elevator and go down without people seeing them. Pretty funny.  I did not care for the political parts or trying to blame crime on the auto industry. 

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice 

Directed by: Shane Black

Written by: Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi

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The Music: 70's oldies with drum-heavy orchestral music during the action sequences. I wish it was all 70's disco. You can skip Kiss and America.

The Visuals: The outdoor scenes of LA were great and the initial shots at Holland's house impressed me.  The action scenes are just OK. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: Kind of fun to watch. 

 

More: The Nice Guys was based on a true story! From Wikipedia:

Most of the interjected humor for the plot are based on the true events of Jay Joseph, a Marine Corps veteran who also worked as a private investigator and mole while stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina in the mid-to-late 1990s. Producer Joel Silver had briefly met Joseph while he was performing contract work at Silver's Auldbrass Plantation estate in 1999. Joseph's adventures as a young, new investigator, paralleled with his tenacity as a Marine, seemed to always lead to him being placed in comical - albeit dangerous - situations. Silver always thought that some of these events would be great fodder for a detective plot. Some of these stories, simply through word of mouth, were also used in the 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, written by Shane Black, who also wrote The Nice Guys. One quote in particular for this movie, ''You're the world's worst detective'', was a line that was actually spoken by Joseph's younger sister after he told her a story about sleeping with a woman that he was supposed to be conducting surveillance on for adultery.

Even More: Writer Shane Black is responsible for Iron Man 3 and the Lethal Weapon movies.

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