Ahh the 70s, a golden era for cops, gumshoes and private investigators.
The Nice Guys focuses on a private investigator (Gosling) and his newly befriended enforcer (Crowe). These two unlikely heroes are both hired to locate and protect a girl who got in trouble with some unsavory people working in the Los Angles porn industry. The mismatched pair of detectives find that they just may be best team to locate this girl and bring her home; and like any “buddy cop” film hijinks ensue.
This was a fresh journey back into the “buddy cop” genre, with none other than Shane Black directing, who practically invented the style when he wrote lethal weapon back in 1987. This man knows how to create chemistry in the leads and The Nice Guys is no exception. Both Crowe and Gosling are great in this film and both play off each other very well. I think the big take away from this movie is that it is a lot of fun. It blends comedy and action so well, and creates an extremely fun movie going experience. I found my self laughing out loud scene after scene throughout the movie, and the action looked great and never got too over the top.
The main negative I had with this film was the overall plot was pretty shallow, and the movie telegraphs its big twist ending. The acting carries you through these negatives and I will say that because of these performances and the humor I ended up forgiving some of its faults.
Overall, I would highly recommend this film it was a lot of fun and it seemed like a perfect return to the genre for Shane Black. When these buddy cops movies are done right they can be funny, smart and very enjoyable, I’m looking at you Cop Out….
My Rating: 4 out of 5 B list pornos