Very NICE

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2016)

Ryan Gosling in a physical action-comedy? Whoever thought of the idea should be crowned genius of the year. With dynamite timing and uproarious gestures, Gosling mines his diverse abilities and becomes a blast in The Nice Guys, directed by Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang scribe Shane Black. Cowritten by Black and Anthony Bagarozzi, this nonstop-hilarious buddy-cop film is both a committed rekindling of the old formula Black aced throughout his career and a playful wink to the genre, bouncily walking on the fine line with occasional backflips.
Not that Gosling's character, Holland March, a clumsy, drunken private eye living in 1977 Los Angeles, is exactly a cop, per se. (He's often hired by confused old ladies looking for their dead family members.) And neither is his eventual partner, the ultra-serious tough guy Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe, beefed up and effective), who rakes in hard cash by beating up his clients' enemies.Between a gorgeously grandiose finale, memorable parts for Yaya DaCosta and Kim Basinger and a juicy soundtrack that includes Earth, Wind & Fire and Kool & the Gang, The Nice Guys is the perfect, incredibly crafted yet laid-back procedural we've been starved for. Even when it sometimes seems that the endless jokes are being thrown against a wall to see what sticks, The Nice Guys, on the whole, summons that victorious, innocent feeling of seeing likable heroes win while having fun along the way. It's nice, guys.