Starts as buddy movie, derails into a patchwork of clichÃ©s

Rating: 4/10 (23 October 2016)

Crowe and Gosling play PIs with different personalities forced to work together. Not groundbreaking territory, but suitable for lighthearted entertainment. Unfortunately, what starts as a drama set in Los Angels in the late 70s, soon turns into a weird mix of Boogie Nights and Taxi Driver, minus the darkness of those two movies - but missing also their greatness.
Gosling's young daughter gets mixed in the plot and proves to be way smarter than her father (not difficult) and very annoying. A sort of re-take of the Foster character in Taxi Driver, minus the prostitution. The group starts investigating the porn industry territory, but the plot meanders into other territories such as politics and pollution, without making much sense in any.
Not a total disaster, but it tries too hard to be "cool" and it is not very funny, which is sort of the kiss of death for a comedy. Really hope it won't have a sequel, but if that should happen for sure I'll give it a miss.