Quothed WC Field: 'I like children. If they properly cooked.

Rating: 5/10 (25 May 2016)

Please no 'Nice Guys two'. One is enough. Spare us films with children or dogs. They usually steal the scene, if not the show. Much has been said of Shane Black's farce 'The Nice Guys', staring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. A new Abbott and Costello, or so the publicity tells us. Don't believe it. True, there is good chemistry between Crowe and Gosling, but it is Angourie Rice who runs away with the film, as Gosling 11 or 12 year old daughter going on 35. We're in 1970s Los Angeles. The film has a false film noir atmosphere with high living, sex and a blow for saving our environment. Murder, violent murder is in the air, as Gosling, who never goes without a cigarette and his Zippo lighter, and Crowe who is tipping the scales on weight run down clues and the mysterious porno star Misty Mountain, who uses sex to expose a nasty multinational ruining the air...in a save the birds moment. It's a dumb and dumber 'comedy', that has few laughs. The children on the edge of puberty are bright and have potty mouths, that seen out of place in the 1970s but not today. Kim Bassinger, looking beautiful, turns in a fine cameo as a bent high government bureaucrat who is out to stop her daughter's exposure even if it kills her offspring. Matt Domer, formerly of 'Suits', plays the bad guy who leaves a trail of bodies. The consummate Crowe can and does raise a skeptical eyebrow that says it all. Gosling is good as a bumbling private dick who isn't as dopey as he seems. The pair deserve a better film. Rice gets the golden ring of a smart little cookie with a soft heart. No sequels please.