The Nice Guys is a great crime/comedy film

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2016)

The Nice Guys was directed by Shane black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron man 3) and stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling who are both private eyes during the 1970's in Los Angeles. The plot synopsis of this film is that both characters are a mismatched pair of private eyes who investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles.
The film is great due to its both funny and charismatic two leading roles, The Nice Guys pays homage to many other buddy cop films such as Lethal Weapon. The setting of the film which is in 1970's LA gives the film a retro postcard version of LA during this era, Black captures this version of LA through a very bright and vibrant use of Mise en Scene and lighting. Right from the offset you can tell the films soundtrack has been handpicked perfectly and if you are a huge fan of 70's music then you will most likely want to purchase this great soundtrack after watching the film.
Now onto the acting and the films characters. Both Crowe and Gosling give good performances, especially in terms of how to execute comedy as the two characters and actors completely bounce off each other and their relationship is what most holds the film together. I found both actors in this film very funny and being from the U.K. I am usually skeptical before seeing a Hollywood comedy as the humour is different but i did find myself laughing throughout the film, although some gags went over my head. All in all you could not have Crowe's brutish character without Gosling's clumsy and hopeless character and Shane Black did a great job at bringing these two characters together.
The plot of the film is quite complex and in the end it did pay off and I was satisfied in the end. The narrative deals with murder, mystery and it also takes so twists and turns, it very much reminded me of a comedy version of Chinatown and it is evident to see that The Nice Guys is heavily influenced by Film Noir and Neo Noir which is one of my favorite genres of cinema.
Now on to some of the issues that the film has. I found that some of the jokes and gags were too much and that they should not have been played on so much but other than that I did find most of the film funny. It seems that with a film dealing with subjects such as porn and nudity that having a child in the midst of all this activity is basically a green light to show as much naked women as they want as it appears as 'child friendly', I know the child is placed in these situations due to Gosling's clumsy parenting choices as he feels out of touch with his daughter since his wife died but I found that involving the child in most of the action in the film seemed rather pointless and out of place in a crime/ mystery film and for this reason The Nice Guys felt too child friendly and maybe even it is fair to say too self aware of itself.
overall I would rate The Nice Guys 8/10