fun action crime drama

Rating: 8/10 (18 April 2017)

It's 1977 Los Angeles. Porn actress Misty Mountains crashes into a house and dies. Mrs. Glenn is certain that her niece is alive and hires private investigator Holland March (Ryan Gosling) who starts tracking Amelia. Amelia hires professional muscle Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) to stop her stalker. Jackson breaks Holland's arm assuming resolution to the case. Then, two other thugs break into his place. He partners with Holland and his sassy daughter Holly to save Amelia. In the process, they discover a labyrinthine conspiracy involving a porn movie.
This is lots of fun. Shane Black takes us on a wild, irreverent ride. The cherry on top is the connection between Gosling and Crowe. They have great chemistry. Gosling is comically broad without being too broad. The little girl is fun, too. Shane knows this genre and is able to twist it in interesting ways. The story is engaging enough to follow and this is simply fun.