Good not great

Rating: 7/10 (1 October 2016)

Like that of another film penned (but not directed) by Shane Black, LETHAL WEAPON: it's the film's unlikely duo that pushes the vehicle over the finish line. AGAIN, I get the impression that Shane put all of his effort behind fleshing out each of the disaccording partner-partner dyad, and their relationship, rather than the story they were placed in. Though, to be fair, THE NICE GUYS' tale was extensively more interesting - however, considering how lackluster LETHAL WEAPON's was, that ain't saying much; NICE GUYS' was only half-assed, whereas LETHAL's was about a 1/16 of a buttock. Still, there are no "oooohhhh" moments whenever a piece to the puzzle comes into place, BUT there are a few very convenient moments that force the story forward, so that's um...not so good. Pretty yawn-inducing stuff, to be honest.
Beside Gosling and Crowe (and their characters) arduously keeping me engaged, there was also very consistent snappy dialogue that kept me smiling, and Black's subversion of the crime genres' norms - the usual slick and effortlessly cool are replaced with the clumsy (Gosling excels at this) and quasi- realistic - kept me on my feet and entertained. I'm aware this subversion isn't new to Black - he's done it once before (that I'm aware of) with yet another conflicting-couple crime film, KISS KISS BANG BANG. Speaking of which: I'm keeping my fingers crossed that KKBB doesn't follow the same path as the two I've seen.
One last point: The soundtrack is severely lacking solid 70s jams. It's ALWAYS a joy to nod my big head up and down while mouthing/silently singing "Ay, Ay, Ayyy! Ba de ya - say do you remember" to September, but I need more! C'mon, Shane! If you want to keep this simple- minded person entertained, you've gots to give me some catchy tunes! Wuswrongwitchu!?