Never Mr. Nice Guy

Rating: 4/10 (6 August 2016)

Wait. This was labelled as a comedy? When was it funny?
Fine. I laughed maybe twice in two hours. And I suppose I recognized their brand of humor, I just didn't find 98% of it humorous.
It seems Director, Co-Writer Shane Black really nailed the 1970s, but failed to make it wildly interesting. The movie wasn't bad, per se, it just was there. Something to watch and hope for something more exciting to happenand stuff.
A real "hit"man for hire and a greedy, subpar P.I. team up to kinda find a girl, but are more interested in solving the string of murders surrounding said damsel in distress. Or so, they think she is. Oh, and the smart, sassy daughter of the P.I. tags along becausemovie.
True, I am a Russell Crowe fan and not at all a Ryan Gosling follower, but the chemistry between the two was good and it did look like they put a lot of effort into this. I just kept thinking: the movie wants to be so much more than it is. It wanted to be a less serious L.A. Confidential, which, not coincidentally, also starred Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger.
I guess if you'd like to see the tongue-in-cheek version of highly superior L.A. Confidential, this is for you. Otherwise, it's just there.
***
Final thoughts: Speaking of a less-serious L.A. Confidential, just watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang which was like this but, again, far superior.