Shane Black successfully mines the buddy-cop film formula he helped create

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2018)

Terrifically fun buddy-cop film throwback from writer/director Shane Black, one of the folks responsible for establishing the 80s action films subgenera with "Lethal Weapon" and "The Last Boy Scout." Set in a scuzzy Boogie Nights looking 1970s L.A., an unlikely duo of smart down on his luck P.I. Holland March, Ryan Gosling, and dimwitted hired thug Jackson Healy, a scene stealing Russell Crowe, form an uneasy alliance in trying to find a missing porn actress named Misty Mountains. From there the plot gets more serpentine and complicated, but what makes this film so fun and worth watching is the banter between Gosling and Crowe, where you get hilariously throwaway moments like:
Holland March: Look on the bright side. Nobody got hurt.
Jackson Healy: People got hurt.
Holland March: I'm saying, I think they died quickly. So I don't think they got hurt.
Or
Jackson Healy: So, you know the old lady, right? Did you believe her?
Holland March: What about?
Jackson Healy: When she said she saw Misty alive that night, did you believe her?
Holland March: God, no. She's blind as a bat.
Jackson Healy: Uh-huh.
Holland March: She has actual coke bottles for glasses. You paint a mustache on a Volkswagen, she says, "Boy, that Omar Sharif sure runs fast."
Or
Jackson Healy: The place reeks of marijuana. They're smoking it.
Holland March: I can't smell.
Jackson Healy: What?
Holland March: I got hit in the head a while back. I lost my sense of smell.
Jackson Healy: You can't smell?
Holland March: Yeah.
Jackson Healy: You're a detective, and you can't smell?
Holland March: Yeah.
Jackson Healy: Aw, this just keeps getting better and better.
Holland March: Wow, that's really insensitive.
Gosling and Crowe have a great chemistry that cries out for a sequel to happen so audiences can enjoy their future adventures in this sleazy 1970s coke filled version of Los Angels (although the film was sadly a box office disappointment). The other standout performer is Angourie Rice, playing Gosling's quick witted and smart-mouthed daughter Holly (reminiscent of Danielle Harris' character in Black's "The Last Boy Scout" as Bruce Willis' smart-mouthed daughter), who has some great banter herself with Crowe's Jackson when she finds out what he does for a living:
Holly March: You beat people up and charge money?
Jackson Healy: Yeah.
Holland March: Sad, isn't it?
Holly March: How much would you charge to beat up my friend Janet?
Holland March: What?
Jackson Healy: How much you got?
Holly March: Thirty bucks.
Holland March: That's good, this conversation is over.
Holly also has some hilarious father/daughter interaction as well, such as when she hides out in the trunk of the car to follow Gosling and Crowe to coke filled party populated with adult film stars and observes:
Holly March: Dad, there's like whores here and stuff.
Holland March: Sweetheart, how many times have I told you? Don't say "and stuff". Just say "Dad, there are whores here".
Holly March: Well, there's like a ton.
That last interaction leads to a great callback later in the film when Holly is talking to a young adult film actress that's too inappropriate to repeat here, but it's probably the biggest laugh of the film. Overall, "The Nice Guys" is charmingly retro, from it's use of the 1970s Warners Bros. logo at the film's opening to the fabulous cars and costumes to a fun soundtrack, it all gives the the feel of a politically incorrect R-rated version of The Rockford Files. Keith David, Lois Smith, Gil Gerard, and Kim Basinger also appear in the film.