The Nice Guys (2016) – Film Review

Director: Shane Black
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice
Certificate: 15

By Sarah Morgan

Hollywood is full of buddy movies. Sadly, few live up to the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or The Sting, both of which showcased the chemistry between real-life mates Paul Newman and Robert Redford, but The Nice Guys has a decent go at emulating it.

In director Shane Black’s neo-noir action comedy, which takes place in 1977 LA, the central roles are taken by Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. The Gladiator star plays Jackson Healy, a violent hired thug who is paid to tell private eye Holland March (Gosling) to stay away from a young woman called Amelia – as a warning, he March’s arm.

“In danger”

However, when Healy’s apartment is broken into by a couple of villains looking for Amelia, he realises she’s in danger, so recruits a reluctant March to help him track her down and keep her from harm. It’s a task that brings them into contact with the city’s seedy underworld, including members of the porn industry.

Amelia’s mother Judith, a Justice Department official, also pops up, but it’s obvious there’s far more to her than meets the eye, while March’s teenage daughter Holly may prove vital if her father and his new pal are going to live long enough to solve the case.

Angourie Rice, Margaret Qualley and Kim Basinger are all on form in supporting roles, while those who grew up watching Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in the 1980s may spot its star, Gil Gerard, among the cast.

“Entertaining”

The Nice Guys has some good moments, but there are times when acts of extreme violence and cruelty jar with the rather jolly knockabout tone of the rest of the film; see Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to find out how such things should be done. It’s entertaining stuff nevertheless, with Crowe and Gosling clearly having a lot of fun.

What a shame, then, that it’s unlikely there will be a sequel. It’s obvious from the way the tale ends that Black and his co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi intended it to be the first in a series. Sadly, it didn’t make enough money at the box office to spark a follow-up.

Both Black and Bagarozzi provide an audio commentary for this swanky 4K edition, which also features interviews, documentaries and video essays.

Sarah Morgan

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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