Writer / Director Shane Black who has given us wonderfully fun duos in the past with such films as Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang is back. This time he tries to conjure up some comedic magic from Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys. Set in 1978 Ryan Gosling plays a private detective that does not care so much about solving cases as he does about cashing checks. Russell Crowe plays and ex-cop who is a brute of a detective himself. When Gosling is hired to look into the alleged suicide of Porn Actress Misty Mountains and Crowe is hired to keep people from finding a girl named Amelia their paths cross. As they work together to solve both cases they uncover a much larger conspiracy that goes up to the government level. There is so much to like here, but I will start with the on screen chemistry between Gosling and Crowe. They work very well together and not in the silly way Gibson & Glover did in the lethal Weapon films. This is due to the unique characters each play. While they do have some cliche characteristics about them I found their personalities to be fresh and fun. The writing is the next highlight to mention. Smart comedy, silly comedy, physical comedy – Nice Guys has it all and it all worked for me. If there is one aspect people may have an issue with, it is the Noir storyline that mimics so many in the past. However I was going in looking for a fun comedy and I got it. I had a total blast with the Nice guys and I highly recommend it. Ry’s Grade:
4 Jaws out of 4!
