Ryan Gosling in
a physical action-comedy? Whoever thought of the idea should be crowned genius
of the year. With dynamite timing and uproarious gestures, Gosling mines his
diverse abilities and becomes a blast in The Nice Guys, directed by Lethal
Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang scribe Shane Black. Co-written by Black and
Anthony Bagarozzi, this nonstop-hilarious buddy-cop film is both a committed
rekindling of the old formula Black aced throughout his career and a playful
wink to the genre, bouncily walking on the fine line with occasional backflips.
Not that
Gosling’s character, Holland March, a clumsy, drunken private eye living in
1977 Los Angeles, is exactly a cop, per se. (He’s often hired by confused old
ladies looking for their dead family members.) And neither is his eventual
partner, the ultra-serious tough guy Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe, beefed up
and effective), who rakes in hard cash by beating up his clients’ enemies. What
could possibly go wrong when these two pair up out of obligation?
A
lot—especially when the backdrop is a gritty-to-the-touch Tinseltown (captured
by veteran cinematographer Philippe Rousselot in earthy colors) drowning in
orange smog and overtaken by the golden age of porn. Think a dash of
Chinatown’s noir sprinkled over Boogie Nights, and you’re in the ballpark, with
Nixon on the cover of Forbes, Jaws 2 decorating roadside billboards and
exquisite period details shining on every corner.
When the death
of a porn star named Misty Mountains—seen in the film’s gloriously funny
opening sequence set to the beat of the Temptations’ “Papa was a Rollin’
Stone”—unites the widowed March and divorced Healy in search of another adult
entertainer, the missing Amelia, the duo enter a sprawling maze of shady power
structures and dead stakeholders. Along the way, they hang out among Dirk
Diggler and Rollergirl wannabes in spectacular bejeweled garments and receive a
considerable amount of help from March’s badass 12-year-old daughter, Holly
(Angourie Rice), who possesses far superior PI chops than her panicky dad.
Between a
gorgeously grandiose finale, memorable parts for Yaya DaCosta and Kim Basinger
and a juicy soundtrack that includes Earth, Wind & Fire and Kool & the
Gang, The Nice Guys is the perfect, incredibly crafted yet laid-back procedural
we’ve been starved for. Even when it sometimes seems that the endless jokes are
being thrown against a wall to see what sticks, The Nice Guys, on the whole,
summons that victorious, innocent feeling of seeing likable heroes win while
having fun along the way. It’s nice, guys.
