I saw a movie last weekend. I usually like to have my reviews out by Monday but life had other plans, so Thursday it is! Two other big ones came out this week and they both out performed my pick, but I’m not surprised there. Also, lots of people are going to see X-Men this week. A LOT of people. So this may be the movie you want to see until the crowds calm down. Here’s my review of The Nice Guys.
Did you like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? Of course you did! Did you enjoy the Lethal Weapon movies? Who didn’t? Did you see Inherent Vice? Well, you should! And you should watch The Nice Guys too! This is a crime comedy that takes place in the 1970’s that starts out with some laughs and some action and just keeps going. You’ve seen the trailer, it was all over the place last week. If you haven’t then check out my Future Flicks blog for the week of May 20th. This was the movie to see last week and if you don’t like crowds then this is the movie to see this week too. The Nice Guys was a true pleasure to watch from beginning to end and it had characters that I truly cared about. I didn’t care about the crime or whodunit. I cared about them.
This is a great dark comedy because it doesn’t get too dark. It all comes from Shane Black’s writing and Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling’s timing. Crowe played the straight man out of the duo. He always had more deadpan reactions and delivery which worked really well for him. Gosling played the goofier role which is good because he has a wider range as an actor. The timing was great and not just from the actors, but from the script. There were serious scenes that were allowed to be serious and if a joke came, it always came at the end as a mechanism to disarm the tension. I saw this with friends and we all laughed a lot. So if dark comedies are your thing, then this may be the movie for you.
Russell Crowe is a smart actor. He knows exactly what his limits are and what kind of roles he can play. Just look at the characters he’s played. They’re different, but not as different as say… Ryan Gosling. Jackson Healy… good God, that name even sounds like a 70’s tough guy. Where was I? Oh yeah. Jackson Healy is a serious tough guy with a deadpan delivery style for any jokes that were thrown his way which is right up Crowe’s alley. Gosling, in my so humble opinion, is the one who really shined as Holland March. He delivered his jokes with just the right amount of goofiness so the sense of seriousness never left. Angourie Rice, the one in pink in the picture above, also gave a fantastic performance and, in many scenes, she stole the show. She’s not ‘child prodigy’ level good, but she’s good enough to keep an eye out for. This was her first big movie though she’s done quite a few things before. Kim Basinger is in the movie, but not as much as I thought she’d be. Matt Bomer of Magic Mike, and White Collar fame was in the movie and did a fine job playing a psychopath.
The Nice Guys is a movie that I think everyone should watch, but it’s still not without its problems. My biggest gripe is the back stories of the two main characters. They both had nice little tidbits of information that came out as the movie progressed but there were a few things that never got any resolutions even though they were well worth the time. They didn’t even need much to make it work. All it would have taken was an extra line or two in one scene and then taking a prop away in another scene and bam! done. The back stories would have felt more complete as opposed to an afterthought. There was some character growth, which was nice to see, but I wanted more from a crime comedy with a heavy story.
Watch this movie. Watch it in the theaters if it interests you enough. But it doesn’t matter if you see it on the big screen or the small screen, just give it a shot. You’ll laugh and you’ll have a great time. Fun side note. Val Kilmer’s son is in the movie as well as Keith David, the voice of Anderson from the Mass Effect games and the Arbiter from the Halo series.
The Nice Guys gets a 9 out of 11