The Nice Guys follows two very different personalities in the middle of 1970s Los Angeles. Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) is a professional tough guy who gets paid to beat people up. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a private detective with a talent for finding people and a major problem with alcohol and self-control. The two team up (after a very rocky start) when it turns out that they’re both looking for the same girl, Amelia (Margaret Qualley), who appears to have gotten herself caught up in a sinister plot that has left plenty of people dead.
The plot gets pretty complicated, involving the worlds of pornography, activism, government, and industry all in a twisty mess that doesn’t always unfold cleanly. The film relies heavily on dumb luck and coincidence to move its mystery forward, its detectives often just running into the next clue through no real effort of their own. This is part of the point, though. The film isn’t about the world’s greatest detectives. It isn’t really about a mystery that can be solved to any satisfying degree. It is instead about just two guys trying to make the best out of a bad situation, finding friendship amidst a world burning to the ground.
The film makes its perspective pretty clear in the opening minutes. From the perspective of the characters, 1970s Los Angeles may as well be the gates of hell. It is a place where children seem to be growing up too quickly, having access to all manner of vice at a young age. It is in this context that the protagonists of this film might emerge as heroes. Healy is a psychopath looking for a purpose to his violence. March is a screw up and an alcoholic trying to convince himself that he may not be as bad a person as he thinks he is. In a world suffused by corruption, these minor attempts at redemption make these guys out to be saints.
The writing is terrific. Writer/director Shane Black perfected the buddy comedy decades ago, and this is just another great iteration of that formula. The mismatched professionals at the heart of this picture have terrific chemistry, their strengths and weaknesses manifesting in often hilarious ways. The script plays the long game, setting up jokes and bits that pay off much later in the movie. What might at first seem like a throwaway detail becomes a major punchline at a critical moment. This is what screenwriting is really all about, and though it might seem simple in concept, it still feels like magic when it’s done well.
Amidst all the humor is a black, black heart. This is a film that subverts genre expectations by simply and effectively depicting the damage done by a violent encounter. There is collateral damage all over the place, with innocent people dying from stray gunshots. The element of chance plays a big role in this film, adding to the general feeling of absurdity pervading these characters. Performances are top notch. Ryan Gosling reveals himself to be a brilliant physical comedian, at one point channeling Lou Costello brilliantly. Russell Crowe lets himself go and has fun for once. The revelation here is young Angourie Rice, who puts up a performance as memorable as the early roles of Chloe Moretz.
The Nice Guys is a breath of fresh in today’s cinematic landscape. In an environment that only seems to allow certain types of films to be made, it feels downright miraculous that something like this film could still come into existence. It has its flaws: it feels a little long, the plot getting shaggy as it pursues more twists in its central mystery. But for the most part, it’s able to make this time travel trip to the dark world of 70s Los Angeles a pleasurable one, filled with grim laughs and infectious chemistry.
My Rating:
