"Nice Guys" is not a nice film.
It's a perplexing comedy that gets its laughs from the misery of others. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling team up as Jackson Healey & Holland March, two goofballs joining forces to find a missing young woman named Amelia.
Their adventures in dirty, smogged-out Los Angeles involve the porn industry and the auto industry and that includes plenty of gunfire, dead bodies, broken bones, and bloody noses.
Holland also has a precocious 13-year-old daughter, Holly, played-well by Angourie Rice, who tails her father most of the film offering advice and seems to be the only adult in the room.
I find it uncomfortable involving kids in such on-screen nastiness, but in "Nice Guys," it's all intentional. You'll either find it funny or off-putting.
"Nice Guys" is written and directed with slick confidence by Shane Black, he also created "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," "Ironman 3," and wrote "Lethal Weapon," all of them much better.
But, his latest does look good, paying clever homage to the 70's, and includes a terrific music score that helps smooth over the rough spots.
The Scene
"Nice Guys" is rated R for all the obvious reasons and despite it's star power, often plays pointless and flat. This is not a laugh a minute send up of Raymond Chandler or "Chinatown."
I also realize comedy is arbitrary and what might make you giggle, had me starring for long stretches at the screen wondering what was so funny.
