The Nice Guys is the new buddy cop/detective movie out this weekend starring Russel Crow and Ryan Gosling. The movie is about two semi-competent men (one a leg-breaker for hire, the other a PI) hired to… well… the mystery is kind of complicated and ultimately irrelevant to the movie. Because the movie, which is quite good, is more about 1977 LA and the very funny dialog and situations these guys get themselves into.
I’d love to see another movie with these two characters… and Gosling’s 13 year old daughter who is every bit as much part of the team as they are. She is, in fact, one of the better parts of the movie, especially given that it looks like she’s a side character from the trailers.
This movie is just a lot of fun and laugh-out-loud funny throughout… though it does have a surprising amount of very broad physical comedy that I didn’t expect. Nothing wrong with that, just a bit more over-the-top than I would have predicted from the rest of the mostly dialog-heavy humor.
When I say the plot – the mystery – is irrelevant, it largely is. I think it holds together but it’s about as important as the water scheme was in Chinatown. That is to say, a lot of people going through a lot of effort over a crooked system… but it almost doesn’t matter what that scheme is. Which is fine since, yes, this movie is more about the mood, the era, and the guys.
I liked this movie a lot – definitely one to see without the kids for all the whores and stuff (“honey, what have I told you. Don’t say ‘and sutff’. just say ‘all the whores'”). Lots of violence (much of it for laughs, granted) and a surprising amount of nudity (which isn’t surprising since part of the plot involves tasteful, story-driven, politically motivated 1970s pornography… some of which a thirteen year old girl watches, unphased). So, yeah, classy too! :-p
Score: 87