Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Gil Gerard, Margaret Qualley, Yaya Dacosta, Keith David, Beau Knapp, Lois Smith, Murielle Teilo, Daisy Tahan, Kim Bassinger, Jack Kilmer, Lance Valentine, Ty Simpkins.
Occasionally in life cinema offers you the perfect picture, the moment when the genre of your choice comes out of the gloom and shoves perfection up close to your face. You expect perfection when it comes to some films and performances, it is the reason the film was made in the first place but when it comes to the unexpected, when it comes to films such as Mad Max, the first Lethal Weapon or The Nice Guys, such a hit is to be more than applauded, it is to be seen as genuine and highly praised.
The buddy movie, the long time staple of cinema, had pretty much died a death over the years, a slow lingering, unfunny and unsatisfying passing of a long held value; it had become almost cartooned, bundled up and left to die starving for true inspiration. It took Shane Black, arguably the true King of such films to bring it back to life and in The Nice Guys, it is not only resurrected but looks to be in better health than it has been for thirty years.
The pairing of Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe is a masterpiece of casting and Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi’s script leaps of the page quicker than a gazelle fearing the grip of the noble lion’s teeth. The film may owe much to the Lethal Weapon series, the sense of camaraderie that flows through the films, however The Nice Guys really stands upon its own two feet and mixes together superbly, the depth of character established in just one film is outstanding and interesting and the relationship built up between the two leads and the superb Angourie Rice is hilarious, witty and charming.
A wonderful film, one that captures the beating heart of a detective buddy film, one that is not afraid to go down the well trodden route of Lou Costello and Bud Abbott or go darker and deeper with keeping the villains of the piece strangely up to the minute and novel. The Nice Guys is a film that truly should spawn a franchise and one that sees both main leads become the true stars they should be seen as.
Ian D. Hall