I've been fairly quiet on here the past few weeks, mainly because I'm suffering from a bit of movie burn-out but also because I spent a week in New York City doing the typical touristy stuff and just didn't have much time for sitting down and watching a movie. I managed to remedy this on my last day in the city that never sleeps, I had a bit of time to kill before my flight home and didn't fancy trailing about the streets in the heat so I decided to fire into the AMC Empire 25 near Times Square and watch Shane Black's newest effort.
The Nice Guys is part hard-boiled detective mystery and part hilarious miss-matched partners comedy set in the sleazy side of 1977 Los Angeles. It riffs on everything from Chinatown to Boogie Nights to L.A.Confidential and even Lethal Weapon but still manages to feel fresh and original. Russell Crowe stars as Jackson Healy, a local enforcer for hire who must team up with shambolic P.I. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and his wise beyond her years daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) to untangle a web of corruption involving a dead porn star, a missing film and the missing daughter of a high ranking government official.
I don't remember laughing this much at a movie in a long time, the jokes come quick and never feel forced, Black's script hook's you in, it's full of twists and witty dialouge while the three leads share a really great chemistry. Gosling puts in an outstanding physical performance getting to really show the comic chops that he's hinted at in the past while Crowe makes for the perfect straight-man but the star of the show has to be young Rice (who also stole the show in These Final Hours) who never looks overawed when alongside her more famous co-stars and somehow manages to keep the film grounded. The film also features some memorable villains played by the likes of Matt Bomer, Kim Basinger and Beau Knapp, who all get a chance to shine and the whole scene set at the party will go down as one of my favourite scenes of the year, just so much great stuff.
Overall, this film goes straight to the top of my (non existent) best of 2016 list, it's just a great time from start to finish and it's so disappointing that it doesn't seem to be doing that well at the box office because the seeds are set for a sequel and I for one would love to follow these three characters on another adventure.