The Nice Guys

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Shane Black/Starring: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Kim Basinger, Keith David and Margaret Qualley

I really liked the idea of a buddy comedy starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Neither actor is known for comedic roles and the unlikely pairing is enough to intrigue even the most casual movie-goer. Unfortunately for director Shane Black's The Nice Guys, the concept alone isn't enough to overcome the film's deficiencies. How can a comic send-up of a noir set in the mid to late 1970s' possibly go wrong when the period and setting offer so much potential for satire and farce? Well, this is Hollywood; where any number of issues dealing with conception and execution can derail a film. For Black's flick, a dearth of gags is hardly the problem. What is the problem are the lack of quality gags and funny scenes, which fail to transmute grins to guffaws. As is so often the case with a comedy so heavily promoted as Black's film, the funniest stuff is in the trailer and if what you see in the preview doesn't elicit a giggle, then you're out of luck.

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling play detectives Jackson Healy and Holland March, respectively; who are brought together by chance when each find themselves embroiled in the same case involving a porn star who commits suicide. A person of interest in the star's death is a young woman named Amelia Kuttner, whose connection to the death is later made clear.

The meeting between detectives is hardly auspicious as Healy roughs up March after mistaking him for a cad chasing young girls. The bumbling March is an amusing contrast to Healy; a no-nonsense, violent man who gets quick results. Because Healy isn't technically a detective, he hires March to help him find Amelia. Their search leads them all over disco-era L.A. Along for the ride is March's young daughter Holly (Angourie Rice), who becomes a third member of the sleuthing team after she ignores her father's repeated commands to stay home.

Healy and March run afoul of some thugs hired to find Amelia, who represent an organized crime syndicate in Detroit. The baddies try to kill the detectives at a party where the two are chasing down a lead.

The early scenes show some comic promise as Holly proves to be the most level-headed member of the trio. Not a lot of snappy repartee passes between the three but their chemistry at least makes them worthwhile company.

In time, Healy and March meet with the head of the Justice Department, Judith Kuttner (Kim Basinger), who has more than a passing interest in finding her daughter. She hires the two detectives to find Amelia.
Amelia's activities with a protest group who demonstrate against L.A.'s smog problem and the pollution generated by the Big Three auto makers in Detroit comes to light. The detectives discover Amelia is behind the making of a porn/protest film intended to be shown at an industry car show as a way of shaming the auto makers.

As Healy, March and Holly dodge hitmen and follow leads, they eventually discover Judith Kuttner is actually in cahoots with the auto makers and is intent on stopping her daughter. When the protest film is shown at the car show, Kuttner's thugs attempt to steal it, which results in a showdown with Holly and March.

The plot isn't exactly Chinatown though we shouldn't expect or want it to be but the story takes a detour from comedy to semi-seriousness, which places a kink in the fun.

Gosling shows a surprising flare for comedy though he could do better with better material. Crowe is mostly the straight man but he too shows some comedic ability. A scene where the two dispose of a body by throwing it over a wall, where it lands on a party below is amusing though we saw it coming in the trailer. Most scenes are all set-up with no comic pay-off. Gosling is at times over-the-top, particularly a scene where he whimpers uncontrollably.

As the film progressed, the silence in the theater became overpowering. What might have been a fairly funny noir parody became one more forgettable afternoon at the multiplex.

For all heavy promotion the film received and the commercial tie-ins (never trust a movie with tie-ins), the movie just came across as a factory product. Too bad; both Gosling and Crowe were game for some something different. The eternal question: will this become a franchise? The eternal answer; wait and see.