'The Nice Guys' has garish violence and few laughs
Just what we need 鈥� another potential buddy-movie franchise. For 鈥淭he聽Nice Guys,鈥� somebody had the bright idea to pair Russell Crowe and聽Ryan Gosling, two actors best known for playing seething loners. It鈥檚 not聽unusual for seriouso actors to change course and attempt comedy 鈥� Robert聽De Niro did it, though I mostly wish he hadn鈥檛 鈥� but in this case, Crowe聽and Gosling aren鈥檛 especially funny either singly or together. This may not聽be their fault altogether, since writer-director Shane Black (with聽credits on the 鈥淟ethal Weapon" films and 鈥淚ron聽Man 3鈥�) isn鈥檛 the sort of filmmaker who can be accused of having a light聽touch.
Crowe plays Jackson Healy, a hired enforcer, and Gosling is Holland聽March, a heavy-drinking private detective in 1970s L.A. who gets embroiled聽in the search for a missing girl who was mixed up in the pornographic film world.聽A string of murders unveils a larger conspiracy.聽
The violence is cartoonishly聽garish and the yuks are few. Crowe, looking (deliberately I presume)聽flabby and somnolent, is more dead than deadpan, and Gosling, who聽appears at times to be doing a Lou Costello impression, is, to put it mildly,聽not in his element.聽
There鈥檚 also March鈥檚 13-year daughter, Holly聽(Angourie Rice), who is hauled into the mayhem. She鈥檚 meant to be wiser聽and more caustic than all these rampaging adults. Black inserts her,聽giddily, into all this porno pandemonium, a ploy I found more聽objectionable than amusing.聽Grade:聽C (Rated聽R for violence, sexuality, nudity, language and brief drug use.)
