Source : the age
The best film of 2016 was a stylish homage to old school Hollywood and a Los Angeles lost to time. A love letter to a type of movie they don’t make any more, brought to life with a brilliant original soundtrack, rapid-fire dialogue, and a star-studded cast led by Ryan Gosling.
No, not La La Land.
It’s The Nice Guys, the criminally under-seen neo-noir comedy, starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. Unlike La La Land, it absolutely bombed at the box office, and unlike La La Land, it didn’t almost win best picture at the Oscars. However, it’s well overdue for a re-evaluation: this is the best cinematic comedy of the past 15 years, and the most underrated film of the 21st century.
It has everything you could ever want in a movie: comedy, drama, action, mystery, amazing stunts, fun outfits, outlandish twists, endlessly quotable dialogue, and two of the most acclaimed male movie stars operating at the absolute height of their powers.
The Nice Guys is a story of private eye Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and enforcer-for-hire Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) who reluctantly team up to investigate the disappearance of a young woman, Amelia (Margaret Qualley), getting hilariously lost in the seedy underbelly beneath the glamour of 1970s Los Angeles, and unwittingly stumbling into a massive web of conspiracy and corruption.
As the writer of the Lethal Weapon films and Last Action Hero, and director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3, Shane Black had established a reputation for tight, exciting scripts and upending the expectations of action movies. The Nice Guys is his masterpiece, taking the Shane Black experience to the mountaintop and riding a flaming dinner tray straight down it.
The script crackles with the kind of dialogue that leaves you breathless, both from laughter and sheer pace. The labyrinthine mystery box plot is twisty enough for you to get lost in, without ever feeling stupider than our loveable protagonists.
And Black recreates old school LA as well as, if not better than, Tarantino’s Oscar-winning Once Upon a Time in Hollywood would a few years later. As our hapless investigators fumble their way around town, we are treated to a vivid dreamscape of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s elite, as well as its dirty, desperate backstages.
The supporting cast is outstanding. Australia’s Angourie Rice has her breakout as the precocious Holly, more than holding her own against Hollywood heavyweights. Qualley stuns in just her second film, and the ever-enjoyable Matt Bomer shows up as a vicious assassin with an unfortunate haircut.
Ultimately though, the film is elevated into true classic territory by the unlikely chemistry between Gosling and Crowe. The mystery is fun, the big set pieces are impressive, but it all takes a back seat to the sheer delight that is watching the two actors bicker like an old married couple as they fall through fences, crash cars, and barely avoid being murdered by assassins.
Their dynamic is pure gold, in the vein of other unlikely buddy action-comedies like 1982’s 48 Hrs and 1988’s Midnight Run. Gosling, in a bad tie and glorious moustache, a cigarette dangling loosely from his lips like a part of his body he’s never used before, is so accident-prone and easily overwhelmed it’s hard to imagine a worse job for him than private investigator. Crowe, the straight man, a cynical bruiser whose heart is slowly cracked open, is a man who lets his fists do the talking out of preference rather than lack of intelligence.
Gosling finds the outer edges of his remarkable comedic chops, going for broke in every scene, throwing himself into prat falls and cartoonish sobs, and giving the first glimpse of the empty-headed himbo that would become his iconic role as Ken in Barbie.
Bouncing off Gosling’s frantic, trembling energy is Crowe in the best performance of his career. As opposed to his award-winning and Very Serious turns in Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, here his natural charisma shines through and he finds more layers than any of his previous Oscar bait ever did.
Had it found a larger audience, it might be just as oft-quoted as the likes of Anchorman, Superbad and Step Brothers. Perhaps The Nice Guys is destined for a slower revelation, a cult hit that finds its audience years later, a la Office Space. Either way, it’s a guaranteed good time.
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