MOVIE REVIEW: NICE GUYS




8/10

 It's 1977 and the paths of two troubled detectives  Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) cross when they realise they are looking for the same girl. Aided by Hollands daughter Holly (Our own Melbourne actor Angourie Rice) they unite in order to investigate the series of murders which were triggered by the the making of one peculiar porno film.

NICE GUYS is a film noir which means the main characters take a lot of beatings, inflict a lot of beatings and balance just on the edge of being villains. However NICE GUYS first and foremost is a comedy. Helmed by the inventor of the buddy cop movie Shane Black (screenwriter of Leathal Weapon movies, The Last Boy Scout and Last Action Hero to name a few), it is a journey of swift and clever dialogue, brutal shootouts and seventies bravado.

The movie is driven by the charisma of Crowe and Gosling and has just enough mystery element to give a reason for their adventures. The film requires a serious suspension of disbelief on many occasions, and the finale looks like something straight from Tin Tin movie, but the atmosphere of the seventies is perfectly captured and jokes are just keep on coming.

Crowe and Gosling are great actors and they seem to enjoy themselves in this brutally lighthearted movie, however they are often upstaged by Angourie Rice. She steals every scene she is in and a talent to watch. Bravo Melbourne!

NICE GUYS is a sort of film that leave a great impression, but gets even better when you see it again. There are plenty of jokes that I have missed that deserve a second chance. It is fantastic to see something original on screen, with great comedy timing, well written and executed. Is it a birth of a new franchise? Time will tell.

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