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#178 - The Nice Guys
Shane Black, 2016
In 1977 Los Angeles, a private detective reluctantly joins forces with a freelance enforcer in order to solve a missing-persons case.
Shane Black is one of those creators who I should like in theory but I have yet to find any film he's contributed to that I think is better than decent. His work as a writer shows that his knack for sharp-tongued buddy comedy can add a welcome degree of cleverness to some otherwise standard-issue action movies, but seeing him actually direct one of his own scripts with 2005's decidedly less action-packed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a bit of a let-down (plus a recent re-watch has not given me a greater appreciation of it). While he did add a modicum of personality to the otherwise orthodox superhero antics of Iron Man 3, it didn't seem like he was making too much of his storytelling talents. Even so, I still had faith that he'd eventually put out something that would work for me in a way that his previous creations (for all their strengths) didn't. This brings us to The Nice Guys, Black's latest venture into his trademark action-comedy territory. While the various trailers didn't quite work well enough to bowl me over, the combination of a 1970s setting and an especially mismatched pair of performers in the forms of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling was definitely enough to intrigue. It may have looked like a more retro variation on the Black formula, but that variation could very well make all the difference one way or the other.
While Kiss Kiss Bang Bang set up its core dynamic around a caustically no-nonsense detective who is forced to work alongside a buffoonish civilian, The Nice Guys reverses that by having it so that the detective is now the buffoon and is all the better for it. Gosling is one of those performers who has no problem subverting his leading-man reputation and he does it with aplomb as a thoroughly incompetent private eye who is beset with all sorts of problems as he tries to make a living off the cases offered by dotty old ladies. One such case results in him crossing paths with Crowe's burly slab of muscle-for-hire, whose first encounter with Gosling results in the former giving the latter a broken arm. As these two anti-heroes eventually come to realise that they have a common interest in the search for a missing young woman who has apparently fallen in with some sordid L.A. types, they reluctantly decide to team up (along with Angourie Rice as Gosling's sardonically precocious teenage daughter) to solve the case. This is all the premise that the film needs to send this unlikely duo pinballing across the incredibly gauche-looking boogie wonderland, swapping quips and getting into all sorts of demanding mishaps as they search for truth and justice (or whatever comes closest). While Crowe isn't exactly bridging new territory for himself by playing a rumpled tough guy with a heart of gold, that only proves that he's very much the right man for the job here as he proves a more grounded foil to Gosling's hapless goofball (and even Rice proves a bit more grounded than either of them, though not to the point where she is either annoyingly clever or simply boring). Other members of the ensemble deliver good turns - consummate character actor Keith David is solid as a hard-bitten enforcer while Matt Bomer holds his own as the latest in a long line of deranged hitmen to spring forth from Black's imagination.
The fact that Black sticks so closely to such a recognisably idiosyncratic formula when crafting all his scripts makes for quite a challenge as he must provide worthwhile tweaks to the more constant elements while fleshing out the rest of the film around said elements. It's perhaps worth noting that he shares his writing credit with relative unknown Anthony Bagarozzi, which does suggest a willingness to compromise that arguably works in the film's favour. A major problem I had with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was its sheer inconsistency of tone as Black attempted to blend his usual buddy-comedy approach with a grim tale of Hollywood villainy and a smugly self-aware parody of the noir genre. The Nice Guys still has some issues with tone as it juggles smart-mouthed tomfoolery with an exploration of Los Angeles' seedy underbelly, though it still doesn't let things spin out of control on inappropriate tangents. It does have its dark moments, sure, but it never goes too far in this regard and thus proves to be much more digestible as a result. This tonal flexibility proves to be The Nice Guys' greatest strength as it can not only afford to indulge some potentially tiresome gags involving pratfalls and insults but can also allow the film's inner heart to show through underneath a variety of tough-guy clichés without resorting to egregiously satirical jabs.
While The Nice Guys isn't quite the action-comedy masterpiece that I was hoping for, it still feels like the Black movie that I've been waiting for. Even without the inherently goofy '70s backdrop, this feels like a film where he's managed to balance and fine-tune his quirks into something that genuinely fires on all cylinders. Though the action lacks the sheer bombast or scale that one might associate with Lethal Weapon or The Last Boy Scout or even Iron Man 3, there's still enough creativity to the brawls and shoot-outs that it hardly matters. Perhaps more importantly, the comedy side of things is consistently amusing in ways that range from muttered one-liners to the kind of overdone histrionics that might sink a lesser film but actually work well here (with a lot of its success being due to Gosling striving for maximum foolishness). Time will tell if it truly holds up, but I actually feel like it could - a silly hope, perhaps, but the fact that this movie gives me any hope at all (despite the story's wacky cynicism, of course) is as good a sign as any that I've watched something genuinely worthwhile.
Shane Black, 2016
In 1977 Los Angeles, a private detective reluctantly joins forces with a freelance enforcer in order to solve a missing-persons case.
Shane Black is one of those creators who I should like in theory but I have yet to find any film he's contributed to that I think is better than decent. His work as a writer shows that his knack for sharp-tongued buddy comedy can add a welcome degree of cleverness to some otherwise standard-issue action movies, but seeing him actually direct one of his own scripts with 2005's decidedly less action-packed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a bit of a let-down (plus a recent re-watch has not given me a greater appreciation of it). While he did add a modicum of personality to the otherwise orthodox superhero antics of Iron Man 3, it didn't seem like he was making too much of his storytelling talents. Even so, I still had faith that he'd eventually put out something that would work for me in a way that his previous creations (for all their strengths) didn't. This brings us to The Nice Guys, Black's latest venture into his trademark action-comedy territory. While the various trailers didn't quite work well enough to bowl me over, the combination of a 1970s setting and an especially mismatched pair of performers in the forms of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling was definitely enough to intrigue. It may have looked like a more retro variation on the Black formula, but that variation could very well make all the difference one way or the other.
While Kiss Kiss Bang Bang set up its core dynamic around a caustically no-nonsense detective who is forced to work alongside a buffoonish civilian, The Nice Guys reverses that by having it so that the detective is now the buffoon and is all the better for it. Gosling is one of those performers who has no problem subverting his leading-man reputation and he does it with aplomb as a thoroughly incompetent private eye who is beset with all sorts of problems as he tries to make a living off the cases offered by dotty old ladies. One such case results in him crossing paths with Crowe's burly slab of muscle-for-hire, whose first encounter with Gosling results in the former giving the latter a broken arm. As these two anti-heroes eventually come to realise that they have a common interest in the search for a missing young woman who has apparently fallen in with some sordid L.A. types, they reluctantly decide to team up (along with Angourie Rice as Gosling's sardonically precocious teenage daughter) to solve the case. This is all the premise that the film needs to send this unlikely duo pinballing across the incredibly gauche-looking boogie wonderland, swapping quips and getting into all sorts of demanding mishaps as they search for truth and justice (or whatever comes closest). While Crowe isn't exactly bridging new territory for himself by playing a rumpled tough guy with a heart of gold, that only proves that he's very much the right man for the job here as he proves a more grounded foil to Gosling's hapless goofball (and even Rice proves a bit more grounded than either of them, though not to the point where she is either annoyingly clever or simply boring). Other members of the ensemble deliver good turns - consummate character actor Keith David is solid as a hard-bitten enforcer while Matt Bomer holds his own as the latest in a long line of deranged hitmen to spring forth from Black's imagination.
The fact that Black sticks so closely to such a recognisably idiosyncratic formula when crafting all his scripts makes for quite a challenge as he must provide worthwhile tweaks to the more constant elements while fleshing out the rest of the film around said elements. It's perhaps worth noting that he shares his writing credit with relative unknown Anthony Bagarozzi, which does suggest a willingness to compromise that arguably works in the film's favour. A major problem I had with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was its sheer inconsistency of tone as Black attempted to blend his usual buddy-comedy approach with a grim tale of Hollywood villainy and a smugly self-aware parody of the noir genre. The Nice Guys still has some issues with tone as it juggles smart-mouthed tomfoolery with an exploration of Los Angeles' seedy underbelly, though it still doesn't let things spin out of control on inappropriate tangents. It does have its dark moments, sure, but it never goes too far in this regard and thus proves to be much more digestible as a result. This tonal flexibility proves to be The Nice Guys' greatest strength as it can not only afford to indulge some potentially tiresome gags involving pratfalls and insults but can also allow the film's inner heart to show through underneath a variety of tough-guy clichés without resorting to egregiously satirical jabs.
While The Nice Guys isn't quite the action-comedy masterpiece that I was hoping for, it still feels like the Black movie that I've been waiting for. Even without the inherently goofy '70s backdrop, this feels like a film where he's managed to balance and fine-tune his quirks into something that genuinely fires on all cylinders. Though the action lacks the sheer bombast or scale that one might associate with Lethal Weapon or The Last Boy Scout or even Iron Man 3, there's still enough creativity to the brawls and shoot-outs that it hardly matters. Perhaps more importantly, the comedy side of things is consistently amusing in ways that range from muttered one-liners to the kind of overdone histrionics that might sink a lesser film but actually work well here (with a lot of its success being due to Gosling striving for maximum foolishness). Time will tell if it truly holds up, but I actually feel like it could - a silly hope, perhaps, but the fact that this movie gives me any hope at all (despite the story's wacky cynicism, of course) is as good a sign as any that I've watched something genuinely worthwhile.