The Nice Guys

AnonoBoy

Shane Black's new film starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.

Looks like typical Black-fare and all the better for it.

NSFW Redband trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uteGvHOs16A

JP Liz V1

I'm looking forward to this, the reviews seem good praising the pairing of Gosling and Crowe and their chemistry

e_e

If it's even half as amusing as their appearance on Stephen Colbert I'll be satisfied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZdmBtA2KZs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE5E5cDhNE4

Arghus

I've been all over this since the first trailer was released: if it's even half as funny as that looked, that we're in for a damn good time. The critical buzz from The States is that it's great, so I have high hopes.

I've grown to really love Shane Black over the years. I even rate The Long Kiss Goodnight! (some great lines, "That's a duck... not a dick")
And I immensely enjoyed the first two-thirds of Iron Man 3 that had his fingerprints all over them. The climatic 'splosion fest not so much, but I think he had as much to do with that segment of it as Ronald McDonald has to do with good colo-rectal health.

JP Liz V1

Kim Basinger should lay off the botox and fillers

MilesMorales1

I saw the unlimited screening, it was pretty great.

AnonoBoy

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

I saw the unlimited screening, it was pretty great.

Good to hear. It's one I've been looking forward to this for a long while!

maximoose

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

I saw the unlimited screening, it was pretty great.

Same, much better than the trailer suggested!

JP Liz V1

The daughter was great, good actress

fryup

sounds like....

Starkey & Hutch meets Boogie Nights

..is it?

Dempsey

Looks great, cant wait

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Saw it today. Wasn't disappointed - well worth seeing.

Links234

Absolutely fantastic, Shane Black on top form again, and fantastic chemistry between Crowe and Gosling, definitely one of the best films of the year so far.

johnny_ultimate

It's been a good while since I've seen Kiss Kiss... but The Nice Guys didn't hit as hard for me as my first watch of that (better than Iron Man 3 though, because of course it is). I find exactly why a little difficult to explain - because while the foundations and core are there in terms of the scripting and delivery, there were too many moments where it felt off - like an edit that didn't quite hit the comedic beat it needed to, or a quip that didn't have the same force as others. There were plenty of gags or setpieces I wanted to laugh with more than I actually did.

Which is not to say it's a bad film by any stretch. It's consistently, reliably enjoyable, with super work from the three leads. Indeed, it's perhaps the characters that keep everything lively and fascinating. One or two wobbles aside, Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi have affection for their characters, but are also unafraid to highlight their weaknesses. Indeed, much of the story developments and comedy and even occasionally action derives from that strong, consistent characterisation at the film's core. So even when the lines don't deliver the hearty laughs they're intended to, or the film's period setting is undermined with some tellingly artificial background shot, it's two nice-ish guys and a young gal that keep everything in check.

Mr E

I enjoyed the hell out of it and laughed a lot. Job done.

the baby bull elephant

Really enjoyed it. Some great laughs, a good plot to it and it won Shane Black bingo.

ancapailldorcha

I adored this. Utterly fantastic film and well worth the trip to the pics. I haven't seen a good buddy comedy in a long, long time. Most likely due to studios trying to churn out this "bromance" crap.

Looper007

It really does feel like the 70's version of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Crowe gives his best performance in years and Gosling is excellent as always. Shane Black is the king of the buddy film, I actually thought Gosling's daughter was great too. Some great action, although nowhere near as violent as I thought it would be. Margaret Qualley who played Amelia is the daughter of Andie Macdowell and Chet the stoner projectionist is played by Val Kilmer's son Jack. I thought they could have bought in Matt Bomer's John Boy into the film a lot earlier as a threat to Crowe/Gosling. Kim Basinger is wasted but overall a great two hours and I say it will become a cult classic when it hits DVD.

Skerries

Looper007 wrote: »

Margaret Qualley who played Amelia is the daughter of Andie Macdowell

yeah she is very good in The Leftovers

AnonoBoy

Heard a really interesting interview on the Nerdist Writers podcast with Shane Black recently and he talked about how for both Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys he bought clues from old detective novels that he'd read as a kid.

pixelburp

A highly entertaining black comedy, fronted by a cast with excellent chemistry as they bickered & sometimes blundered their way through the action and conspiracies. So basically, your standard template Shane Black film. Not that that's meant as a criticism mind you, Black is the master of the craft of the 'buddy' film (even Iron Man 3 was cut from that cloth) and his latest showed no sign of his powers waning. His characters seemed a little rougher around the edges than before & arguably it had the most subtly downbeat ending of his work to date. (

At various points throughout, there were unspoken moments where Russell Crowe's character demonstrated a probable history with alcohol, passing on various offers of a drink. Yet the film ended with him chatting with his new business partner, lost in a bottle of Captain Morgans - having obviously fallen off the wagon. Hilarious!

)

I guess there's a point where it'd be interesting to see something slightly different from him, and there's an argument that like many writers whose power centres around crackling or snarky dialogue, Blacks own chatty protagonists start to sound alike, The Nice Guys being no exception. Even the pre-teen daughter had a self-awareness that was a little hard to swallow. But then were he to stray from the format a little, would it be as much a 'Shane Black' film afterwards & would I have enjoyed it as much? Probably not.

I enjoyed it, but if you didn't like Blacks films before The Nice Guys, then nothing here will change your mind.

bogmanfan

Saw this tonight and loved it. Excellent performances from Crowe and Gosling. Brilliant dialogue and a breakout performance from the actress who played Gosling's daughter. Overall I can't see myself enjoying another film as much in 2016.

conorhal

bogmanfan wrote: »

Saw this tonight and loved it. Excellent performances from Crowe and Gosling. Brilliant dialogue and a breakout performance from the actress who played Gosling's daughter. Overall I can't see myself enjoying another film as much in 2016.

Glad to hear it, Crowe and especially Gosling didn't strike me as likely to be good 'comic' actors, coming off as they do as a bit straight faced and serious. It's good to hear they have a comic timing string to their bows.

MilesMorales1

Man the more I think about this movie, the more I like it. Made me bust a gut laughing.

Elessar

Contrary to most people it seems, I rarely laughed at this and thought it was awfully forgettable. Don't get me wrong, it was watchable but nowhere near as funny as its made out. I felt crowe and gosling didn't work well together at all and some of the 'funny' bits were awfully forced. And I really, really wanted to like it!

Nerdlingr

Elessar wrote: »

Contrary to most people it seems, I rarely laughed at this and thought it was awfully forgettable. Don't get me wrong, it was watchable but nowhere near as funny as its made out. I felt crowe and gosling didn't work well together at all and some of the 'funny' bits were awfully forced. And I really, really wanted to like it!

I thought I was the only one! Saw it last night and thought it was pretty poor and rather forgettable. Wont be coming back to it in a hurry for any re-watches. Story was a bit all over the place. A lot of the gags fell flat. Got one or two chuckles from some of the jokes but otherwise it didnt do anything for me. Disappointed with it.

yabadabado

I watched this recently and really enjoyed it.Typical Shane Black film with excellent performances from Crowe and Gosling.
Some brilliant scenes and dialogue .

Mister Vain

The best film I've seen this year. I never thought I'd like Ryan Gosling in a film but he was very good in this.

mansize

The girls were Holly & Jessica hmmm

TerrorFirmer

Just back from this and while I was looking forward to it I didn't dare hope that it would be as good as it turned out to be. Absolutely stellar film that hit all the rights notes and just had such terrific chemistry and a great vibe.

Slydice

I saw it this evening.

I thought it was really good.

Like I'm kinda stuck for words on how to describe it.

First and foremost, it's definitely not for kids! I was surprised it wasn't 18s!

But it's funny and 70s and

buddy cop and hero kid and a tale of the bad man doing a good thing ish

and the story seemed revolving around one the big issues I vaguely remember being important in the 70s and 80s

the smog over US cities.

MisterAnarchy

I thoroughly enjoyed the film ,very funny .

conorhal

The movie was entertaining but it felt tired to me, Shane Black zip yourself up, all your lazy tropes are showing.
It feels like Black has been recycling script for The Last Boy Scout for a while now. Gruff Alco detective with personal issue, check. Enforced buddy comedy, check. Wise-ass foulmouthed daughter trying to connect with her damaged father, check. The list goes on but that last check sort of irked me in this movie. I don't mind that literally every character talks like Shane Black with a different back story, but a teenage girl in the 70's (or the 90's for that matter) that talks like Shane Black is sort of disconcerting.
Black's movies are like hanging out with that friend you knew from college who's hilarious and was the life and soul of the party, he tells a good story and tells it well, but he's been telling the same damn funny anecdote forever now and you sort of wish he could move on.