[yasr_overall_rating]
The Nice Guys stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as two very different detectives working on a mystery filled with violence, sex and few lessons learned.
This is the third feature-length directing credit for Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black. Black is clearly here for fun. Innocent people get shot for laughs, there's always somebody getting into a fight and the object that causes all of the movie's mayhem is a measly porno. All of which would be great if the fun delivered, which sadly it did not.
It's not that Crowe and Gosling had bad chemistry (they didn't) or that Black and Anthony Bagarozzi's script isn't clever (it is), it's that Black stumbles with getting his jokes to land. Some liners don't work because they're cliché, but, most of the time, the material is strong and the execution is to blame.
The actors are so awkward that it feels like they started filming after rehearsing for the first time. Comedic timing is just about nonexistent as half-baked jokes are tossed into the audience to die. Crowe and Gosling throw their lines into the wind as Black sits back to let them maneuver the wacky script themselves. The humor is too dark to not have a game plan on how to set up the joke so it hits the mark. Too frequently does the movie have no idea how to work the material.
At the very least, Crowe and Gosling make a fun pair. Crowe is the brutal savage who will give a hearty punch to anybody who asks for it. He has a heart and a decent enough moral compass to keep him hurting the right people. Gosling is a timid single father living life as an alcoholic PI. When the two are together, and Gosling can react to his partner's cruelty as Crowe teases in return, the movie is everything it should be: two actors at the top of their game having a blast with some goofy characters and dark humor. It's a shame those moments are few and far between.
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