The Nice Guys // Film Review

TomTalksOnline
Jul 29, 2017 · 2 min read

The Nice Guys is a neo-noir action comedy directed by Shane Black. I was truly surprised, when I did some research after the film, to find this was released in 2016. It felt like a complete throwback to a 1990’s style film. The two main characters are Jackson Healy(Russell Crowe) and Holland March(Ryan Gosling).

The Nice Guys is set in the 1970’s and as mentioned above, it really felt like that (Set in the 1970’s but made in the 1990's). The casting and costume design made it an immersive throwback experience.

Basic Plot

Holland March is a poor private investigator who takes pointless cases to squeeze money out of people. Jackson Healy and an “unethical enforcer”, not sure if there is any other way of describing him. He mostly beats people up for money. The two meet when Healy is hired to beat up March for trying to find someone he was hired to find. Healy then realizes that he now wants to find the same person and so hires March.

The duo gets caught up in something more than they had expected and end up getting hired to work on a big case. There are a lot of interesting twists and revelations in the plot and I don’t want to ruin any of it. But I will say that the writing is very good and there were some very funny moments.

Directors Decisions

Everything about this film is throwback, the lighting, color scheme, camera angles, I could go on and on. It’s rare for a film to pull it off the way this one did. Music wasn’t in this film too much, but when it was, it blended perfectly. I found myself practically dancing along at times.

Final Thoughts

The Nice Guys did what it set out to do. It’s funny, fast paced, and most of all, original. But that doesn’t instantly make it the best film to ever exist. Overall, I am giving The Nice Guys a 7.5/10

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