Review of The Nice Guys (2016) by Robbie M — 07 Aug 2016

Ryan Gosling in a physical action-comedy? Whoever thought of the idea should be crowned genius of the year. With dynamite timing and uproarious gestures, Gosling mines his diverse abilities and becomes a blast in The Nice Guys. Half of the best gags in The Nice Guys are of the physical variety. Some of the action scenes escalate into full-on live-action Looney Tunes madness. The Nice Guys hearkens back to the buddy comedies of a bygone era while adding something extra courtesy of a knowing script and the irresistible chemistry of its leads. It's all delightfully fizzy, bloody fun - even if there's the teeniest, tiniest hint of sequel ambitions. The Nice Guys is an ultra-violent burlesque, the sort of cheerfully hostile buddy bash that's been a staple since the '80s, only this one is singularly clever about its own triviality, and it offers the scruffy pleasure of seeing two great actors dial down their gravitas with style. Quick on its wits and fast with its fists, this is Black firmly back doing what he does best. And nobody out there does it better. The Nice Guys, which the screenwriter also directed, is the best of Black's films. It is eccentrically, sometimes broadly funny, with top-notch performances from Crowe and Gosling and a pitch-perfect sense of timing to help smooth over some of the script's fault lines and blind spots.

VERDICT: "High-Quality Stuff" - [Positive Reaction] This is a rating to a movie I view as very entertaining and well made, and definitely worth paying the full price at a theatre to see or own on DVD. It is not perfect, but it is definitely excellent. (Films that are rated 3.5 or 4 stars).