REVIEW: Nice Guys (2016)

I’ve watched this one with two expectations, can I get a fucking decent movie this year ?
And beyond that, if Shane Black still has it ? Because the guy is in charge of The Predator
next and we won’t get another chance for this solid trilogy we deserve.

The answer is, fuck yes.Shane Black continues to master the buddy movie genre, and the good ones at that (Like Lethal Weapon ,The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero,Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ,Long Kiss Goodbye…).

Gosling plays a feeble, clumsy and alcoholic private detective who earns some bucks by scamming retarded old ladies, his wife’s dead and his young daughter has more balls than him , Crowe is a brutal enforcer and bitter man, a kind of 1977 Joe Allenbeck, and they will team up to find some hippie girl and that will lead them to the classic rotten politics, but isn’t that our everyday reality?

Plot is simple and grounded and I would add that this kind of movie needs a simple plot because
it’s all about the execution and the acting here.Acting was right from everybody,
Basinger has not a lot of screen time but she was okay, the bad guys are not developped but
they’re efficient on screen, special mention to the best of them “John Boy” .I mean Matt Bomer is probably a homosexual and Shane made a menacing skilled assassin out of this guy ,
do you believe that ? Another thing Black is good at is involving kids, usually they suck monkey balls when they’re given more screentime than the usual, but not here.

Despite being filmed in digital the  cinematography mastered by Rousselot works perfectly in this
late seventies environement, Black uses the background a lot and you should lay an eye on
what’s happening out there, dialogues are good, lots of good jokes, also a lot of absurd and random dialogues which I love. There is some action here and there and of course the big finale.
Black uses quite a few plot twists that will make you proud and make you laugh at the same time, but spoiling them would be criminal.  Avoid any fucking reviews which spoil this movie !

I’ve noticed a few things in the trailers that were missing in the flick, and even if the movie
runs almost for  2 hours, I wouldn’t be surprised if 10 to 15+ minutes are missing.
The score fits and the guns sound design is like the good old days, loud.

Now the only bad points, Gosling’s Hitler jokes are unfunny and are an impediment
to the overall politically NOT correct tone, also Gosling has a couple of burlesque
moments that are just plain lame and felt forced.Well I shit on the 3 stooges so…
The movie also drags a little bit a couple of times, to me it’s not a problem
but for some of you ….It could screw the replayability.

Three more things that need to be clarified

1 this movie has nothing to do with the piece of shit Inherent Vice or the overrated Big Lebowski
2 it’s not Lethal Weapon for a New Generation, it’s a bittersweet comedy and
dynamic R rated  buddy flick  made for our fucking generation and everybody who likes real Cinema
3 yes there is an Xmas moment.

Pay the ticket folks.

8/10 which will certainly become a 9 when I’ll get rid of the shitty French dubbing.

Frenchie