THE NICE GUYS (2016)

Shane Black’s Ode To The ‘70s Detective Genre

I couldn’t say for sure when I fell in love with the genre of buddy crime pictures, but I can tell you when I fell in love with Shane Black’s 2016 masterpiece THE NICE GUYS. It was the minute the opening credits, with its old school ‘70s WB logo, appeared on the screen. It had its hooks in me from the jump and remains one of my favourite theatre-going experiences. It became a movie I took people to, sadly its theatrical run (at least in Winnipeg) was only a week. I watched it twice that day, and four subsequent viewings over its theatrical window, taking coworkers and an ex-girlfriend, trying to spread the good word about my favourite film of the new century. Of course, as everyone (especially Ryan Gosling) knows, the film made less money than ANGRY BIRDS, so I could only do so much. But I digress.

The first thing to me that stands out about the movie is its cast. Writer/director Shane Black and casting director Sarah Halley Finn assembled a murderer’s row of talent for this film. We all know the leads Ryan Gosling, who has been turning in Oscar-worthy work from the beginning of his big screen career. There is one performance of the Gos’ I like more, but THE NICE GUYS is my favourite Gosling movie because he gets to go for broke in ways that most movies don’t let him. He gets to play a lowlife private eye, but it’s Gosling’s innate charm that allows you to root for him, despite some of the unsavoury aspects of his character. Then there is Russell Crowe who doesn’t just bring Jackson Healey to life, but makes you believe you are watching some past-his-prime muscle thug who aches for the chance to feel useful in his work. As this is a Shane Black film, where would it be without a prodigious child to ring out the trio of lead?  Enter Angourie Rice who has to nail some very adult dialogue and pulls it off with innocence and wonder belying her age, heralding a glimpse at what was to come for the relative newcomer.

But it isn’t just the trio of leads that make THE NICE GUYS sing—it’s the supporting players that help make the world feel real and lived in. There is of course Keith David, who does Keith David things which always make him a welcome addition, imbuing his heavy from Detroit with a believable ferocity, especially in the epic fisticuffs between himand Healy. You believe he will kill Crowe’s character on that occasion, and it’s only thanks to some heads up thinking on Healy’s part that our hero walks away the victor.

Then we get Yaya DaCosta as Tally, who plays her character’s duality with a sense of verve you wouldn’t expect from her humble introduction. There is also Beau Knapp as another heavy from Detroit who, in his best scene, gets to try and feed Healy his goldfish. He excels as a livewire of menace throughout his screen time. Another important piece of the cast is Matt Bomer as John Boy, named after Richard Thomas’s character from The Waltons because of a shared birthmark on the side of their faces. Bomer is the unstoppable threat, sent from Detroit who, as a character claims, “is gonna kill the private cop and his whole family,” and then will go after Healy. 

We also meet Amelia, which would have introduced most people to Margaret Qualley a whole 3 years before Quentin Tarnatino’s 10th film ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD if they didn’t see ANGRY BIRDS instead. Qualley is excellent in the ingenue role the film hangs on her. Another solid participant in the supporting cast is Kim Basinger playing Olivia’s mother Judith, whom we later learn may be responsible for the “downfall of Western Society.” Finally, the supporting cast is rounded out by Lois Smith, who plays the aunt of an actress who sets March off on this whole adventure.

The second thing that sticks out to me about THE NICE GUYS is the script, which is smart yet easy to comprehend. It easily makes the gimmick of the dual voiceover of Gosling’s March and Crowe’s Healey work because you believe that they are a PI and a for-hire-muscle respectively. It is also funny and ribald in equal measure, and allows every actor a moment to shine, including Hannibal Burress who gets to voice a smoking bumble bee, in an uproarious dream sequence/possible hallucination. It allows its three leads to drop some exceptional lines and really shows the ease they all have with comedy. Whether it be Gosling going for broke with slapstick, Crowe cracking wise, or Rice mistaking rimshots with something else entirely.

My favourite scene in THE NICE GUYS takes place during the film’s climax which occurs at a car convention, where the big three automakers are selling their wares to Americans in the centre of the most glamorous city in America (if you believe the City of Angels’ public relations team). March has been led to the hotel’s roof by Keith David’s heavy who has a gun pointed at Holly’s back and threatens to shoot her. Gosling plays the scene as a stumble bum drunk perfectly, which lulls his would-be killer into a false sense of security. March had imbibing down at the bar and does a convincing job of playing three sheets to the wind throughout the film, but especially here. With some quick-thinking March manages to free Holly while decking Keith David before becoming entangled with the man and the pair plunge off the roof of the hotel. The audience watches the pair plunging towards their seeming doom, before the audience is treated to a sight gag that’s equal parts horrific and hilarious: David’s character’s body explodes in a bath of blood while March somehow manages to land in the pool. The gag is played for laughs and leaves March later proclaiming to Healey — “I think I’m invincible.” (Which received the biggest laughs even in the mostly empty theatre.)

In the same year plenty of other films received the lions’ share of accolades, but no movie this century has resonated with me more (never mind any other films from 2016). It’s a movie that is a good time for anyone, buoyed by an excellent cast, superb writing, and Shane Black’s deft direction. I can’t help it...I love THE NICE GUYS.