Movie Review: The Nice Guys (2016)

I just saw this movie for the second time this week and thought it was far better the second time, and stuff. The Nice Guys is a 2016 crime film directed by Shane Black. The film stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling in the leads. Gosling plays a detective who teams up with Crowe (a hit man who can be hired to beat the crap out of peoples) in order to solve the death of a famous pornography actress named Misty Mountains. When I first saw this movie earlier this week, I wasn't super impressed. To me it seemed like a basic three star buddy-cop (ish) movie. Then I watched it again earlier today because my reaction to it was simply too far off from where the general critical consensus lies. On my second viewing of the movie I went from thinking it was alright, to loving this movie so much. The Nice Guys is a great movie and once I went into the film in the mood for it, I thought it was fantastic. This is a very old fashioned movie and the style is a large part of what makes this movie so great. The acting between the two leads is excellent and I love these characters. It's also just an insane and funny movie which we don't really see anymore in Hollywood movies. The fact that I had a better time with Nice Guys the second time around says a lot, because I think this movie is very rewatchable. It's a great mixture of a mystery and pulpy storyline. It's a masterful combination for a film and the fact that it's good and balanced between story and style makes it perfect in my mind. Let us not forget Shane Black's direction which to me was flooring. I also loved how this movie perfectly encapsulates the 1970s just through a few shots and set designs. It feels so old, but this is a style and direction of film that we need desperately in 2016. It's also just such a great time. Between being excellently written and having a great chemistry between characters, The Nice Guys didn't present itself to me with any flaws. Am I saying it's perfect? I cannot wait to see it again and nothing stood out to me as being wrong, so yeah I think so. Overall, The Nice Guys is an amazing movie with two great leading roles and characters, great direction, and fantastic nostalgia in the new age. Four stars