The Nice Guys (2016) - SPOILER-FREE Review

Editor’s Note: this is an old, unformatted, unedited review. The author’s opinion might not match the original thoughts written in this article.

Directed by: Shane Black

Starring: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, Kim Basinger

Runtime: 116 min

I'm just gonna say it: The Nice Guys is the best movie I've seen this year so far! This is the story of two private detectives (PIs) that are looking for a girl named Amelia (played by Margaret Qualley) that is missing and that involves the death of several other people in some funny and weird ways. The plot is situated in the late 70s.

Russell Crowe portraits Jackson Healy, a tough guy that is hired to threat and beat people that are bothering you, but he's not officially a PI, even if he wants to. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is indeed a PI, but Healy is far better than him at this kind of job. Shane Black wrote and directed this film and he did some great work. This is an unconventional and original comedy, with two amazing actors with great chemistry.

Usually, in this type of movies, the main story is always the same: two different people, with totally different pasts and personalities, have to work together to solve some mystery and then end up being best friends. Not with this film. Both characters have a similar past (problems with alcohol) and they both have this funny personality that works perfectly when they're together. Gosling and Crowe really pull it off!

Angourie Rice as Holly March is also really great, she played the "side-kick" to all their missions and acted as the adult in that partnership. She sold it so well, even if she was just a kid, great job!

And again, Shane Black's writing is incredible. I was crying of some much laughter, there were scenes that I still remember today because they were so well filmed and funny. I can't wait to watch this movie again! The action was a nice surprise, really well shot with some old film-making techniques. Actually, the whole movie was really well filmed, it looked like I was watching an old movie, but with better effects and all.

The dialogues were great, the characters were super funny and the mystery was intriguing. In a time where we're over-saturated with superhero and sci-fi movies, this is a blessing, movies like this don't exist anymore. The ending was also really cool to watch, it's really a good story.

Honestly, I'm excited to watch it again. It's that great.

| A+ : 9.3-10 | A: 8.7-9.2 | A- : 8.0-8.6 | B+ : 7.3-7.9 | B: 6.7-7.2 | B- : 6.0-6.6 || C+ : 5.3-5.9 | C: 4.7-5.2 | C- : 4.0-4.6 | D+ : 3.3-3.9 | D: 2.7-3.2 | D- : 2.0-2.6 | F: 0-1.9 |