Although it flopped at the box office upon release back in 2016, in the near-decade since, Shane Black’s riotous buddy comedy/thriller The Nice Guys has developed quite a cult fanbase. At the time, Ryan Gosling was red hot—perhaps even moreso now, considering his Oscar-nominated turns in La La Land and Barbie. The initial rejection from audiences seems baffling when considering the starpower. Maybe not so much when one considers the other releases that weekend with The Angry Birds Movie, Neighbors 2, and Captain America: Civil War. In the wake of up-and-coming actress Maragaret Qualley’s jaw-dropping performance in The Substance, has there ever been a better time to revisit this special movie? Gosling and Russell Crowe make a perfect duo, frantically screaming and shooting their way through a collection of preposterously-named assassins. Second Sight Films brings this hilariously perfect flick to a 4K disc loaded with extras that only underline the uniqueness. For those still pining for a belated sequel, The Nice Guys comes complete with a blast of color, masterful physical comedy, and a perfectly structured script begging for a rewatch. Pop a squat next to a giant cigarette-smoking bumblebee, and chase a porno film reel into the street as we turn back the clock to a classy but sassy 70s-era romp.
Set in smoggy Los Angeles circa 1977 (yet notably shot mostly in Georgia), the opening kicks off with the car of porn star Misty Mountains crashing through a home. As she bleeds out, naked, many questions arise. Who was trying to kill her? How did she end up here? What unfolds next is a twisty conspiracy with a whole lot of very dumb, very funny violence. In true Shane Black fashion, The Nice Guys presents a layered mystery wearing the disguise of a buddy comedy. A porno becomes key to exposing corporate corruption, forcing two opposite personality types to team up and solve the mystery before the adult film gets completely erased from existence.
Our two leads could not be more different. Each narrate their initial arrival and distinct viewpoints. First, we meet Jackson Healy (Crowe), a hardened enforcer-for-hire with a surprisingly tender conscience and a complicated past. Next, bumbling private eye Holland March (Gosling) comes into the picture. Despite on paper being more qualified to investigate strange happenings, March drinks, screams, and stumbles his way through trouble. We get a sprinkling of Healy and March’s pasts through dialogue—Healy mentions growing up Irish in the Bronx, and March is still reeling from the death of his wife. Regardless of other factors, once they come together, The Nice Guys truly gets off the ground. The two are an unlikely pair, yet their chemistry is magic.
Healy initially shows up to essentially break some bones. Amelia (Qualley), a close friend to Misty Mountain, wants Healy to stop March’s digging in its tracks. During their first interaction, Healy breaks March’s arm backward, resulting in a high-pitched scream from Gosling that basically becomes the character’s signature primal yell. Misty’s mother is convinced she saw Misty still alive days after being found dead, and had hired March to get to the bottom of things. It’s not until two plainly-named assassins—Blueface (Beau Knapp) and Older Guy (Keith David)—come for Healy that he changes tunes. He goes back to March, and the duo bang out an agreement to track down Amelia before the bad men can find her. Their misadventures will take them to a porn mogul’s mansion and an auto show-set finale that allows the absurd chaos to play out freely. A nostalgic throughline keeps the 70s alive through environmental protest, signature music cues, sharp fashion, and a neo-noir style.
The supporting cast is excellent—Kim Basinger steps in as a cold Department of Justice official hunting for her daughter, Qualley makes a big impression as the wild Amelia, and Matt Bomer’s “fixer” assassin, John Boy, marks a horrifying professional killer in juxtaposition to his erratic co-workers. Other than Gosling and Crowe though, Angourie Rice steals the show as Gosling’s daughter, Holly. She becomes a motherly figure towards her own father as he struggles with the alcoholism, often tagging along in unexpected places. There’s a great scene where she tosses cold coffee onto a baddie thinking it will scald her, which then results in the villain slipping and knocking herself unconscious. Holly is at the forefront of much of the action, where lesser films would have relegated the daughter to a simple throwaway.
Black’s film works thanks to a sharp script and an irresistible tonal juggling act. There are many laugh-out-loud moments, but also a few surprisingly poignant ones. A bit that works best was actually from a reshoot: at the beginning, March writes “you will never be happy” on his arm, and by the end a smudge has obscured part of it to now say “you will be happy.” A small addition somehow adds further texture to March’s character arc. As he gets into increasingly crazy situations, his injuries become worse by the minute. By the third act, he has fallen from a rooftop, fallen through thick glass onto the hood of a car, gets hit by another car, and has a broken arm painfully cut up with glass. An unconventional detective story, this is a weirdly perfectly imperfect movie that lovingly embraces all of Black’s best sensibilities.
One slight disappointment in terms of extras is the lack of deleted scenes. Several times in the commentary, they mention alternate takes and excised scenes that appear nowhere on the disc. Black confesses that he has not had any access to deleted footage. Still, the rest of the features more than make up for the missing bits. “Knights in Tarnished Armour” gives great behind-the-scenes stories—like how the toilet scene mirror moment was an unscripted happy accident. The producer and cinematographer interviews shed light on how the film struggled to find a home for 13 years, how Ryan Gosling was the first to sign on, and that this almost became a TV series. “Making the Nice Guys” and cast interviews underscore the group’s chemistry, and Shane Black’s tightrope walk between comedy and noir. Attempting to imagine a version starring anyone other than Gosling and Crowe feels especially difficult. The formation of The Nice Guys Agency at the end still gives hope for an eventual sequel. If Black, co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi, Crowe, and Gosling can somehow find a way to rekindle the surrealist spark, a belated Nice Guys follow-up could work wonders. Black provides a nugget of potential in mentioning an 80s-set Mexico drug cartel idea. Until then, we can now enjoy a twisty porn caper from beginning to end in stunning 4K quality.
Look out for The Nice Guys, available June 16th on Limited Edition 4K Blu-Ray from Second Sight Films.
