The COARD: The Nice Guys

We are going to do a much better job at not spoiling this movie for you than the trailer for this film did. But this is The Nice Guys ,it's not like we are reviewing a David Fincher mind-bending thriller. It wasn't too difficult to see where this movie was going. But still! The trailer showed WAY too much. We however, will give you plenty of warning before we do that. 

Look at them in all of their Buddy Cop glory

Roy: The Buddy Cop movie is a genre that, when done well, is as good a time as one can ask for in a movie theater. Thankfully, Shane Black made this film. The term "Buddy Cop" can be misleading. Because typically as the movie opens; the two main characters are anything but buddies, and they do not necessarily have to be cops either. Such was the case with The Nice Guys. To pull this movie off it wasn't as easy as taking one alcoholic private eye + one leg breaker + an interesting mystery and shake well. At the heart of every good buddy cop movie is the chemistry between the two main characters. If all goes well you get Lethal Weapon. When it misses you are stuck with White Chicks. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are at the top of their game. This was a fun movie from the very first seconds. With the retro graphics and the unmistakable guitar lick of Pappa Was A Rollin Stone. There was so much to enjoy about this movie, and instead of gushing for too long over it. I'm going to take a breath and let Cody chime in with his thoughts. 

Cody: So let me get this straight, Roy calls this a buddy cop film but then states the main characters are neither buddies, nor cops. An interesting review technique. Perhaps I will call this a romantic comedy and review it as such. You can't deny the chemistry between Gosling's Holland March and Crowe's Jackson Healy in this movie. Both are single men. I think there was more here than met the eye.

*cues up Can You Feel the Love Tonight*
Two men, one missing girl. Their jobs have them at odds, but can love bring them together?

Hey man, it's the 70s. A time of awakening. The wonderful setting and on point soundtrack make you feel right at home there. So why can't two hired detectives make it in this crazy town called LA? Their banter throughout the entire movie was perfect. A writer can write great dialogue, but it takes a director and actors to perfect the timing and delivery. When you get all three together, you get the fun filled movie called The Nice Guys - A Love Story.

Roy: ....... That's not where I was headed with this dude. If you would have allowed me to explain further I would have mentioned that in all buddy cop movies the two leads become buddies at the turning point in the story. And by the end of the film they are good friends. And since they are gumshoes they can be referred to as "private cops." So really. This is less love story and more buddy cop movie. How else do you explain the fact Shane Black wrote every Lethal Weapon film. He may not have invented the buddy cop movie, but you can argue that he perfected it. And if you'll remember, as we were walking out of the theater together I told you that movie felt like Lethal Weapon. Not in the story line; the only similarity they share is Los Angeles, but the back and forth between Crowe and Gosling. It all makes sense now. It's why I enjoyed this movie so much. Shane Black knows how to build this genre. The collateral damage this film is riddled with really eases the tension. Nothing like seeing innocent bystanders get shot in amusing ways because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Cody: Can you feel the love tonight?
The violence the evening brings
Two men, for once, in perfect harmony
With all the killing things
See? We're on the same page here. Innocent bystanders die, the crowd laughs in amusement. Meanwhile, two gumshoes lock eyes. Each sees in the other something he could never be by himself. That's exactly what made the four film love affair between Riggs and Murtaugh so great! Clearly, Roy is not as modern as I am, so we can refer to them as "buddies," ya know, for his sake. There was a third wheel involved in this buddy film that absolutely deserves a mention. And that brings us to this week's "foreign actor playing an American that The COARD loved (working title)!" The introduction of Australian born Angourie Rice was a home run. The 15 year old held her own in every scene, with or without the two lovers buddies, and her screen chemistry with Gosling and Crowe was superb.
Roy: Hey! That turned. For the better. I was sure I was going to have to carry this review while Cody continued to change Elton John lyrics and repress his jealously over the chemistry between Gosling and Crowe. But since he actually added something of value to this review I will pounce on it like Holland March pounced on any and all alcohol in the vicinity of his person. Rice was perfectly cast as the exasperated daughter living with a father who is struggling with his demons and is not as responsible as he should be. Adding a young girl to tag along in a story like this can slow the whole thing down and completely kill any momentum the story had built. But she added to the story every time she was there. Ultimately, this was a movie that kept moving and kept entertaining from its first moments to its last. I officially award The Nice Guys the coveted COARD seal of approval.

Commencing SPOILER section! Henceforth, we will discuss the plot points of the movie in their full and wonderful glory. You have been warned.


Cody: Now that we've fully documented the love between our two main characters, we can move on with their story. I know it may sound odd, but when I think of the plot of this movie, I can't help but compare it to that of a sitcom episode. Specifically, it reminds me of Seinfeld or Modern Family. Everything is interconnected somehow, and as the pieces take shape, you can't help but laugh at the situation the characters find themselves in. The obvious foul play in each death of those involved in the making of an adult film that also revealed corruption in the justice department was central to the puzzle. It takes great writing to weave together that many pieces in a cohesive way. To then make them laugh out loud funny, well that means everyone wins. Although the full plot was meant to be a mystery that slowly came into full view with each clue the befuddled detectives stumbled upon, there was no lack of comedic bluntness either. Best evidenced by the sudden and simple murder of Amelia, the main person of interest for our detectives. She walked right into the path of the assassin searching for her, and the gunshot that blew her away, also blew my mind in the best of ways

Roy: You know what was so great about that moment? In most movies when the bad guy catches up to the person they are chasing they take them hostage and move them to a different location. Not this guy. She asks for help one second and catches a bullet to the face in the next. It was shocking, amusing, and realistic. That is one thing this movie had a knack for. Whether it was collateral damage or March trying to break into a building and badly cutting his wrist on broken glass, things happened in this movie that you did not expect to see, but would expect to happen if said situation played out in real life. It added to the charm of the movie.

Cody: The collateral damage was just absolutely wonderful. I think the award for best collateral victim goes to the guy who had a jacket with live grenades land on his head. There were a ton of examples of wrong place wrong time in this movie, but that one takes the cake. It's hard to say what was better, the collateral damage or all 412 of the idiotic moments of Holland March. The window was great, but I think getting drunk at the party they are investigating earns top marks. He falls down the hill and lands on the dead body of the person they are searching for! Brilliant! Each of March's failures inevitably drag Healy into ridiculous situations. The eye rolling and scoffing of Crowe make it all the more fun. So, I guess I'm riding with Gosling's incompetence over collateral damage as the most fun aspect of the movie. But boy is it close.

Roy: As good as Russel Crowe was in his portrayal of Jack Healy, I really think the MVP award has to go to Gosling. He just kept raising the bar the entire movie and any time he was on screen he entertained. He was a good detective but also regularly got lucky despite his own ineptitude that chased him throughout the film. It was an interesting dichotomy. Part of what worked so well was the fact that as complicated as March was, Healy was as simple. Not stupid by any means. But he was a man who had simple motivations and knew what he was good at and did not veer off of that path. Healy was a man who was good at operating in morally grey areas but longed to be the good guy. Being thrown into the March family dynamic made him realize that he was not as bad as he thought he was. Despite the heavy adult content of this film it was lighthearted and just plain fun.

Cody: Healy's infatuation with being good and useful was one of the few odd pieces of this movie, but it was charming. If you want to nitpick at something, you can always find pieces of thread to unravel. Most oddities in this film were fine, and not all that worth digging into. The one that was, left me grasping without any thread to pull. The random Detroit hatred at the end of this movie was so bizarre, and, in my unbiased opinion, uncalled for. Does Black have a vendetta against the automotive industry? Does he hate Detroit? Is this something personal against me? Whatever. I'll be the bigger man and say that his movie was still fantastic.