ALSO SHOWING
The Nice Guys
Cert 15A; Now Showing SHANE Black has been knocking around Hollywood for decades and has delivered some of the biggest successes and biggest failures in the action-comedy genre. It was Black who delivered goldmines like his first two Lethal Weapon films and Iron Man 3, and failures like The Long Kiss Goodnight. The chances are high that you have seen his work at some point and this, his latest offering, is an enjoyable, often funny pastiche of film noir that reflects his long time in Hollywood.
The movie contains lots of film-nerd jokes — the plot synopsis itself contains quite a few. It’s 1977, a pornstar called Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio) dies in dramatic circumstances. Two men of the private detective variety — Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), who is more of a thug for hire variety, and Holland March (Ryan Gosling), of the old-lady swindling variety — end up working together looking for a young woman who looks remarkably like the dead pornstar. There is a missing film with a political message and a mother (Kim Basinger) who hires the bumbling idiots to find her daughter. March’s own daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) plays their conscience.
The style and mood of this will prove divisive. Some people will be highly amused whilst others just won’t find it funny. But there is an interesting enough mix of verbal comedy and slapstick to keep most amused some of the time and then, well, there’s Ryan who works for so many of us on a different level. He is very good here, pitching his would-be high brow PI just right. Crowe too is great, finding more than just pudgy down-and-deadbeat in his character. There are wafts of serious message, like the car emissions issue, but really it is just a piece of fun.