Black back on familiar ground

before – unless you count his unintentionally hilarious crooning in Les Misérables – but his put-upon, throw punches-ask questions later enforcer belongs firmly within the genre.

Gosling is less of a funnybone-tickling novice (Crazy, Stupid, Love., this year’s The Big Short) so it’s perhaps no surprise that he just outshines his co-star, not least by displaying a real knack for physical comedy.

The phrase “a Shane Black movie” is often used among Hollywood circles and movie critics and The Nice Guys includes just about every one of the director’s trademarks.

There’s the two lead males, snappy dialogue, implausible-sounding scenarios grounded in reality, bursts of violence and – yes – a Christmas-set scene.

The over-familiarity may grate with some, but when you’re mixing this much emotional depth with laugh-out-loud escapades and colourful characters, it’s hard not to tip your hat to such a skilled auteur.

Black clearly knows his film noirs too and pays respect to the genre with hoodlums with a penchant for roughing people up, femme fatales and shady government officials.

He stays clear of completely desaturating his latest flick with literal and theoretical darkness, though, by making the most of its seventies setting, not least during a memorable porn party bathed in more colours than a box of tie-dye t-shirt.

The slightly overconvoluted plot does run out of steam and the conclusion teases a sequel that, given the rarity of Black stepping behind the camera, won’t see the light of day for years – if at all.