Shane Black's The Nice Guys

Risible and endless (almost two hours!). The '70s setting means nothing when the behavior and script follow the pattern of Beverly Hills Cop 2: forced joeks followed by violence (a girl tossed through a window). Gosling is at his worst when he's signaling he's "funny."

The callousness of the violence was too underlined not to be point making imo

The only thing I liked about this, I think, were the Abbott and Costello riffs, and the way Black has invented his own little callback world of Christmas, and people falling off balconies, and children put in shockingly precarious situations, and fancy mansions and mermaids. Other than that, it was pretty disappointingly dull, with the jokes few and far between and the shaggy dog stuff even shaggier than usual. I started watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang again the other day, and Robert Downy Jr is just such a better anchor for this sort of material than Gosling, and Val is better than Crowe, too.

I love Gosling and wish he were naked in more movies but he was directed to act like a kid playing a duke in a Christmas play. There's this bit where he does a double take after he stumbles on a certain body that's leaden and way too long. Crowe can handle this material; Gosling can't play dumbfucks.

There's this bit where he does a double take after he stumbles on a certain body that's leaden and way too long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6NIVn6_m1c

Yeah my fondness for the movie waned a little (tho looking up at my responses earlier I'd just forgotten some of it), but the Abbott & Costello stuff was golden.

"At least you're drinking again."

So entertaining, one of those rare comedy films that stays consistently funny all the way through. Gosling proving unexpectedly nifty at slapstick.

It should have been about 15 minutes or so shorter, but yeah, its fun.

It should've been about 105 minutes shorter.

Enjoyable romp. I didn't find the kid that annoying.

If it was funnier it could have been 15 minutes longer, for all I cared.

Who found the kid annoying? I thought she was good! One I read that likened her to Penny from Inspector Gadget, which is kind of right on.

*One REVIEW

This was a good time. I might rewatch KKBB again to compare but I liked it, I didn't feel any inclination to put it in a bracket up against its lol-terrible California PI brethren. It's no Long Goodbye but what is?

I loved the car in the opening scene, I liked the elevator ride to the penthouse and back, and I liked the daughter quite a bit.

i just watched this, too -- pretty fun

It was really just a lesser KKBB but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

decent way to spend two hours on a plane. i could pick it apart (especially gosling, crowe otoh was excellent) but i'd prefer to focus on the fact that it had some of the best action movie sight gags i've seen in years. the rotating car thing and the tree getting shot were worthy heirs to the best of that stuff in the naked gun films.

The worst thing I can say for it, a year later, is that it and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang have pretty much completely blurred together in my mind.

this really seems of a piece with kiss kiss bang bang to me, except not as good.

i would rewatch it if it were available on a flight i was on

i thought gosling was good. i like gosling tho

Gosling is vg in this

It suffers from Black's lack of narrative discipline but the high points are always gonna be worth it

i didnt like this at all when i watched it 5 years ago

rewatched today & thought it was great. the jokes were great, i laughed my ass off. i liked the rockford nods with the $200 a day & the newspaper ad… plus this time around i def found it kinda rockfordy in general, confidently stumbling into a huge case & accidentally kinda solving it but still losing

i guess i just needed to have enjoyed the Rockford Files to get more out if it 🤷🏻‍♀️

oh and the gun in the coffee jar! also v Rockford