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Created Jun 04, 2016 08:52PM PST • Edited May 08, 2024 03:48PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   The Nice Guys, a 21st century spoof of Seventies LA, delivers classic big-screen entertainment, led by big-time moviestars Russell Crowe & Ryan Gosling. Shane Black, the Hollywood writer behind Lethal Weapon 1, 2, 3 & 4, wrote and directed this change-up curve that hits the strike zone. Action-crime-comedies-r-him.

   It’s got crazy comedic energy, full of sideways bon mots and surreal touches, some being dream scenes. Significant energy does get lost as the faux Chinatown plot gets revealed. Hollywood is nothing if not PC.

   But let’s not quibble. Black’s new movie is a terrific paean to the 70s, a significantly better one than David O. Russell’s American Hustle, the other recent entrant in the rollicking 1970s Crime Comedy category.

   It’s gotta be said, The Nice Guys are mighty pleasant company at the movie theater. Cheap-thrills-r-them.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Russell Crowe & Ryan Gosling are classically mismatched buddies, the latest in a long line of oddball Detective Partners. These great moviestars usually work alone, so it’s a treat to see them work together.

   Crowe plays an Enforcer, Gosling a mostly inept Private Dick. The comedy largely falls to the younger Gosling, who rises to the challenge, delivering a deftly funny performance that generates several LOLs.

   • Angourie Rice tartly plays Gosling’s teen daughter, a precocious girl.
   • Matt Bomer looms menacingly as an out-of-town hitman.
   • Margaret Qualley disappoints as the hottest girl in L.A.
   • Murielle Telio cameos as porn star Misty Mountains.
   • Keith David menaces as a profesional hitman.
   • Kim Basinger phones it in as a DoJ bigwig.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Shane Black is on some kinda roll, with this his fourth directorial effort, albeit his 14th produced script. The Nice Guys comes three years after the outstanding Iron Man 3, which he also wrote and directed.

    The guy is straight up money.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

    Shane Black gave Anthony Bagarozzi cowriting credit, his first ever writing credit. Hmmm.

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    Perfect Seventies Soundtrack: Some rock, some suck, all were big.

    • PAPA WAS A ROLLIN’ STONE – The Temptations
    • MUSKRAT LOVE – Captain & Tennille
    • ROCK AND ROLL ALL NITE – KISS
    • COULDN’T GET IT RIGHT – Climax Blues Band
    • BOOGIE WONDERLAND – Earth Wind & Fire
    • SEPTEMBER – Earth Wind & Fire
    • JIVE TALKIN’ – The Bee Gees
    • GET DOWN ON IT – Kool & The Gang
    • BOOGIE OOGIE OOGIE – A Taste of Honey
    • AIN’T GOT NO HOME – The Band
    • THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA
    • A HORSE WITH NO NAME – America
    • LONELY BOY – Andrew Gold
    • ESCAPE (The Piña Colada Song) – Rupert Holmes
    • LOVE AND HAPPINESS – Al Green

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    Brian is absolutely right about the set.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Brutal 3.0

19. Rudeness Nasty 3.6

21. Reality

    Glib 2.0

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.5

23. Biological Glib 2.0

24. Physical Glib 1.5