Susan Granger’s review of “The Nice Guys” (Warner Bros.)
The summer season is underway with this deranged, depraved and dead-on tale of a bumbling private investigator and a gonzo enforcer making mayhem in Los Angeles.
It begins in 1978 with a horrific car crash in which porn star Misty Mountains is killed. Or is she? Her distraught aunt doubts it – and she wants answers. Then there’s this mysterious missing girl named Amelia. Is there any connection between them?
That’s the question plaguing private eye Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and hard-boiled tough-guy Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe). Their unconventional investigation leads them to a splashy Tinseltown pool party, replete with mermaids and dance music by Earth, Wind & Fire.
That’s where they not only find Amelia (Margaret Qualley), an ardent environmentalist, but also discover a high-level corporate conspiracy.
Which leads them to Judith Kuttner (Kim Basinger), who heads the California Department of Justice, and her assistant Tally (Yaya DaCosta). Plus, there’s John Boy (Matt Bomer), an enigmatic hit-man/fixer and a climactic confrontation at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
As pragmatic, principled Healy and sleazy, boozing March, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling play off each other perfectly, particularly when they’re interacting with March’s precocious teenage daughter, Holly (Aussie newcomer Angourie Rice), who is determined not only to keep her disheveled dad on-track but also participate in the rollicking crime caper.
Once writer/director Shane Black and co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi get the fast-paced, action-packed comedy in gear, there’s no holding back on the wacky situations and dastardly villains.
FYI: Margaret Qualley is the real-life daughter of Andie MacDowell and Paul Qualley. Her fresh-faced naturalness is in stark contrast with Kim Basinger, who is now so Botox’d that her facial features are totally frozen; only her lips move.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Nice Guys” is a skewed, subversive 7, filled with unpredictable chaos and wickedly clever confusion.
