The Nice Guys

Shane Black, the director and co-writer of The Nice Guys, has a concrete reputation in Hollywood action/comedy blockbusters, stretching all the way back to 1997 when came to prominence as the writer of the hugely successful Lethal Weapon. Since then he’s penned genre classics like The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero, and The Long Kiss Goodnight; his 2005 directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has become a cult classic of sorts (and rightly so); and 2013’s Iron Man 3, which he also wrote and directed, was OK I guess. Consequently, expectation was high for The Nice Guys, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Black hasn’t strayed far from his tried-and-tested tongue-in-cheek unlikely-buddy shtick with The Nice Guys. Russel Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, punching reporters) and Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Big Short, looking hot despite his face being way small for his head) are rival private detectives in 1970’s Hollywood who are forced together when they stumble upon a conspiracy involving the murders of adult film folks (it goes all the way to the topless. I’m here all week. Try the reveal.)