If you don’t know the name Shane Black, you very likely have seen and enjoyed at least one of his films. He was rich before he even graduated, selling the scripts for the Universal Gothic comedy The Monster Squad and the buddy cop movie that would prove a megahit, Lethal Weapon. It’s the latter that proved more significant in his career, for Shane Black has a very particular favourite plot: a beautiful woman dies in Los Angeles, and a pair of mismatched detectives – one a big guy with a kind heart, the other a little, depressed alcoholic – investigate, eventually stumbling upon a Chinatown-esque conspiracy. Oh, and it’s Christmas time, though that rarely has much impact on the plot. This is a story that Black likes to write, and sometimes direct, in Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and his most recent treatment of the tale, The Nice Guys. People will no doubt have their favourites among this set, for each have their virtues: the sweaty masculinity of the first Lethal Weapon; the hard-hitting action of Lethal Weapon 2; the self-conscious neo-noir atmosphere of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (my own favourite). What The Nice Guys particular offers is breezy comedic styling, particularly from Ryan Gosling. After The Fall Guy, and especially his turn as Ken in Barbie, Gosling may today be best known for breezy comedy, but in 2016 you most likely associated him with tough guys (Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines, Only God Forgives) or dreamy romantic leads (The Notebook, Blue Valentine, Crazy Stupid Love). The private eye, Holland March, that he plays here certainly could have been portrayed as a tough guy in the Dashiell Hammett tradition; but instead he’s a more hapless version of a Raymond Chandler protagonist. He gets drunk, he gets beaten up, he doesn’t do all that much in the way of effective detection, and he’s a coward to boot – what he has is pluck, and that’s about it. Pluck and a heartwarming odd-couple relationship with Russell Crowe’s Jackson Healy. Healy works as a hired thug and is supposed to be scaring March off the case, but they end up working together and playing off each other delightfully – which is all to the benefit for the viewer.
The Nice Guys is an easy film to like. It’s colourful and easy on the eyes. It’s funny. Shane Black can do clever quips in his sleep at this point – he wrote much of his own dialogue when he played Hawkins in Predator – but Gosling and Crowe have a particular spark, even compared to the delightful pairings of Mel Gibson/Danny Glover and Robert Downey Jr./Val Kilmer, and Gosling reveals himself to be a wonderful performer of slapstick, taking many a tumble through the film’s two-ish hours. It’s pacy, and feels quite a bit shorter than it really is. And it’s got some killer 70s suits and cars, and the wonderfully cheesy music of Rupert Holmes, KISS, Earth Wind & Fire, et cetera. The casting is uniformly inspired. We get Margaret Qualley, still a long way off from the universal recognition she’s now receiving; a teenaged Angourie Rice, who would go on to play one of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man’s more endearing supporting cast; and solid old hands such as Keith David and Kim Basinger in small, memorable parts. Truly, every character is memorable, and all fit uniquely, yet exceptionally neatly, into the film’s particular world. There is an atmosphere of violence, but the atmosphere is nonetheless mostly light, easygoing, and when the actual violence breaks out it’s in quick, controlled and mostly realistic bursts. And a mystery is just always a great type of plot to hang comedy, characterisation and atmosphere on. It’s a difficult film to resist – I don’t know what kind of person wouldn’t enjoy it, but I don’t think I’d enjoy their company.
The Nice Guys failed to make much of a splash in a 2016 dominated by superheroes who couldn’t learn to get along, which is a real shame, but time has been kind to it – certainly kinder than to Shane Black’s own superhero attempt Iron Man 3, or his so-so The Predator – and nearly ten years on, if you haven’t seen it yet then better late than never, and if you have, it’s a good time to revisit it. Like Lethal Weapon, it’s a much more well-crafted film than you may realise on a first viewing.
As far as the special features on this Second Sight rerelease, we get a very charming commentary with Black and his co-writer, Anthony Bagarozzi. This conversation is moderated by film critic and car enthusiast Priscilla Page, who is very obviously a big fan of the film, of all “tough guy” films, shows, and books, and therefore, naturally, of Black’s other works – his Donald Westlake adaptation, Play Dirty, comes up a number of times despite being still in post-production and set to be released later in 2025. Think of it as prevues for coming attractions. Not only is Page passionate and knowledgeable, which to be fair should always be the case on commentaries such as this, but she strikes a good rapport with her subjects, which isn’t always easy to do. Like the film itself, watching with the commentary is an easy, pleasurable way to spend two hours. Next up are the interviews, which are as in-depth as usual. Shane Black speaks, mostly about the writing process and oddly, his love for movie novelisations, in “Knights in Tarnished Armor”, a phrase that also proves a keyword during the film’s commentary. Co-producer Ethan Erwin speaks with some enthusiasm about working with Black, and producer Joel Silver, in “Finding an Audience”. “A Thousand Cuts” features veteran Philippe Rousselot, The Nice Guys‘ veteran Director of Photography – he turns 80 this year – reflecting on the particular challenges of his work here. The video essays on these Second Sight releases are often a highlight, and Leigh Singer presents “From Lethal Weapons to Nice Guys”, tracing the development of the “buddy” genre from comedy double acts such as Laurel & Hardy, through Butch and Sundance, to 48 Hrs. and Shane Black’s genre-defining entries, including all those mentioned above and The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight. Also included are two featurettes from The Nice Guys‘ original release: “Always Bet on Black” and “Making The Nice Guys: Worst. Detectives. Ever.”, plus some short excerpts from interviews with various cast members on various topics. These are more or less fluff, but it’s always appreciated when features from past releases are carried over; and of course the film’s trailers are included.
★★★★★