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This weekend, I couldn’t be more excited to check out the new Ryan Gosling movie, Project Hail Mary.
The sci-fi story follows a science teacher (Gosling) who wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there.
While Project Hail Mary looks to be a fun, sci-fi spectacle, I can’t help but use the opportunity to highlight a more low-key Gosling flick.
The Nice Guys is a fantastic period buddy cop comedy starring Gosling and Russell Crowe, and it’s still far too underrated to this day.
Here’s why The Nice Guys is one of my favorite Gosling films and why it deserves to be your next watch.
‘The Nice Guys’ Is a Great Hangout Movie
The Nice Guys follows private eye Holland March (Gosling), who is hired by a Mrs. Glenn (Lois Smith) to find her missing pornstar niece, Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio), an investigation that leads March to a young woman named Amelia (Margaret Qualley). To get March off her tail, Amelia hires Jackson Healey (Crowe), a brutal enforcer, who breaks into March’s home and breaks his arm. But the mismatched March and Healey find themselves teaming up for a shared cause when Amelia really disappears, and it seems like she is being hunted down by guys much shadier than either March or Healey.
While the plot of The Nice Guys sounds like a fun, twisty crime story, that’s not really the main appeal of the film. In fact, the daffy mystery is probably the least important thing about the movie, and you can feel free to dismiss it immediately. The Nice Guys works best when you allow the plot to take a backseat and just enjoy the performances, character writing and chemistry between Crowe and Gosling. Think The Big Lebowski or Inherent Vice as opposed to a Zodiac. The nostalgic atmosphere and immersive production design create an authentic-feeling recreation of ’70s Los Angeles, the script is laugh-out-loud and the characters, no matter big or small, will constantly surprise you. It’s a movie you’ll want to dive back into again and again.
‘The Nice Guys’ Gives New Life to the Buddy Comedy
Two men and two girls lean in toward the camera in The Nice Guys. Warner Bros.
Shane Black‘s movie evokes the buddy comedies of a bygone era, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Planes, Trains and Automobiles or The Odd Couple. This is hugely thanks to Black’s sharp screenwriting, which has charmed audiences many times in the past. If you’re not familiar with Black’s name, you’re definitely familiar with movies like The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3. Ultimately, Black understands what makes a good buddy comedy work. He relies less on action and spectacle (while there is a good amount of fantastic action set pieces), instead honing in on character-driven comedy, biting dialogue and a commendable use of slapstick.
By putting less emphasis on the plot intricacies, Black can make a comedy that really works through his characterization, pacing, performances and a focus on writing jokes and lines that actually work. Somehow, The Nice Guys ends up feeling like the kind of movie that just doesn’t get made anymore, and yet somehow this one was — this is likely part of why the movie has grown such a passionate cult following, and why fans denigrate the only very modest showing it did at the box office back in 2016. Of course, the real lynchpin of the film’s success as a great buddy comedy comes from the surprising chemistry between Gosling and Crowe.
The Comedic Chemistry Between Gosling and Crowe Is Top-Notch
A man leans over another man in The Nice Guys. Warner Bros.
When you think about Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, you probably wouldn’t think they’d make the most natural buddy cop duo in a comedy film — you might not even fathom that Crowe could do comedy well at all. And yet, you watch The Nice Guys, and you realize that there is nothing more natural than the two of these actors together. Both Gosling and Crowe are well-known for their intense, dramatic roles (more so Crowe), but The Nice Guys proves their deft funnybones. The characters themselves are the perfect foils for one another as a classic type of pairing: the “straight man” macho Healy and the goofy and cowardly March.
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This clash of personalities is the main source of the film’s off-kilter humor and why it’s a cult classic today. Crowe and Gosling play off one another with aplomb, constantly matching one another’s comedic timing and delivering witty, fast-paced banter with ease. But they don’t just get great lines of dialogue; there’s also a lot of slapstick and physical comedy for the Gladiator and The Notebook actors to dig into. Gosling’s exaggerated screams and the bathroom fight scenes are hilarious in and of themselves, but it’s Crowe’s muted reactions in these moments that act as the cherry on top.
Rent The Nice Guys on Amazon Prime Video.
