The Nice Guys

They’re not that nice. In the spiritual successor to ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’, what starts as a run-of-the-mill runaway daughter, quickly leads to drugs, porn and corruption at the highest levels… Jackson Healey (Russell Crowe) could more correctly be called an enforcer than a private investigator. You can rely on him to break arms, fingers, and to never get carried away – it’s just business. Holland March (Ryan Gosling), in a break from his more suave (Crazy.Stupid.Love.) or introspective characters (Drive) plays a wheedling, alcoholic cheat. An ex-cop that started unravelling, and drinking, when his wife died. No longer concerned with catching criminals or justice, he is more concerned about ensuring sustained income for the roof over him and his daughter, Holly. And if this means stringing along his clients with false hope, so be it… Take his latest case - investigating an aunt who saw her niece alive days after everyone knows she’s dead. He’s chasing a doppelganger, Amelia, when the doppelganger hires Jackson to deliver the message to stay away. Unfortunately, this only has the effect of strengthening both P.I.s’ resolve to solve the case. Forced to team up to share clues, Holly has hopes that this could be the first case her father has taken that is worthwhile… This film has all the pizazz, perfectly timed one-liners, as well as the self-deflating humour you’d expect, yet with the inimitable, irrepressible (and sometimes questionable) style of 1970’s Los Angeles.

Natalie Tyldesley-Marshall