‘The Nice Guys’ is one of the best buddy action comedies to hit the big screen in a while and has probably the best ‘dynamic duo’ since Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour. Now there is no shortage of buddy comedies in the comedy genre today, but aside from maybe ’21/22 Jump Street’ there aren’t many that can pull it off quite as well as films like ‘Rush Hour’ or ‘Lethal Weapon’ did. The majority of these films go for cheap cliche plots and more of the same crappy comedy being delivered by the same actors over and over… Kevin Hart, so as a result none of them stand out anywhere near as much as this film does. Written and directed by Shane Black the hilarious film set in the 70’s follows two detectives who get caught up investigating the apparent suicide of a popular female porn-star. The movie has a great story, excellent pacing, tonnes of humour, and most importantly a duo with so much chemistry that they could go toe to toe with Riggs and Murtaugh. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe play off each other so well that there is not a dull moment in this film and they make these characters feel so rich and you just want to be friends with these guys.

Gosling and Crowe are two quality actors with an immense range of talent from drama to comedy to action, so putting them together could only produce one thing…. absolute comedy gold. As i mentioned, the back and forth between these two detectives with very distinct contrasting personalities made every scene and every interaction very unpredictable and thus very entertaining. They managed to pull of the action very convincingly, the dramatic moments were executed very well, and the comedy was just amazing. These two are constantly quick-firing jokes and humour throughout the film and none of it seemed at all forced. Their chemistry was radiating off the screen every time they were together, but there is a third party in this film who really stole the show in many scenes in terms of her performance and amazing deliverance of humour. Angourie Rice stars alongside Crowe and Gosling in this film and i will tell you now she holds her own in this film to the point where she becomes the star of the show in some scenes. Her performance was so strong as this very strong, young character that you cannot help but get behind her and really root for her whenever she shows up. She contributes to the action, the drama and the comedy to the point where i think if this film didn’t feature her talents it could have felt quite empty.

The humour in this film is just great, Shane Black did a phenomenal job at writing these very humorous scenes and the actors did an equally as good job at delivering every joke. They were spaced out very well and tied in with the action scenes to where none of it felt jarring or out of place, it was just thoroughly entertaining. Some of the humour did get a little silly occasionally but hey, i still laughed, like a lot, so i can’t complain about that. Another important factor in the film was the plot, and i was definitely very engaged in the story being told that tied in entertaining action set-pieces with a light hit of that mystery detective work. It was a well paced plot that never felt like it was moving too fast and didn’t slow down too drastically, it played out nice and consistently letting you savour every scene.

So in the end, this is a very funny, fun, entertaining action/comedy with a great plot, hilarious comedy, and fantastic performances by Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, and Angourie Rice. If you have not checked out this film you most definitely should as you will not be at all disappointed with what you see.

8.3/10