Last month, n+1 reported that Netflix executives have been pushing writers to make characters announce their actions and rehash plot points for the benefit of viewers only half paying attention as they clean or scroll. It’s not a difficult claim to believe, given the bland, stilted nature of so many streaming originals. Call it the Madame Web school of moviemaking, where “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died” is a dense burst of information worth aspiring to, not a clunky mouthful that should be avoided like, well, a dangerous Amazonian spider.
Mock such executive meddling all you want, but there’s a disconnect between what we say we want (a 2024 National Research Group study found that 69% of moviegoers supposedly desire more original content) and what we actually consume: last year’s top 15 box office hauls all belonged to sequels and preexisting properties. We want to be challenged, but then life gets in the way and we just throw The Gray Man on while we fold laundry instead.
That contradiction explains why The Nice Guys struggled to make its budget back when it was forced to compete against the juggernaut that was Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising back in 2016, yet is revered by almost everyone who’s seen it. Shane Black’s neo-noir buddy comedy, which is getting a long-overdue 4K re-release on February 11, offered an original premise with whip-smart dialogue and a twisty plot that forced you to pay attention if you wanted to keep up. In other words, it was the antithesis of having characters announce their professions at each other for the benefit of Netflix’s dullest viewers.
A spiritual successor to Black’s equally underappreciated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys stars Russell Crowe as amicable goon Jackson Healy and Ryan Gosling as sleazy private detective Holland March. The pair start on the wrong foot after a young woman hires Healy to scare March off the case of a murdered porn star, but the two reluctantly team up after Healy realizes his client could be in danger too. Before long, they’re unraveling a conspiracy involving the Justice Department, the motor industry, and other unsavory players.
Set in 1977 Los Angeles, Black has a clear nostalgia for the era but doesn’t let that get in the way of portraying its crime, corruption, and sheer smelliness. Like any good noir, The Nice Guys is twisty and sprawling and, like any good buddy comedy, March and Healy’s investigation bumbles through mishaps, lucky breaks, and occasional bouts of actual insight as they crash car shows and industry parties.
Crowe and Gosling proved to be a surprisingly compelling comedic pair, as Crowe dislodged himself from a streak of dreadful dramas long enough to serve as an effective straight man to Gosling’s more outsized antics. Angourie Rice is also excellent as March’s precocious daughter, and, in a smaller role, Matt Bomer stands out as handsome hitman John Boy. Bomer and Crowe both feel legitimately menacing in the movie’s sharp action sequences. Put all together, it became something like The Long, Dick-Joke Filled Goodbye.
Now, nearly a decade later, The Nice Guys still feels fresh and efficient. Nothing in it is really new, but everyone involved was at the top of their game, making it a sheer joy to watch (watch, as in with both eyes, being the keyword). Fans have long advocated for a sequel, although its financial struggles make that unlikely. And that’s okay, really; the movie feels like the culmination of everything Black had been working towards, and after the major misstep that was The Predator, we can at least be thankful that he’s returning to the crime thriller genre with the upcoming Play Dirty. We do, after all, want more original movies, don’t we?
Meanwhile, a Nice Guys 4K re-release makes for a pretty decent consolation prize. The new edition offers a couple of small behind-the-scenes features, although the real draw here is its sharp visual upgrade and crisp audio track. If you’ve never seen The Nice Guys, or if you need an excuse to see it again, this is as good an opportunity as any. Just remember that, for all the film’s slapstick, you’ll need to stay focused if you want to know why the bullets and zingers are flying.
The Nice Guys 4K Blu-Ray comes out February 11.
