Trailer Trashin’: Ryan Gosling & Russell Crowe are Bumbling Crime-Fighters in The Nice Guys
It’s the beginning of April dear readers, and that means there’s only a month left until the start of the summer movie season. In that spirit, this week’s Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at the new trailer for writer-director Shane Black’s upcoming action comedy The Nice Guys, coming out in May.
Premise: In 1970s Los Angeles, down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and hired enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) must work together to solve the case of a missing girl (Margaret Qualley) and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. During their investigation, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that reaches up to the highest circles of power.
My take: Few filmmakers have left as big a mark on the action movie as Shane Black. He screenwriting credits include Lethal Weapon (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), The Last Boy Scout (1991), and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), and he wrote and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and Iron Man 3 (2013). His latest film is The Nice Guys, a buddy action comedy set in 1977 Los Angeles. A new trailer for The Nice Guys was recently released, and it looks like a lot of fun.
Every buddy film rests in large part on the strength of its two leads, and The Nice Guys has an impressive duo for us. Ryan Gosling plays private eye Holland March, while Russell Crowe plays enforcer Jackson Healy. I always associate Gosling with his great performance in Drive (2011), so I like seeing him do such a different take on the retro-style crime film. Crowe, of course, has a reputation as being such an intense and serious actor, so it’s fun to see him as this brutish but slightly dim guy. Margaret Qualley, best known for the HBO series The Leftovers, plays Amelia, the girl that Holland and Jackson are trying to find. Kim Basinger, who previously worked with Russell Crowe in L.A. Confidential (1997), plays “Amelia’s mother, who works for the Department of Justice.” The teenage boy whose house the car crashes through is Ty Simpkins, who also appeared in Shane Black’s Iron Man 3. Also in the cast are Matt Bomer, Keith David, and Beau Knapp.
Based on this trailer, the style and tone of the film seem really on-point. So many of the trappings of the late 1970s seem kind of crazy to modern eyes, and are ripe to be mined for humor. Similarly, Gosling totally looks like a badass 1970s private eye at first glance, so it’s funny to see him doing things like nicking himself while shaving or cutting his hand when he breaks a window.
Cutting from Crowe beating a guy with the butt of a shotgun to a young girl saying how cool it is that he gets paid to beat people up really made me laugh. And the final moment, with them trying to dispose of a body and accidentally dropping it into a garden party, was a perfect note to end on.
All in all, I’m excited for this one. I like films of this style, I love the period setting, the cast is cool, and it’s by a filmmaker whose work I enjoy. Amidst all the giant blockbusters during the summer, it’s nice to have something smaller and more offbeat to look forward to. I’m definitely interested in checking out The Nice Guys when it opens in theaters this May.
ANTICIPATION: This looks like a nice time at the movies.
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, Kim Basinger, Beau Knapp, Ty Simpkins, and Jack Kilmer
Director: Shane Black
Writers: Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi
Timothy Monforton
