Throughout this film, the comedy continues to deliver as you ponder whether you are supposed to laugh at certain scenes or not. Most of the jokes revolve around drugs, sex, and violence. This one is not for the kiddos! The comedy strides around the style of Rush Hour, but it is much more sophisticated and content-based. Crowe and Gosling have surprisingly different roles than their usual drama-based characters and they play it so well. The plot starts off with a sort of character analysis of the two "detectives" who are eventually forced to team up and find a missing girl. The plot is very complex and at times hard to follow, but if I watch it again I will probably be able to catch everything I missed.
The best part of this film is the period piece aspect. The set looks like it was revitalized straight from Saturday Night Fever. The costuming gives us an authentic look at the seventies drab that used to be considered fashionable. Gosling's impressive mustache portrays the detail of the film's setting and time period without distracting us from the plot too much. With such a complex plot, Black does a good job of subtly bringing us back in time without forcing afros and disco balls in our face the whole time. The music also brings us back into the seventies throughout the film. Overall, this is basically a fantastically weird period piece and character study taking place in the seventies.
The Bottom Line: Shane Black brings us back in time with two prominent studio actors to solve a titillating mystery.
Score: 9.0/10
Image credit: http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/1462462004/The%20Nice%20Guys_Side%20A.jpeg