Hollywood have always enjoy a good cops/detective story. From a lonely detective to the perfect partners combination films borrow from TV shows to movies and vice versa, looking for a good formula. Most of the time the solution two good actors working together to solve a crime. From the madman and the veteran in Lethal Weapon series, the American and the Asian in “Rush Hour” and the two African Americans partners one married with children and the other a playboy in “Bad Boys” similar to the by the book cop, the two wanna be cops who are conquering high school in “21 Jump Street” and break the rules cop in “Tango & Cash”

All this films have a very simple point in common, you need two characters with different perspectives in life, experiences and background to create a symbiotic environment in order to make the crime investigation a true experience. In Shane Black “The Nice Guys” another cop story presents two very particular detectives. Russell Crowe is the enforcer Jackson Healey and Ryan Gosling is private detective Holland March both live in Los Angeles in 1977 a political time with energy problems and social conflicts, with particular problems.

The story starts when a porn star named Misty Mountains die in a car crash, March (Gosling) is approached by Misty’s aunt claiming that she have seen her nice alive, March accept the job completely skeptical, later finding that a girl named Amelia Kutner is connected to Misty. Amelia not wish to be found so she hired enforcer Healey (Crowe) to intimidate March and stay away from her. The case keeps getting complicated after two guys are searching for Amelia which leads March and Healey to a series of characters and situations.

The combination Crowe and Gosling and perfect. Their first encounter shows who is in charge, but also knows what’s it’s doing. Both bring a breeze of fresh air to the two cop combination. Gosling clumsiness and unorthodox method of investigations turns him into the comedic relief while Crowe presents the veteran experience on the field as well the strength within the team
The big surprise in the film is Holly (Angourie Rice) March’s daughter. She is the brain in this team of two. Her revelations and braveness expedite investigation or perhaps her intelligence leads her at the right time at the right moment.

The Nice Guys is a very entertaining film, which revitalize the genre of 70’s cop films, following the footsteps of Starsky and Hutch with a twist 21 Jump Street and Bad Boys.