“The Nice Guys” hit the Croisette on Sunday afternoon and you can hear the critics laughing all the way across the Atlantic. Shane Black’s ’70s-set detective comedy has earned strong reviews (including from The Playlist’s own Russ Fischer) and stars Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe have earned a lion’s share of the kudos. It was no surprise they also were the highlight of the film’s official press conference.
When thrown a bone by an international journalist over which of the two would be the alpha hero The Dark Knight, Gosling took the bait and ran with it.
“I’m Batman, he’s Robin,” Gosling said as the press erupted in laughter.
Crowe smiled and retorted, “Somebody asked what superhero characters Ryan and I would be. I said Fatman and Ribin.”
“The Nice Guys” is set in a Los Angeles where the smog is so thick it might be killing birds and the Hollywood sign is barely standing. Gosling plays a private investigator trying to raise his incredibly smart young daughter (Angourie Rice) as a single dad while juggling a missing-persons case that gets increasingly dangerous by the minute. That’s where Crowe comes in, as — in his own words — “a debt collector with aspiration” that ends up getting sucked into the mystery. The two characters have a unique chemistry that few actors could have pulled off as deliciously as Crowe and Gosling.
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Black, who wrote the script for “Lethal Weapon” and made his directorial debut with “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” at Cannes 11 years ago, says he’s had an affinity for these sorts of buddy comedies since he saw Ron Howard’s “Night Shift” back in the ’80s.
“It was sold as a silly comedy but I was surprised by this really soulful and heartfelt relationship, this friendship by the end of the movie I was sad to see stop, almost to the point of tears,” Black recalls. “And I was like, ‘Wow, isn’t that something?’ In the context of being that funny you can actually tell an organic real story that develops that sort of kinship.”
Even with great word of mouth, “The Nice Guys” is going to face an uphill battle at the box office, going up against another buddy comedy of sorts, “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” but that didn’t stop a reporter from inquiring about a possible sequel.
Gosling pulls out his poker face and asked, “How much you are you talking about here?”
Looking directly at his co-star Crowe, chimed in, “I’m really busy man, sorry. Sorry Ryan. Busy man.”
“That’s fine, I think I could do it on my own anyway,” Gosling joked. “Shane has an idea for one in the ’80s.”
Black jumps in and deadpans with a very scary thought, “I say we recast.”
Perish the thought.
“The Nice Guys” opens nationwide on Friday.
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