When the 2016 Summer Movies started coming out, like all movie fans I checked up on them to see which ones I would catch, whether it be in theaters (given my limited spare time, a hard thing to accomplish) or on home video.

Many of the films released in the summertime and by the studios tend to be big budgeted, effects heavy works aimed at almost all audiences.  It isn’t often a “big” summer release has anything more than a PG-13 rating.

Anyway, while looking over the upcoming films, the R-rated The Nice Guys got my attention.  First and foremost, the film was directed and co-written by Shane Black, the man who wrote many of the better action/buddy comedies of recent memory, including the original Lethal Weapon, and The Long Kiss Goodnight and who returned to the genre with the excellent Kiss  Kiss Bang Bang (2005) before more recently directing Iron Man 3.

Naturally I was intrigued.  When I saw the red band trailer (NSFW!) for the film, I was downright fascinated…

Which makes what I have to say next so agonizing: The movie turned out to be a disappointment.

Don’t get me wrong: There are plenty of laughs to be had, though the biggest ones are already spoiled by the above trailer.

Going beyond that, the movie had several problems which kept me from grading it much more than just a little above average.

To start with, the mystery the characters are trying to solve is never all that engaging.  When all is said and done, it proves to be rather silly, as it involves a porn film that exposes dirty dealings in the car industry (!).

The next big problem, again to me, was that the film skewed too far in the direction of comedy.  Lethal Weapon and The Long Kiss Goodnight worked because despite their comedic elements -more of which were present in the former than the later- there was always a sense that our heroes were in danger.  This is never the case in The Nice Guys.  While people are shot and killed, I never felt our heroes faced any real danger.  Add to that the fact that the villains presented are mostly bland henchmen, and not particularly fearsome ones at that, and any sustained suspense is dissipated.

What also hurt the movie’s overall sense of suspense was the fact that Ryan Gosling’s character had a daughter, played by Angourie Rice, who winds up being one of those young children who are far too wise for their own good and, more importantly, gets put into the middle of the investigation and thrown into the movie’s bigger actions scenes which further dissipate the danger our heroes face.

Why is that?  Because I just knew Mr. Shane -and I’m certain the studios/investors- didn’t have the guts to put a 13 year old character in danger of getting hurt, much less killed.  So when she’s in the movie’s biggest action sequences, I never felt the characters, and her, were in any danger and that dulled whatever excitement Mr. Black was trying to present.

Having said all that, I again will reiterate: The film made me laugh at various points and I’d be lying if I said it was a complete bust.  As I noted before, the film was a little above average and, if I were to rate it based on 1 to 4 stars, I’d give it 2 and 1/2 stars.

The NIce Guys was watchable, certainly, and at times very amusing.  I just wish it had excited me much more.