Tag Archives: The Nice Guys (2016)

Movies

Rex Reed’s Worst Movies of 2016

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Opinions of works of art, one must repeat to oneself, is a subjective matter.

That book or movie or artwork of song you like, even flat out love, might be crap -or worse!- to others.  I’ve always been fascinated with reading negative opinions on works of art, even those I may like that others do not (Need I repeat, for the upteenth time, the fact that I happened to love the much maligned Batman v Superman?).

Sometimes reading negative reviews, provided the reasoning is strong/logical, provides a fascinating alternate look at things you might find very good.  Again, the key here is to read an informed, logical explanation for why something doesn’t work for you.

With that in mind, I present:

Rex Reed’s Worst Movies of 2016

Sadly, not all the movies presented in this list are given an explanation for why they’re on the list.  For example, at #7 is Martin Scorsese’s The Silence.  I haven’t seen the film and don’t know if I will, but I’m curious as to why it falls in this list.  So too film #6, The Lobster.  Some have offered great praise for this film while others feel it isn’t all that great.  Why does he feel it fails badly enough to make it to his worst of the year list?

But the main reason I bring up Mr. Reed’s list is for movie #8, The Nice Guys.  Here’s what Mr. Reed had to say about that film:

Afflicted by the same hammered, incomprehensible immaturity that makes modern American comedies unwatchable by any sane person’s standards, this action spoof of the brain-dead, odd-couple cop-buddy franchises popularized by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, or Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold, is equally dumb and forgettable but not even half as amusing. This one, by the jarringly untalented writer-director Shane Black, is merely violent, vulgar and stupid.

I was very eager to see The Nice Guys when I first heard of it.  Shane Black, the movie’s director/writer, was the man who wrote the screenplay to one of the older films referenced in this mini-review, the Mel Gibson/Danny Glover film Lethal Weapon.  Naturally, I was damned curious to see the film, for Mr. Black’s presence (he also directed the very funny Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) but also to see how Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe would interact.  When the trailers appeared, things looked encouraging…

When I finally got to see the film, it proved a disappointment.  The best laughs, as I noted in my original review, were found in the movie’s trailer.  The mystery wasn’t all that intriguing and by putting a 13 year old character in the center of the film (she is Ryan Gosling’s daughter), whatever danger the characters faced was dissipated as I just knew Mr. Black and the film’s backers wouldn’t dare actually endanger a 13 year old.

I ultimately gave the film two and 1/2 stars, noting it was just a little above average.  And yet the film has made the “best of” lists of several critics, something I find baffling and perhaps why I can’t help but smile at Rex Reed’s biting remarks regarding this film.

While I wouldn’t put The Nice Guys on my “worst films of the year” list, it may well be #1 on my “Most Disappointing” films of the year.  I don’t believe I’ve had as high hopes for any other movie this year as I have The Nice Guys and, if I’m being very honest, despite finding the film “OK”, it was far, far less than I had hoped.

Movies

The Nice Guys (2016) a (mildly) belated review

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.