Cannes Report: 'The Nice Guys' Stars Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe Are Having a Blast in 1970s L.A.

Director Shane Black’s loose, rambunctious new comedy-mystery The Nice Guys is set in Los Angeles in the 1970s, but the vibe of the movie is distinctly ’80s. A throwback to that decade’s famed buddy thrillers like Lethal Weapon (which Black wrote) and 48 Hrs., it serves up lots of banter, bare breasts, and beat downs, with rumpled, relaxed performances from leading men Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, who make you want to hang out even with them when the gags don’t always stick. The movie had a press screening at Cannes on Sunday morning, ahead of the Sunday night premiere. (It opens in theaters on May 18.)

Crowe’s Jackson Healy is a grizzled, professional thug-for-hire, while Gosling’s Holland March is a boozy PI, recently widowed and a single parent to a Nancy Drew-esque daughter, Holly (Angourie Rice). They meet when Healy knocks on March’s door to efficiently bust his balls and break his arm for asking too many questions about a missing girl named Amelia. But then they join forces when they realize they’re working opposite ends of a conspiracy that involves a murdered porn star named Misty Mountains, a missing print of her last nudie film, and a Detroit-sponsored plot to deny smog-choked America catalytic convertors in their cars. Or something like that. Part of the fun of The Nice Guys is watching Black (who also co-wrote the screenplay) wink at how ham-handed some of the twists in the mystery are (Healy might happen to find a note with the exact address he needs, but that note will be written on a familiar pink cow-shaped piece of paper.)

Also part of the fun: that Crowe and Gosling are clearly having a blast. With his goatee and bear gut, Crowe bruises around like a weary enforcer from The Sopranos, while Gosling tumbles about like a crash-test dummy, tangling with a bathroom stall door, somersaulting down a hill, and doing a nice Lou Costello-style freakout when March stumbles on a moldering corpse. (At the press conference after the screening, Black praised Gosling’s newfound physical comedy abilities: “Ryan was willing to throw himself off stuff, onto other stuff.”) Crowe’s L.A. Confidential co-star Kim Basinger pops up as a government official who never quite comes into focus, but then neither do most of the other supporting players. This is definitely a two-man show: Luckily, it’s a partnership we want to see blossom.

(Photo: Warner Bros./Cannes Film Festival)

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