The Nice Guys (Shane Black, 2016)

8/10
I wasn't expecting much but this was actually a pretty funny movie. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are both very good, the script has a lot of good gags (physical and verbal), and it really nails the late 1970's feel. At times the plot of the film feels overly scripted. Writer/director Shane Black seems to be going for something like a Coen Brothers take on Inherent Vice (without the weirdness of either the Coens or Pynchon) and doesn't quite get there, but it's a credible stab and at least manages to remain funny throughout.
As good as Gosling and Crowe are, Angourie Rice arguably steals the show as their 13-year old sidekick. It's nice to see a young female character given room to actually be funny, as opposed to the precocious, insufferably quippy types they're usually cast as in movies like this. It felt like the "buddy movie" genre was dead and buried with all of those awful buddy cop movies that were such a big trend in the early 2010's, so The Nice Guys is a welcome breath of fresh air in that field too.