The Nice Guys (2016)
From Living for the Cinema by Geoff Gershon
May 7, 2026 · 17 min · Season 5 · Episode 86
About this episode
The episode reviews the buddy cop action comedy 'The Nice Guys' directed by Shane Black, exploring its plot and character dynamics.
Ten years ago, legendary writer/director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3) put out his latest original vision of yet another buddy cop action comedy, this time taking place in 1970's Los Angeles. The pairing was inspired: a drunken private detective (Ryan Gosling) teams up with a tough guy enforcer (Russell Crowe) to solve both a missing person mystery and an unsolved murder. And the plot just gets increasingly convoluted from there i...
People in this episode
Host: Geoff Gershon
Topics covered
- buddy cop
- action comedy
- 1970s
- mystery
- film review
Keywords
- The Nice Guys
- Shane Black
- Ryan Gosling
- Russell Crowe
- buddy cop
- action comedy
- 1970s Los Angeles
- film review
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: THE NICE GUYS, Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3
Places: Los Angeles
More episodes of Living for the Cinema
- MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991) · June 13, 2026 · 18 min
- Masters of the Universe (2026) · June 9, 2026 · 18 min
- The Omen (1976) · June 6, 2026 · 19 min
- Backrooms (2026) · June 2, 2026 · 16 min
- The Cable Guy (1996) · May 29, 2026 · 20 min
- I Love Boosters (2026) · May 27, 2026 · 16 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Living for the Cinema podcast page.