When asked to describe The Nice Guys (2016), Ryan Gosling said that it is a "Shane Black film." Gosling stars as Holland March, a struggling, dim-witted private detective with a penchant for screwing up cases and Russell Crowe, a tough enforcer. After the duo meet up, they begin to look into the disappearance of a young woman named Amelia. As they begin to investigate her disappearance, they realize that there is a bigger conspiracy afoot.
Although The Nice Guys was a box office bomb (against a budget of $50 million, it made only $62.8 million at the box office. Films typically need to make 2 times its budget to break even), it was a massive critical success. Adam Woodward of Little White Lies, for example, loved the film, saying that it is "A defiantly old-school action comedy that delivers big where it really counts." Kate Muir of Times (UK) also loved the film, saying that "The movie enjoys all the politically incorrect pleasures of the Seventies with a knowing chuckle." Chris McCoy of Memphis Flyer, however, didn't like the film, mentioning that "Grumpy Gosling and growling Crowe are fun, but they can't save The Nice Guys from feeling shoddy."
