To close out the year, we're taking a look back at some of our favorite movies of 2016. Check out what's in theaters now in our Film section, and go here for movie times!
Within the first few minutes of Shane Black's comedy noir The Nice Guys, we witness two things. The first is Los Angeles' Hollywood sign: Ragged in disrepair, its letters teeter, slashed with graffiti wherever they haven't been set on fire. The second—via a house-smashing, hill-tumbling car crash—is the spectacular death of a porn actress named Misty Mountains.
Welcome to 1977 Los Angeles—where they've run out of gasoline, where the government is corrupt, and where sun-baked smog smears everything into a yellow haze. It's kind of a shithole.
Scraping by in this shithole are The Nice Guys' half-assed heroes: There's Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), a world-weary tough who loves Yoo-hoo and, for a modest fee, will happily beat the hell out of anyone giving you trouble. And there's Holland March (Ryan Gosling), a drunk single dad who calls himself a private eye but who mostly bilks doddering biddies out of their retirement funds.