The Nice Guys Red Band Trailer

Red band trailer for The Nice Guys shows R-rated footage from the latest Shane Black movie.

A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.

The Nice Guys was initially set to be a TV series but was reworked as a movie.

This is the first movie directed by Shane Black not to star Robert Downey Jr.

The Nice Guys contains several nods to The Rockford Files; Ryan Gosling's PI character keeps his gun in a cookie jar, just as PI Jim Rockford did. Also, the Yellow Pages ad for Gosling's detective agency is almost a complete copy of the ad used for Jim Rockford's.

During the opening scene, a theater in the background is playing a porno movie, "Bang Bang Kiss Kiss." This is a play on the Shane Black film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

A guest at the porno party, who is dressed as Pinocchio, says "It's not my nose that grows." This is a real tagline from the porno version of Pinocchio (Yes, really, such a film exists).

The description of The Nice Guys doesn't really give much away, so we have to gain knowledge of the plot for this film from the trailer. Basically, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are both private investigators, one (Crowe) more ruthless than the other. Somehow they end up teaming up to locate the missing Amelia mentioned so often in the trailer, and the story evolves from there.

I am not a fan of either Crowe or Gosling, but this trailer was really enjoyable. The humor is dark, which instantly appeals to me, and there is plenty of action to keep us interested. I found the shot where Gosling and another are falling, and Gosling lands in the pool and the other on the concrete, particularly funny...but maybe that's just me and my sick sense of humor.

The only thing I felt uneasy about was the inclusion of a child in so many of the scenes, particularly given the nature of the movie. I don't know; maybe she's not in the movie all that much, but certainly she features heavily in the trailer.

Anyway, child aside, I liked the trailer. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the film will be all that great, as we've all learned several times to our (literal) cost! Over the course of a few minutes, the trailer is fun, easy to watch and full of action. Over the course of two hours, I think they'll struggle to maintain the momentum and the plot will end up being stretched too thin. All that said, fans of Black's work will most likely love it. On a personal note, I know I would struggle with Gosling and Crowe on my screen for that long. So I'll stick with the trailer, thanks!