The Nice Guys: 10 Reasons It's The Most Overrated Film Of The Year
8. It's Just Too Similar To Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
For my money, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Shane Black's 2004 neo-noir is one of the best films of the Noughties. Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer are perfect as a thief and P.I. who team up to solve a purposely elusive meta-mystery; it's packed to the brim with Black's trademark dialogue cues, and seamlessly blends comedy and drama.
Sadly, The Nice Guys unashamedly reprises so many of the story beats and elements of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that it feels like a bizarre and underdeveloped rehash.
For starters, we have the buddy duo dynamic, which is perhaps the most forgivable reprisal on show here - buddy comedies are Black's thing, after all. But then there's the winding mystery, the search for a missing girl, the dynamic shared between the heroes (one's a semi-useless klutz, the other's a competent badass), and the fact that - at the end - the two characters join forces to open a detective agency. Yes, that's just how Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ended, too.
Whilst Kiss Kiss Bang Bang feels knowing, clever and - above all - wonderfully complete, The Nice Guys feels like a lesser writer's attempt to write a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang-esque film and failing to come up with anything new or interesting. Ultimately, it leaves you wanting to do one thing: revisit Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.