Each chapter has their zany swerve at that magic 50-minute mark that throws viewers for a reflective loop while also grinding any earned momentum to a halt. The twists are so obscure, even by Lanthimos’ standards, that any salted suspension of disbelief strains credulity worth any investment in by the time the hammer falls for a mid-movie roll of credits and a hard transition. That kind of abruptness happens three times, sometimes right when a tangential storyline was hitting a grove, making the shifts to entire new settings and characters jarring and, worse, defeating.
Read More"The Nice Guys" unleashes an arsenal of off-beat traits and playful banter available to every character and situation large and small. Calling it a loose cannon is both a criticism and a complement. Though it can veer off of the rails to some scatterbrained wheel-spinning that pushes limits of tolerance and believability, the screenplay from Black and first-timer Anthony Bagarozzi delivers its muckraking mystery with a canny enough level of perpetual action and a clever humor.
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