Right around the time that Netflix changed the game by creating its own original movies, and then inspired other streamers to do the same, Shane Black released his last great action comedy The Nice Guys on the big screen. It was one of the writer-director’s best, as exciting as it was amusing, but the ecosystem had changed since his 90s heyday, and a wide audience didn’t materialise, the film one of the year’s more frustratingly underseen flops.
In the years since, the big, star-led action comedy has become streaming bread and butter, most weeks cursed by another limp, murkily shot attempt to recall the joys of Black’s greatest hits, films such as The Last Boy Scout, Lethal Weapon and The Long Kiss Goodnight. At the same time, as audiences yawned through chemistry-free, shoddily made romps like Ghosted, Back in Action and Role Play, The Nice Guys started to gain a re-appreciation, frequently mentioned online as one of the best films people might not have seen. It didn’t feel like a coincidence, every poorly choreographed action set piece and groan-worthy one-liner making Black’s effortless work seem that much more impressive, something he made look easy proving impossibly hard for those that followed.
