Los Angeles, California. 1977. Jackson Healy. The Heavy that takes out the pedos. Holland March, the P.I. that is more a drunk than a detective. Their paths cross. Bitch screams are emitted due to unimitigatin circumstances. Two cases become one, and you have a couple of flawed people trying to make good. They don’t always succeed, but their journey makes for a fun ride.
Private Investigator Holland March (played with exceptional comedic expressionings by Ryan Gosling), and Healy (played by Russell Crowe) as the accomplished thug tryin to do better. Pair them up in a missing persons case that involves porn stars, brunt thugs, the car industry and a daughter who still sees good in her loser dad as they try to make good on the case. Heartwarming. A real family film, if it weren’t for all the porn stuff, profanity, shootins and an occasional thumping by vehicle. But seriously, yeah, don’t watch this with kids. It’s rated R for a reason. Then there’s Kim Basinger as a “concerned” parent. It can get pretty ugly.
And, there’s Keith David.
Then there’s the rest of the film. Shane Black manages to take it up a notch from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with this, creating a great buddy flick with an little extra emotional heart to the story as it plays out. A bit Manipulative? Sure. Totally inappropriate situations for your kid? Absolutely. But it’s the details here that make it that much more of an absolutely (darkly) hilarious film from start to finish. Yes, there’s some detectivins goin on, sometimes even legitimate.
Added bonus is a great soundtrack that enhances all scenes that it comes into play, from the opening credits and throughout. Except for the KISS. Because KISS is just...the worst.
