The cult of ‘The Nice Guys’ keeps growing, 10 years later

When “The Nice Guys” hit theaters a decade ago, it faced an uphill battle against superhero blockbusters and animated features. Sandwiched between “Captain America: Civil War” and “X-Men: Apocalypse” and directly competing with “Angry Birds,” the comedy noir starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe struggled at the box office. “They’re just so angry,” Gosling once lamented about the cartoon birds that “destroyed” his film’s opening weekend.

Fast forward ten years, and “The Nice Guys” has transformed from commercial disappointment to beloved cult classic. Directed and co-written by Shane Black, the 1970s-set detective caper has found new life in the streaming era, regularly ranking among Netflix’s most-viewed titles whenever it appears on the platform.

“There’s a lot of interest in ‘The Nice Guys’ today that wasn’t there when it opened. And the box office will attest to that,” Black noted in a recent interview. “But people find these things. I think there’s kind of a joy of finding a movie on streaming or rental and then suddenly kind of realizing: How did I miss this? And ‘The Nice Guys’ was easy to miss.”

The film’s resurgence parallels a broader trend in Hollywood. As more viewers discover Gosling’s comedic talents through hits like “Barbie” and “Project Hail Mary,” they inevitably circle back to his performance in “The Nice Guys,” where his gift for physical comedy first truly shined on the big screen.

Black, who originated the “Lethal Weapon” franchise, has made peace with the film’s initial commercial underperformance. “There’s something to being the king of the midnight movie,” he says. “It’s not the most lucrative thing in the world.” He similarly experienced this trajectory with 2005’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” which helped revitalize Robert Downey Jr.’s career but was initially overlooked at the box office.

The film’s release coincided with a significant shift in Hollywood’s comedy landscape. Earlier in the 2000s, comedies were box office staples, with films from Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, and Melissa McCarthy defining the era. Hits like “The Hangover,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and “Bridesmaids” regularly drew audiences to theaters.

But as franchise filmmaking grew dominant and international markets became increasingly important to studios’ bottom lines, comedy—a genre that often doesn’t translate well globally—began falling out of favor. With its $50 million budget, “The Nice Guys” earned approximately $71 million worldwide, reflecting this changing reality. Meanwhile, horror films began filling the void that comedies once occupied in the theatrical marketplace.

Recent developments suggest the pendulum may be swinging back, with “Project Hail Mary” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2” finding success at multiplexes. However, for most of the past decade, comedies largely migrated to streaming platforms, with Netflix’s early deal with Adam Sandler exemplifying this trend.

Black and co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi drew inspiration for “The Nice Guys” from detective fiction by authors like William Campbell Gault and Brett Halliday. “I thought: There’s so much joy here,” Black explains. “There’s so much fun in plot and twists and capers. You light a fuse and these guys go on this wild caper, and in the end, it’s just these two guys that are important.”

The film follows Gosling’s Holland March, a private detective who can’t smell, reluctantly partnering with Crowe’s Jackson Healy, an enforcer, on a missing person case. Set against the backdrop of 1970s Los Angeles and the adult film industry, the movie features a stellar supporting cast including Kim Basinger, Keith David, Margaret Qualley in one of her first significant roles, and Angourie Rice as March’s precocious daughter.

Neither lead was particularly known for comedy at the time—Crowe was coming off the biblical epic “Noah”—but Black had faith in their chemistry. “Ryan is just a good actor,” Black notes. “He’s funny in everything he does. But he didn’t do a lot of outright comedies.”

Black’s approach to comedy centers on grounded characters in the tradition of buddy classics like “Midnight Run.” This approach contrasts with the high-concept comedies that dominated the few studio laughers produced during the 2010s. The film gave Gosling a platform to showcase his gift for physical comedy, with scenes—like one involving a gun, cigarette, and toilet stall—that Black compares to the work of Buster Keaton.

Despite the film’s growing cult status, a sequel remains unlikely. “It’s a tough sell to take a movie that bombed and make a sequel,” Black explains, noting the financial realities of producing a follow-up to a commercial disappointment with two stars who have only grown more expensive.

Yet Black remains open to the possibility: “This was designed for that. There’s a whole bunch of mystery capers you could throw at these guys. You could make a grounded, potentially very interesting, touching movie set not in the ’70s but perhaps in the ’80s.”

At the London premiere in 2016, Gosling jokingly compared the event to the premieres of cinema classics: “I wasn’t at the premiere of ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Apocalypse Now,’ but I got a feeling it felt pretty much the same as it does today. You’re looking down the barrel of cinematic history.” A decade later, his quip carries more truth than anyone might have expected.