What is the plot? In 1977, private detective Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is hired find Amelia Kutner (Margaret Qualley), who has gone missing. Amelia, not wanting to be found, hires the criminal enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) to convince Holland to abandon the case. However after being attacked by thugs (Keith David and Beau Knapp) asking for information on Amelia, Jackson decides to team up Holland to find Amelia before the thugs can.
What's good about the movie? The humor was excellent. I found myself laughing uncontrollably at several parts particularly when they were parodying / subverting action movie cliches. The characters played off each other very well. The dialogue between Holland and Jackson was the highlight of the film. The film manages to faithfully recreate the seventies particularly in the aesthetics and music. The mystery of the movie was well thought out and had me guessing. Although it dragged a bit before the climax, the film has good pacing. The film felt like it went by pretty quick without leaving me confused.
What's bad about the movie? The villains were weak. The secret main villain had most of their characterization through a motive rant at the end of the movie. Holland felt a bit too useless at certain parts of the film. Of note was when he got drunk when he was supposed to be looking for clues. There were certain moments where the characters were acting like idiots, but thankfully they were few and far between.
This was a great movie. It is an awesome throwback to old seventies films while remaining good by today's standards. While it is flawed, those problems weren't able to ruin this awesome experience. I give it a 8 out of 10.
