Shane Black‘s The Nice Guys will have its big Cannes showing two days hence. After catching the latest trailer two or three days ago I said that while it seems a bit tawdry it might be half-appealing all the same. (Ryan Gosling‘s performance may be a keeper.) However last night a guy who saw it in New York called it (a) “bloated like Crowe” and (b) “funny enough to get a pass from lesser critics, but a real disappointment for the rest of us.”

Response: “This ‘lesser critic’ not only found The Nice Guys very funny but also extremely subversive in the manner of The Big Lebowski, although it’s obviously not as good a film. But it messes with the idea of the tough, all-knowing private eye who stands up to danger and does the right thing. It’s less Laurel and Hardy than Abbott and Costello Meet Boogie Nights. And I mean that in a good way. It’s a helluva lot more entertaining and cohesive takedown of that 70s detective film style than Inherent Vice.”