The Nice Guys

Ardai (Fifty-to-One) does a creditable job of transforming the screenplay of the movie starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling into straight prose in this offbeat crime caper set in the 1970s. Down-and-out L.A. PI Holland March receives a real head-scratcher of a mystery from an elderly client, Lily Glenn. The client's niece, a notorious porn actress known as Misty Mountains, perished in a car accident in Coldwater Canyon a few days earlier, but Mrs. Glenn claims to have seen her since, in a speeding car. When March follows up a lead concerning Amelia Kuttner, the owner of the car that Mrs. Glenn saw, he crosses paths with tough guy Jackson Healy, who likes to solve problems with his fists. March and Healy join forces after some men searching for Amelia, who's gone missing, attack Healy. The stakes rise after the pair stumble on a corpse and learn that Misty's death may have wider implications. Carl Hiaasen fans will enjoy the zany humor. (May)