The Nice Guys ticks all the boxes as our merrymaking duo provides continuous laughs throughout this outrageous story.

Jackson Healy (Crowe) and Holland March (Gosling) are the bully and the hoodwinking idiot, respectively. March hired to find Amelia (Margaret Qualley) and Healy hired to ensure she isn’t found. A hilarious first encounter precludes a partnership in an investigation that plumes out of control.

Ryan Gosling is must-see as a comedy lead, delivering perfectly timed wit (or dimwit) and self-serving reason for the entire film. Heck, March’s anti-ventriloquism take is the funniest moment in the movies this year. This I know. But I did not know Russell Crowe could complement “funny” so well. After all, this is General Maximus muckraking through the 1970s L.A. porn scene with a doofus sidekick. It is too good.

But these epic performances are marginally overshadowed by the brainy, confident and droll Holly March (Angourie Rice). As the 13 year-old daughter of Holland, she is especially intuitive and counteracts her bumbling screen-mates with logic and frowning disapproval.

We award an unprecedented 4.99 napkins out of 5 to The Nice Guys which vaults this film, butterfly collars and double knit fancies high into the Film Clas elite.