When Netflix released “Nice Girls” on August 21, I thought: “Here we go again, another ”Totally Spies“-meets-”Charlie’s Angel’s“ action flick.”
But, wow, did this one miss the mark!
Set against the stunning backdrop of the French Riviera, the movie was supposed to be a fun, female-led buddy cop caper with action and laughs. Instead, it feels more like a desperate attempt to inject life into a dying genre.
What’s the deal with “Nice Girls”?
Leo, a nice-but-gritty French cop (Alice Taglioni), takes on the investigation of her partner Ludo’s mysterious murder in Hamburg. Enter German detective Melanie (Stéfi Celma), the professional who was supposed to take over the case but turns out to be just as lost as the audience.
Together, the two unlikely partners try to crack the case, with the help of a hacker who’s more bumbling than brilliant.
From the get-go, the movie tries hard to get viewers invested in Leo’s emotional journey – after all, she has lost her partner and has to go rogue to find the killer. The characters are about as deep as a puddle.
And the plot? Confusing and exhausting. They had me chasing a climate change conspiracy but by the time they figured out who killed Ludo, it was too late to give a damn.
The buddy-cop dynamic is supposed to be at the heart of the film but the chemistry between Leo and Melanie is non-existent. The script beats viewers over the head with awkward “We’re besties, right?” moments, but no amount of forced camaraderie could convince me that the two like each other.
The humour? Forced. The action? Decent, but nothing to write home about.
And don’t even get me started on the villain. You know the moment when you realise the big bad is just meh? Yes, that’s the kind of disappointment “Nice Girls” delivers. The entire climax feels like someone mashed a mediocre James Bond plot with an action comedy but forgot to keep it fun and coherent.
But hey, at least the setting was pretty, right? The French Riviera shines in the movie. Unfortunately, the sun-drenched landscapes are more memorable than anything happening with the characters. And while the film is trying to tackle a bigger issue like climate change, it just ends up becoming a jumbled mess of plot points that don’t stick together.
If you’re hoping for a thrilling mystery or clever good-cop-bad-cop banter, you might want to skip this one. “Nice Girls” feels like a summer flop – an overstuffed, underwhelming movie that tries too hard to be something it’s not.
The action scenes and witty one-liners save it from being a disaster but it’s definitely not Netflix’s finest.
In short: Unless you’re in it for the majestic views, you might find yourself pressing pause and not coming back.