Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe get animated in "The Nice Guys" short

- Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe got animated in "The Nice Guys" short. The one-minute video that debuted on Warner Bros. YouTube page on Thursday, May 19, introduces the characters played by the actors in the action comedy, AceShowbiz reports.

In a retro style, the narrator describes Crowe's Jackson Healy as "one-man wrecking machine with a heart of gold." Meanwhile, Gosling's Holland March is a "drunken, sunken" father of one and "friends to none with blood as boozy as a railroad hobo." The clip reveals how differently Healy and March react when there's a crime happening.

Set in smoggy 1970s Los Angeles, the feature film follows Healy (muscle-for-hire, recovering alcoholic) and March (private eye, practicing alcoholic), who are brought together by the suicide of a fading porn star. However, the dead girl's aunt is convinced she saw her niece alive and well after the highly publicized incident. March needs money, takes the case, and within days, it's blossomed into a far-reaching murder conspiracy, bizarrely rooted in smog and the U.S. auto industry.

Shane Black directs and writes the film, which is set to arrive in the U.S. on Friday, May 20.