The Fall Guy (2024 | USA | 126 minutes | David Leitch)
There are many reasons to be skeptical of the current Nineties Revival, but one undeniably good element is that is Hollywood’s hottest people are finally get to have fun being hot in movies again. Joining the likes of Anyone But You, Challengers, and Hit Man is David Leitch’s unlikely reimagining of the 1980s action-adventure procedural The Fall Guy. Dispensing with the formalities of a strict reboot the stuntman-turned-director instead lets Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt – the Oscar-nominated supporting cast from Barbenheimer– cook in a towering inferno of undeniable charisma.
The story is hardly the point, but it makes for a fun set-up packed with moviemaking in-jokes and Hollywood references. At the core are two people in the less glamorous trenches of the entertainment industrial complex: Blunt plays Jody, a second unit camera operator; Gosling is Colt Seavers, the stunt double for one of the world’s biggest action stars, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor Johnson). Over the years, they’ve nurtured a semi-secret fling while making blockbusters alongside each other. When one big stunt – the titular fall – goes back-breakingly wrong, their dreams of spicy margaritas and bad decisions get sidelined. He disappears into rehab, retirement, and an unlisted phone number. A year and a half later, he’s parking cars and she’s channeled her hurt feelings into getting the reigns of directing a mega-budget sci-fi action-romance in Australia called METAL⚡️TORM that’s on the verge of spiraling out of control.
Just when he thought he was out of the game … a [Diet] Coked-out mega-producer (a daffy Hannah Waddingham in a wig and oversized glasses) pulls him back in with a pack of fast-talking promises. He arrives on set desperately needing an always-out-of-reach coffee (relatable) and with some unpleasant surprises in store. Not only does he have to do a dangerous beachfront car crash on less than ideal sand conditions, Jody’s less than thrilled at their reunion. Plus, aside from all the intense stuntwork, he’s really been brought to Oz to secretly track down his old double Tom, whose disappearance from the set threatens to sink the whole production. Can these two lovers set aside their rocky past to work together and possibly rekindle their flame? How many ways can Gosling flip a truck or get thrown into a wall? Why would anyone call an out-of-work stuntman to do a bounty hunter’s work? Time, and a series of ever more spectacular capers will tell.
The stunt community is clearly near and dear to Ryan Gosling’s heart. He’s had one since he was a kid actor in Hercules, presented a montage about their value to the film community at this year’s Oscars, and has played one in two previous films (Drive and The Place Beyond the Pines). So it’s no surprise that he brings a consummate stuntman’s “thumbs up” mentality and an up-for-anything Kenergy to the role. From hilarious costumes to outlandish action sequences, he rides a tidal wave of charm to throw himself wholeheartedly into everything the film asks of him.
Be it convincingly emoting to a Taylor Swift montage playing out in his head or dispatching thugs in the club while wearing a highlighter yellow suit and hallucinating a unicorn, Gosling is game for everything. He sells these comedic sequences while also getting caught up in an escalating series of action setpieces that range from on set fight choreography to surfing behind a speeding garbage truck on a sparking metal platform that’s intercut with a Phil Collins karaoke performance. He’s equally capable of conveying chemistry with Emily Blunt as acting alongside a an adorably violent French rottweiler or trading quips with Winston Duke in movie references. It’s relentlessly – but never exhaustingly – a fun time.
The plot is admittedly thin and becomes a bit convoluted … but who cares? This is an action comedy romance, and high stakes or credible danger is hardly the point. It succeeds primarily on the comedy aspect, which can infuses the scope and scale of the stunts and live story. It’s a series of ever-entertaining episodes that go bigger and harder with each passing scene. Working with David Pearce’s screenplay, Leitch brings a self-referential tone to the material, be it with voice overs, winks to real-life celebrities, the tropes of an unfinished third act, or a extended sequence in which characters discuss the merits of split screen filmmaking while themselves in a split screen (in which one alluringly dons an alien claw glove while musing about alienation). Although the action is rapid fire, the film also has the patience to wait to pay off all the jokes until the audience has almostforgotten the set-up. It’s the kind of movie where the funniest joke is a repeated sound cue and you’re not even mad about it.
Ultimately, the film is a love letter to the stunt community and an argument for their recognition. Leitch’s brings his history with stunt choreography to bring crisp legibility to the action sequences, which are thrilling, hilarious, inventive, and plentiful. References to film history, the toils of moviemaking, and gentle jabs at celebrity consistently zing under the surface for anyone who’s paying attention. The stunts go bigger and harder as the film races to the conclusion, spotlighting the armies of “real” people on set as heroes of steadfast dedication, competence, and daring. Everyone involved was seemingly having a great time and it shows. No one’s made glistening space cowboy costumes or alien claws look better. Although it’s not quite summer yet, this light romp feels like a harbinger of carefree days, gold desert sunglasses, and questionable haircut experiments with blond highlights.
PS. The credits sequence draws features enough behind the scenes stunt work; so I barely need to tell you to watch all the way through for a sweet post-credits scene.
The Fall Guy arrives in theaters on May 3 / is available on STREAMING SERVICE / AT URL
Images courtesy Universal Pictures