The Fall Guy: Since when did summer movies become fun again?

Rob Ryan

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ryan Gosling is one of those rare movie stars that can blend serious and comedic seamlessly without ever being snarky or in your face in a way that takes you out of the experience. This is a crucial element that is lacking in many big Hollywood blockbusters, Namely the MCU that undercut the seriousness of each moment by including a quip or a joke in between every dramatic set piece, this was also an element common place in director David Leitch's previous effort "Bullet Train" Thanks to the presence of Brad Pitt, who's smug attitude dragged the otherwise pulpy and entertaining film down. In The Fall Guy we are graced with a leading man who not only knows how to play serious in otherwise campy material, but is accompanied by a script that will allow him to just that.

Gosling is Colt Seavers, A Hollywood Stunt man for legendary movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor Johnson) lead of an epic movie franchise with him as a space cowboy battling a intergerlatic race of super beings. The relationship between Colt and Ryder is far from reciprocal due to the latter's ego so high in the solar system and his overall disrespectful attitude, but Colt doesn't mind as he gets to spend time with his crush, Camera operator Jody Monero (Emily Blunt) who's working her way to become a full time director. All seems well until a stunt goes horribly wrong, resulting in Colt being out of the job for 18 months, and the relationship between him and Jody falling apart in the process.

One day, Colt receives a call from the producer of the movie, Gail (Hannah Waddingham) requesting him to come to Australia to preform a few more stunts for the latest instalment of said movie franchise. What's the catch? It turns out that Jody has been promoted to director and requested him specifically. But little does he know that Gail has ulterior motives for inviting him as Tom Ryder has gone missing and she wants Colt to find out what has happened. What follows is a death defying adventure involving mushrooms that make you hallucinate to unicorns, crazy stunts, all with a rom com happening in the middle between Colt and Jody.

There's many way's that The Fall Guy could have gone wrong, it's combination of comedic and serious action flick could have made the film feel very uneven especially considering that every action scene includes some sort of cutaway, a quip or a snide remark. But The Fall Guy works not only thanks to the timing in it's editing and presentation of jokes being just right, but the way in which the cast take the material seriously without giving much of a hint that they are making fun of the script. This is especially true in the chemistry between Gosling and Emily Blunt. It would be easy to take the conversations between the two and roll your eyes due to it being so obviously conventional from a narrative standpoint, but Gosling and Blunt play it straight the entire time, every emotion feels genuine, which makes every interaction between them more funny and intern more engaging.

One highlight is when Jody makes Colt perform a stunt over and over involving him being set on fire and being thrown against a wall by a harness. All the while Jody is not so subtly trying to explain the parallels to the movie they are shooting to how their relationship collapsed. It's a ridiculous moment that in the real world doesn't stand to basic scrutiny but the performances make it work as Blunt is so obviously angry and Colt accepting his fate while he get's more pain inflicted upon him that he feel he deserves.

This is carried through in the action scenes as Colt is very aware the dangers that face him when he has to rescue Ryder's dog handler (Stephanie Hsu) from some very shady characters, or another scene when inspecting Ryder's apartment, he is attacked by Ryder's co-star (Teresa Palmer) with a machete. A dumber script would have probably made fun of one of the bad guy's breath whilst hanging for dear life on a skip, or a line about how the costar with the machete should take a chill pill, but Colt Severs is a good sport, like performing every life threatening stunt for that perfect shot, he takes the hits and blows, and risks getting mangled to death on the chin despite being well aware in some way of how ridiculous his situation really is.

The Fall Guy also spends quite a bit of time giving a somewhat superficial but none the less entertaining and satirical insight into modern blockbuster filmmaking, it then takes a hilarious twist where the makers of the movie end up getting involved in the final action set pieces by using the harnesses and rigs and other logistical methods of getting the perfect shot against the bad guys. More of that could have been explored for greater comedic potential but regardless is still a thankful element of the film.

Above all else, The Fall Guy is just fun, thanks to believable romantic chemistry, strong supporting players (especially Winston Duke as the movie's stunt coordinator who always has a famous movie quote ready for Colt to guess on the spot), and infectious and charming tone carried throughout the entire 2 hour runtime which never drags once. It should be said that the film is also an adaptation of a TV series that I have not seen so I cannot speak for it being a faithful adaptation but for as it is The Fall Guy is solid blockbuster entertainment that should have really been released a month or two later as opposed to it being released in the middle of spring as it would certainly be a big breath of fresh air compared to the summer line up of regurgitated slop.

Good soundtrack too.

The Fall Guy is out in UK Cinemas now.