The Fall Guy, 2024.
Directed by David Leitch.
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke, Stephanie Hsu, Teresa Palmer, David Collins, Zara Michales, Daniel Nelson, Matuse Paz, Charlotte Wood, Adam Dunn, Jack Doherty, Ben Knight, Matuse, Tahlia Crinis, Jason Momoa, Lee Majors, and Heather Thomas.
SYNOPSIS:
A down-and-out stuntman must find the missing star of his ex-girlfriend’s blockbuster film.
Ostensibly a love letter to stunt doubles, technically, director David Leitch’s The Fall Guy oftentimes gets lost on that path to function as a vehicle to appreciate Ryan Gosling’s acting range and charm. Playing stunt double Colt Seavers, the role is an amalgamation of previous Ryan Gosling characters ranging from Drive to The Nice Guys to his rom-com days and others, as the meta-textual narrative rather clumsily embraces everything from cheesy romance to predictable mystery to some exciting action beats that admirably don’t shy away from showing the stunt doubles themselves.
With so much tossed into a blender, it’s not necessarily surprising that The Fall Guy is unwieldy. Far more frustrating is that there isn’t much momentum to the greater story that these moving parts are pushing forward. This is unashamedly a love story between Ryan Gosling’s Colt, a former stunt double following a nasty accident that left him with a broken back and heaps of self-pity, causing him to withdraw and disappear from his camera-operating aspiring director love interest Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), who naturally became cynical from such abandonment and one year later is directing a space opera Western centered on a romance between a cowboy and an alien that is set to have a bummer ending despite studio pressure to finish on a more optimistic note. Through circumstances I won’t reveal, Colt has been brought aboard by producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) to replace another stunt double.
That push for a happy ending goes hand-in-hand with the shattered romance between Colt and Jody, awkwardly coming across as if Hollywood is stressing that it doesn’t have enough happy endings in its tentpole features. Perhaps that is overthinking the layers and layers of storytelling going on here because all that matters is The Fall Guy struggles at simply making us feel the attraction and wanting these two to end up together.
One would think that considering the filmmakers (a script from Drew Pearce loosely adapting the television series by Glen A. Larson) have elected to go the unabashedly sentimental route, there might be some emotional manipulation that works. However, outside of repeatedly playing Kiss’s I Was Made for Loving You over at least half of the action sequences, there isn’t much done to generate that spark beyond relying on two strong actors to elevate corny jokes through their natural likability.
Even the film-within-a-film being directed by Jody seems over-the-top cheesy, which one could argue is the point to maintain a tonal consistency across the overarching narrative, but it’s referred to as a prestige spectacle. Nevertheless, it doesn’t make any case for wanting her to end up with Colt whenever they have brainstorming sessions that quickly boil down to talking about themselves through the art being made. Art is also a term used loosely since the generic sci-fi shenanigans we see seem to be something even Zack Snyder would be embarrassed to stamp his name on.
It’s all frustrating since when The Fall Guy is focused on action, which sometimes consists of amusingly brutal battles involving prop weapons or dangerous vehicle chases (complete with sparks flying, shattered glass, and some electrifying energy that practical effects provide), it’s often fun. David Leitch has always had a keen eye for how to choreograph and stage action, but this film elevates that game by adding some striking photography alongside cinematographer Jonathan Sela, bringing out bright colors sometimes in pitch-black darkness. There is a rather impressive, lengthy club brawl that makes the most of Colt’s drugged state of mind and goofy neon green wardrobe.
The issue is the “why” of what’s happening. Something has the actual actor (Aaron Taylor-Johnson giving us an idea of what Ryan Gosling would be like if he were a self-centered egomaniac) Tom Ryder scared to rejoin the set. As for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, his performance never quite reaches the irritating arrogance it feels like the character is supposed to have, mostly leaving one to wonder why the filmmakers didn’t roll the dice on Logan Paul for the role. Now there is someone easy to detest who could probably play a smug jackass in his sleep, especially one riffing on Ryan Gosling.
If Tom doesn’t rejoin, the studio will shut Jody’s epic directorial debut down. This pushes Colt into hero mode, sleuthing around when not shooting stunts, adding mystery elements that aren’t so much of a mystery. It’s difficult to imagine many people being surprised by the twists here, and even the filmmakers seem not to know what to do with one good idea they have pointing out the slippery slope of deep fake technology.
Some humor lands and there is infectious energy between Colt and Winston Duke’s stunt coordinator, Dan Tucker. More importantly, The Fall Guy does get by on more than enough solid action, at least until it goes on for roughly 30 minutes too long, with one final sequence that is flashy and entertaining but is bogged down by setup because, once again, the romance here falls flat. So does the mystery, and even the admirable attempt at sending up stunt doubles slips into feeling like an afterthought until the rousing finale. The Fall Guy falls apart, and Ryan Gosling barely holds it together.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
