Directed by: David Leitch
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Written by Taylor Baker
48/100
Few films have faltered when relying on Ryan Gosling’s charm or Emily Blunt’s wit, but “The Fall Guy” pushes these seeming cinematic rules about as far as they can be pushed. Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a stuntman with a beautiful life at his fingertips until he suffers an accident on set and loses both his stunt career and his relationship with Jody. Blunt plays Jody Moreno, a camera operator and aspiring director content with her life until her boyfriend Colt shuts her out.
After falling multiple stories on a movie set and breaking his back Colt does a stint as an overqualified valet in L.A. until gets a call from a producer asking him to come to Australia to save Jody’s movie and help her find global superstar Tom Ryder. Without him, Jody’s dream of directing her first film will fall apart.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, and Winston Duke round out the cast. Aaron’s Tom Ryder is the lead actor that movie conglomerates build their entire franchise plans around, Hannah’s Gail is his producer and confidant, and Winston’s Dan runs the stunt team for the big science fiction movie Jody is directing in Australia.
“The Fall Guy” as you might expect is structured around multiple stunt sequences. When they’re properly framed up and seem personal to the movie they’re intriguing, in other moments like an extended tow truck fight sequence or a finale that aspires to be far more meta than the film can support, it wavers. The utilization of Australia as the location is cute at times but does little to inform the narrative aside from a generalized “Mad Max” comparison to the film that Jody directs.
Underneath the superficiality of the script lurks a question, is Blunt’s Jody or someone who thinks a project like what Jody is making really who we want making big-budget films? Is Leitch? “The Fall Guy” has a few stunt sequences that are fun and a wonderful stunt dog performance in the character of Jean Claude, but it fails to capitalize on any of its parts. The stunt bloopers at the end of the film are more charming and enjoyable than the previous two hours.
“The Fall Guy” Trailer
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