The Fall Guy
Written by Drew Pearce and based on the television series created by Glen A. Larson
Directed by David Leitch
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-John, Hannah Waddingham and Winston Duke
Runtime: 2 hours and 6 minutes
MPAA Rating PG-13 for drug content, action and violence, some strong language
Now playing in theaters

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport & Editor in Chief

“You’re a stunt man… no one knows if you’re here or not.”

While viewing David Leitch’s, The Fall Guy I had a recollection of Tommy Boy (1995).

In Tommy Boy, Richard (David Spade) remarks that his late boss, Big Tom (Brian Dennehy) could sell a ketchup popscicle to a woman in white gloves. He shares this specific quip with Big Tom’s son, Tommy (Chris Farley) to describe his departed dad’s exemplary skill of selling anything to anyone. Due to the ridiculousness of the statement, it has continued to float around in my noggin since I first watched the film as an eleven year old. As outlandish as Richard’s remark is, there are some people that, no matter the situation, manage to make the sale. Ryan Gosling has this power. With every smirk, a twinkle sound is heard and a heart is melted.

The Fall Guy, centers around Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), a once renowned stunt performer that suffers a work related injury taking him out of commission. After a year long hiatus he is coerced to come back to the fold by an obstinate producer, Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham). Gail lures Colt back to set for a project that is being helmed by his ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). Gail claims that it is on the verge of a crisis and Jody specifically asked for Colt’s assistance. This is all it takes for Colt to hop on a plane to Sydney, Australia. Despite their bumpy break-up, Colt is hoping to rekindle the flame with Jody while simultaneously saving her directorial debut from disaster.

The more than two hour runtime is filled with action packed sequences that struggle to bring the story together cohesively. There are a lot of plot lines that needed to be threaded together; there’s a love story, a movie on the brink of disaster after their star goes missing, which leads to a somewhat bumbling detective moment for Gosling, and then a murder is thrown into the mix. There are several scenes that manage to be quite thrilling, especially on a large screen, but they do not provide any context to really move the story forward. This inevitably causes the picture to be bogged down with on-screen explanation through dialogue or voice over narration from Colt to make up for the lack of things that were not shown.

Filmmaker David Leitch, a former stunt performer, made a splash on the screen with his directorial debut, Atomic Blonde (2017). It’s a flick that I quite enjoyed from a storytelling and action perspective. It was awesome to not only see Charlize Theron kick ass, but to do so in such a fashionable way (seriously, would like to know what the budget was for all the coats she wore in that film). With other projects Leitch has made, such as Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw, his love of stunt performing always shines through. With The Fall Guy, it it is taken even further by providing a somewhat behind the scenes look of the often unknown cast member. The Fall Guy successfully manages to shine light on a profession that carries little acknowledgement. This point is even made within the film, when Gail finds it fitting to send Colt on a wild goose chase looking for the star of the film they are making as they have gone missing. Gail implies that no one will even notice Colt is gone, implying the sentiment that the stunt person is often forgotten. Heck, they are even faceless. While filming, if for some reason their mug were to make an appearance it is replaced with the actor’s face through motion capture.

The movie within a movie aspect is always fun. The lack of a third act is a common discussion between Colt and Jody (at one point was done in a split screen, which I was particularly fond of). However, I found it quite humorous that both the fake film and the real one seemed to suffer from third act issues. As much as I blame the script writing for this problem, I must also point a finger to the ineffective pacing which gave the picture a clunky feel. Fortunately, the dynamic duo of Gosling and Blunt kept me from completely zoning out. Gosling could literally just stand in a movie, do absolutely nothing, and somehow end up being the most charismatic person on screen. His hypnotic face, abundance of charm, and ability to deliver a zinger make this film a somewhat entertaining watch. Simply put: the guy does not phone it in. I think the same could be said for Blunt. Her witty presence paired quite well with Gosling’s magnetism. Any time they shared the screen was magic. Honestly, there is not really a dud within the ensemble cast. Winston Duke and Gosling have a team-up which left me wishing for more installments of Nice Guys.

And while I am throwing some pie in the sky dreams out there, I also want to see Gosling and Blunt team again, but next time in a fast talking screwball comedy. Because, even in a lackluster production, these two are a reminder that the idea of a Hollywood star is not dead.