THE FALL GUY – 2024
Directed by David Leitch
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Winston Duke, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Matuse Paz, Adam Dunn, Ben Knight, and Aaron Taylor Johnson
Genre: Romantic Action Comedy (Audio clip)
I don't know, maybe it was because of the smugness conveyed by the trailers for this movie or the fact that I didn't particularly enjoy Bullet Train which was director David Leitch's previous opus....but I found myself genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this. :)
On paper, it shouldn't really work as big budget star-driven action/rom-com hybrids along the lines of this are genuinely difficult to pull off! I mean for every Romancing the Stone or the more recent The Lost City which worked...there's a Six Days Seven Nights, I Love Trouble, Pink Cadillac, Conspiracy Theory, The Mexican, and Sahara which clearly did NOT work. :o
You can pair up the most seemingly appealing stars and throw them into a variety of wacky/dire situations....more likely than the not, what will result is an overlong gloppy mess. Since seeing The Lost City pull this trick off two years ago, I zeroed in on a few key rules for actually pulling this type of genre hybrid off.....
1) Pair your leads WISELY.
Avoid embarrassing age gaps and/or just pairing two stars who on paper seem utterly ridiculous....i.e. Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte (Yes that REALLY happened just under 30 years ago with I Love Trouble 🙄)....Sean Connery and Lorraine Braco in the trash-fire that was Medicine Man.
Here you have two beautiful, age appropriate specimens (both in their early '40's) who not only LOOK great together but have similar comedic chops....both actors generally default to dry bordering on acidic vibes and pull off droll VERY well! Just watch Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada or Gosling in The Big Short for prime examples of this. But they're not above pulling off going broadly sincere in just the right dosages at JUST the right times. ;) We saw this with Gosling's big "I'm Just Ken" number in Barbie and we see it when Blunt's put-upon film director Jody REALLY cuts loose for THE first time in this movie.....
2) Allow your protagonists to acknowledge the danger of their situation.
Having one or both of your SEEMINGLY mild-mannored protagonists suddenly showing a devil-may-care attitude as they deal with dangerous situations not only takes you out of the story but also out of their budding relationship. It works better when they're both somewhat scared because guess what? Actual relatable HUMANS can often bond through shared dangerous experiences....I know crazy! For an example of one movie that fell into this trap, see Knight & Day....where Cameron Diaz' characters suddenly had the action chops and fearlessness of Tom Cruise's secret agent in the third act.
Even though his character IS infact a seasoned stuntman who can take more than his share of physical abuse, Gosling endearingly plays very much into's Colt's vulnerability...not only from getting hurt on the job but of course reeling from getting over a whirlwind romance he had with Jody BEFORE the events of this movie. Yup it initially seems to be a strange choice to have the bulk of this pair's courtship take place off-screen well before the story kicks in but it ends up working quite well as both actors still have undeniable chemistry. They have their share of well-written awkward interactions which are both clever and kind of sweet.
Make no mistake though as Gosling really is the MAIN protagonist of this movie as he certainly gets more screentime. But from an acknowledgement of danger standpoint, THAT also works in this movie's favor as we are spared the potential pitfalls of having a stuntman and a NON-stuntman character getting in on the same action. Jody doesn't REALLY get in on the action until the film's eventual climax (which involves her actual job of directing the action) which makes more logical sense.
3) Utilize your supporting characters properly.
Winston Duke, Hannah Waddingham, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Teresa Palmer, and especially recent Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) EACH deliver the most bang for the buck with notable supporting roles portraying various colorful types whom you would encounter on the set of a major Hollywood production. Everyone's giving a bit of an exaggerated performance but they're all having fun and clearly know the kind of movie they're in. ;)
Waddington (Ted Lasso) is DEFINITELY chewing the most scenery as Gail, the bombastic producer of this large-scale space western being filmed known as "Metalstorm" and she's admittedly fun to watch. But it's actually Hsu's Alma (personal assistant to Tom Ryder, THE star of the production smugly played by Johnson) who gets in on what I believe is the film's BEST overall action sequence....but partially due to another scene which it is cross-cut with which I’ll et to in just a bit….
And the last one....
4) Keep it SIMPLE.
When you're juggling action, comedy and romance altogether, it can be highly beneficial to hang it all on a straightforward narrative....and unfortunately this is where this movie falters JUST a bit. 🫤 The overall story is just more convoluted than it needs to be...it becomes this overly elaborate conspiracy spanning several years involving all types of sabotage, deep fakes and just gobbledygook which just pads the runtime more than anything else. As far as I'm concerned, this could have been JUST as good simply focusing on this big movie production...with all of the action and relationships that comes with that. You just don't need a mystery plot thrown in there too to further complicate matters....
Now it doesn't ruin the movie by any stretch - both Gosling and Blunt are just SO charming and engaging to watch, with most of the comedy and romance landing pretty well!
Best Needle drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film) &
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
Now about this special sequence which I have now referred to TWICE involving Gosling, Blunt, AND Tsu….well it occurs about halfway through as both Colt and Alma try to fend off a bunch of bad guys atop and inside of a garbage truck speeding through the streets of Sydney! (Australia of course)
The stunts are adeptly performed, it's all shot with great energy, AND what makes this section of the film truly inspired is just how well it is cut together alongside a rambunctious karaoke session at a nearby bar where Colt is supposed to be meeting Jody. He's of course occupied with fighting bad guys on a fast-moving vehicle but this gives us the opportunity to also watch Jody drunkenly (I think) serenading Colt in his absence with a passionate rendition of "Against All Odds" from Phil Collins. :) The song was itself from a soundtrack for a movie of the same name in 1984….a movie which crazily I haven’t yet seen starring Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward. The song is an absurdly catchy power ballad and it was HUGE….I think a #1 Billboard single for like seven weeks, it was all over MTV, you couldn’t avoid it! And it’s ideal for karaoke with one of those unmistakably passionate choruses which just builds and builds louder as the song progresses…..and yes Blunt is giving it her ALL, just making her character all the more endearing. (Audio clip)
Leitch and editor Elisabet Ronnaldsdottir (John Wick) not only do a masterful job of cutting between the singing and the action but also between Blunt's rendition AND the original Collins single which we hear playing whenever we're on the street. It's likely THE most inspired demonstration of a pop music needle-drop coordinated with action I have seen on a scale like this since Baby Driver. (Which is high praise!) (Audio clip)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
As of the time of this recording, this film had just opened last weekend to disappointing numbers at the box office….it wasn’t a terrible opening, just lower than the tracking had indicated and underwhelming relative to the film’s cost. And because its studio Universal decided to open tis film during the first weekend of May which is considered an unofficial kick-off for the summer movie season, there has now been a TON of handwringing on-line as to wat this MEANS for the overall health of the movie business. Even though I’m more here to review these movies from a quality standpoint, I thought it I would offer my two cents….
I don’t pretend to be an expert box office prognosticator but as some one who has been following the box office as just a fun side hobby since the late ‘80’s, it is MY opinion tat for a film like this to underperform opening weekend…..doesn’t really mean that much. Honestly and here’s why just looking back over the past several decades: big budget star-driven romantic genre hybrids RARELY do well or at the very least open well. It has been that way since the ‘80’s as far as I can recall. Seriously ALL of those films I mentioned previously with the exception of The Lost City and Romancing the Stone….yes EVEN the ones starring mega-stars like Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts at their peaks…..they all either unperformed and/or actually lost money, no joke!
Now as to why, it’s hard to say….and like I said previously, Universal didn’t do themselves any favors wit wat I perceived to be pretty cloying weak trailers for tis movie. But at the end of the day….I’m still glad they tried….and I hope they try again….because this was fun.
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
With this whole movie being Leitch's (himself a former stuntman) love letter to stunt professionals, you feel that on-screen too with every car flip and/or performer-on-fire being lovingly film in camera. :) And having just mentioned Baby Driver – with that film’s impressive series of car-based stunts – the stunt coordinator for that movie was a longtime collaborator of Leitch’s, Chris O’hara who ALSO happened to be the stunt coordinator for this movie as well. I have little doubt that to successfully pull this movie off, it required a genuine team effort – this movie certainly wasn’t cheap as it cost around $130 million but you definitely can see all of the hard pain-staking preparation behind each stunt right up there on the screen.
Also instrumental to that team effort were the two stars who each bring the right mixture of heart and humor to their characters. So yeah I’m going to be spreading the wealth here a bit – just makes sense considering just HOW tricky it is to pull off genre hybrids like this, David Leitch, Chris O’Hara, Ryan Gosling AND Emily Blunt are your quartet of MVP’s! (Audio clip)
Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Bottom line is that even though it likely runs about 15 to 20 minutes too long, The Fall Guy is still just chock full of so many fun elements, it's a joyous time at the movies!
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And that ends another UNKNOWN STUNTMAN review!
