A love letter to those who die for a living collides head first with an insane romantic comedy, in The Fall Guy. However, it does not retain the premise of its primetime source material which is centered on bounty hunting but still has the protagonist Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) who is a stuntman by profession and finds himself being dragged into solving some mysterious issues. At times awkwardly connected, The Fall Guy has stylistic brilliance as well as star power outpouring from it. For an action-comedy that takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the film industry, it leaves something to be desired; however, its charisma and chemistry are sufficient.
Though he has had side-splitting roles before such as in The Nice Guys, The Big Short, or Crazy Stupid Love among others including Barbie recently, Ryan Gosling may have just produced his best work as far as comedies are concerned through The Fall Guy. However, a dry voiceover comes from him when he starts explaining about Colt’s perfect affair with Jody Moreno who is a camera operator – they keep it secret because they work together- and how he also risked his life while saving obnoxious people like Tom Ryder who happened to be playboys too. Nevertheless, once Colt gets involved in an accident on set that renders him incapable of ever performing again even though since then Colt considers himself a complete failure and decides not to communicate with anyone anymore even Jodie Moreno.
About eighteen months after this time off work he is thrown back into the game by Gail (Hannah Waddingham), Ryder’s producing partner who convinces him to fly down to Sydney for Jody’s directorial debut Metalstorm; the apocalyptic sci-fi opera where she will need him most. This turns out to be one of Waddingham’s conniving looks whereby she tries all she can to get information from Colt regarding Ryder’s location via some trickery. However, this goes deeper into a rabbit hole and becomes more complicated than the script even admits to itself when it calls out for its own convoluted plot. (This is not surprising in light of director David Leitch’s work on Deadpool 2 where the fourth wall was consistently broken.)
This is something that the movie actually acknowledges – on set, one writer suggests fixing Metalstorm’s third act through self-aware dialogue, an idea Jody dismisses as lazy. This does not entirely resolve The Fall Guy’s occasional confusion or lack of tension; however, it does lighten up the atmosphere slightly for viewers. Besides that: Colt has a very uncomfortable reunion with Jody that leads to some hilarious moments where Jody becomes savage towards Colt due to abandonment issues and makes him do life-threatening stunts over and over again for better shots while being filmed by extras dressed like elaborate aliens and space cowboys who are eavesdropping from behind their doors.
With the exception of a few computer-aided images in the third act, most of the stunts are practical and highlight skills and methods. Before teaming up with John Wick, Leitch had spent several years working for Colt; thus, every scene is like a love letter to this profession. That said, Stahelski’s works such as those that kept him less safe and sound compared to Bullet Train and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw were much better than those by his counterpart in The Fall Guy. What is does, however, is gives us an opportunity to see past the trickery which sometimes leads us to feel like we are watching artists who are risking life for other actors who have been substituted.
The insider nature of the jokes and setting is a joy for anyone who’s ever worked on a movie set, The Fall Guy also captures the romantic and sexual chemistry that often sizzles between below-the-line crew., But even folks who’ve never been within a thousand miles of a Universal Studios tour will find much to delight in, like all the movie quotes that make up the vocabulary of Colt’s infectiously enthusiastic friend and stunt supervisor, Dan (Winston Duke). However, what makes them funniest is Gosling’s perfect mix of whimsicality with suaveness. Not least because Blunt makes an excellent straight man opposite him. Behind her tough exterior beats an embittered though tempted heart—a hard one to unbreak. Their interactions seem akin to classic screwball comedy.
However, their relationship fails when it comes to developing scenes for Colt/Jody or capturing their interpersonal dynamics. This also includes visual gags such as split screen being discussed through the split screen itself while Leitch performs excellently longer takes that give off on-set energy effectively realized. Yet once they slow down to shoot two individuals talking either dramatically or comedically everything seems scattered editing-wise so that reaction shots and statements are broken all over the place as if the rhythm has been interrupted. In particular, it actively hinders certain moments featuring Blunt and Gosling.
Fortunately, this period of sole sleuthing by Gosling sees him at his funniest. That is why even in the simplest jokes he demonstrates an absolutely perfect sense of timing as well as continues to perform extremely physical comedy scenes involving action; such as, a drug-laced knockout blowout reminiscing Scott Pilgrim or smoothly taking down a straight face during a chase with pratfalls. Any future Pink Panther reboot should consider him for the role of Inspector Clouseau.
Stunt work is the subject of The Fall Guy, which also is an ode to the art of filmmaking. In other words, some things about the movie are irresistible even with its imperfections. Although a critical fight scene that involves an entire crew of stunt performers could use more setup – in fact, none at all – it does not become hilariously rousing delivering enough amusement with traces of praise for the unknown warriors within the industry. Also, part of Colt’s emotional journey is his recognition that this line of work is anonymous and those who carry out such tasks as stunts and below-the-line workers are rendered nameless in order to maintain stardom in movies. In addition, Ryan Gosling can showcase his well-known acting skills too on top of starring in a Movie Star ™ style romance. Sometimes, The Fall Guy isn’t great; however, there are times when it works like magic.
Verdict
The film reflects Ryan Gosling’s comedic timing and his romantic charm alongside Emily Blunt who is equally tuned into her role: such self-reflexivity makes The Fall Guy ideal for Hollywood stunt performers—whether or not it accords with Ryan Gosling’s famous wit or plays out with Emily Blunt’s stunning beauty as a side note. It might not always be cohesive but thanks to its careless directing, it has succeeded in being humorous and honest enough to have fun watching it.
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