Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 126 minutes
Release Date: May 3rd, 2024 (USA)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director(s): David Leitch
Writer(s): Drew Pearce / Glen A. Larson (television series)

I never forget a fist.

Did Universal Pictures bankroll a two-hour advertisement for director David Leitch’s production company 87North? Yes. Is that a bad thing if it’s also a lot of fun? Probably also yes, but at least we had fun? Well, some of us did. Because between The Fall Guy and Bullet Train before it, people have really come out of the woodwork to talk about how bad of a filmmaker Leitch is. It makes his mammoth success post-John Wick all the more entertaining.

I personally enjoy what the former stuntman brings to his films. Is he as polished as cohort Chad Stahelski? No. But that’s why it’s good to also have Chad Stahelski. Leitch leans into the humor of stunt work. The physical pratfalls and entertainment derived from high stakes situations rather than the punishing drama of formidable fighters risking everything for life and limb. What he and writer Drew Pearce do in updating Glen A. Larson’s old television show (both Lee Majors and Heather Thomas make an appearance during the credits) pretty much epitomizes the style Leitch has brought to all his films.

The result is an amalgamation of action films and romances that you know and love—complete with the meta game of two characters constantly quoting movies for the other to guess. Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) and Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) are smitten on a movie set as below-the-line cogs (she a camera operator and he a stuntman) plugging along to make the project as great as they can without any of the weight of celebrity that the leads and director carry between takes. Unfortunately, he suffers an accident, breaking his back and putting his confidence out of whack. So, he ghosts her, implodes his life, and wallows in self-pity.

Until Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), the producer hitched to the coattails of the superstar (Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Tom Ryder) he made a career doubling, calls. She needs him to come to Australia and get back on the horse. And she tells him that Jody, who is receiving her big break directing the film, personally requested he come out of retirement despite the two never talking in the year since his mishap. Colt accepts, discovers Jody doesn’t want him there, and learns his recruitment was for something completely different. Gail doesn’t need him in the movie. She needs him to find Tom before anyone realizes he’s missing.

Cue a murder mystery complete with a mercenary squad trying to kill Colt for getting too close and you have all the reason for jamming in as many stunt-heavy sequences as possible for Leitch and company to show just how integral stunt work is in Hollywood. And because it’s Gosling playing the face (alongside Winston Duke as his friend and coordinator Dan), the action gets to be as humorous as possible. That means throwing Gosling’s own stunt double through fire and concrete so the actor can stumble back to his feet and comically shake the cobwebs off … when he’s not high on a spiked drink and seeing unicorns.

Does the truth of what’s happening make sense? Not in any feasible way. But when you’re dealing with self-absorbed millionaires who think they’re smarter than they are, plausibility isn’t really a concern. We simply go with the flow and hope Colt and Jody might patch things up while also uncovering what’s really happening, staying alive, and finishing the movie they’re shooting. It’s a tall task with low-stakes emotions doing what they can to prop up the high-wire theatrics as Gosling steals the show with his natural, self-deprecating casual cool. Colt knows he isn’t a superstar, but he also knows he’s good at what he does. And those skills are much better for surviving a siege than Shakespeare.

So, if you enjoy Leitch’s work (namely Bullet Train and the quippy Hobbs and Shaw), you should have a good time here. I probably enjoyed the former more, but The Fall Guy is probably the most accomplished of the trio (Atomic Blonde is best, but it’s just much more serious a la Stahelski than everything Leitch made since). Gosling and Blunt are fantastic in the leads and Taylor-Johnson and Waddingham add wonderful comedic support. It’s the perfect summer blockbuster, escapist popcorn flick. Late April is summer now, right?

---

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in THE FALL GUY; courtesy of Universal Studios.