Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Fall Guy

Heather Thomas or Heather Locklear? Heather Graham

Brief Plot Synopsis: He’s not the kind to kiss and tell, but he’s been seen with Emily.

Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 3.5 praying hand emojis out of 5.

Tagline: “Fall hard.”

Better Tagline: “Fun, dumb, and full of stunts.”

Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) had it all: a flourishing career as stunt double for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnston) and a relationship with cameraperson Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). But after breaking his back during a stunt gone awry, he abandons both. That is, until mega-producer Gail Myer (Hannah Waddingham) tells him Jody is now a director, and wants Colt to come join the production of her new movie in Australia. Two problems: Jody didn’t *actually* ask for him, and Ryder — the star of the picture — has disappeared.
“Critical” Analysis: Gosling and Blunt have finally buried their Barbenheimer hatchet by appearing in a movie together. The Fall Guy, directed by former stunt dude David Leitch, is an action-comedy in the truest sense of both words. The stunt sequences are suitably pants-dampening, and the jokes are unforced and effective, thanks in large part to the chemistry between our leads.

Though it’s a little dicey at the outset. The opening titles kick off with the extremely disagreeable “I Was Made For Loving You” by Kiss. And if that wasn’t a bad enough omen, it’s the signature tune of the film, with remixes popping up alongside songs like “Thunderstruck,” a karaoke version of “Against All Odds” (performed by Blunt), and other selections likely to appeal to people in Leitch’s age group.

*cough*

Butt-rock selections aside, Leitch deftly weaves Colt’s onscreen punishment with a surprisingly satisfying romantic arc. It’s easy to chalk it up to the snappy dialogue between Gosling and Blunt, but it’s more likely they’re just naturally charismatic people. Blunt was able to convincingly portray being in love with *John Krasinski*, for crying out loud. And Gosling’s greatest onscreen romance was clearly with Russell Crowe.

Speaking of bad ’80s decisions, calling Jody’s breakthrough movie Metalstorm has to be an in-joke for Reagan era nerds, right? Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (spoiler!)? Not to be confused with Megaforce? Fun fact: in my rabbit-holing for this review, I learned that Jared-Syn was played by Michael Preston, who was Pappagallo in The Road Warrior! Maybe five of you care, but I thought that was pretty rad.

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This version of Metalstorm sounds distinctly dumber than the original (if you can believe that), but that’s part of The Fall Guy’s charm. This movie-inside-a-movie approach allows Leitch to wink at the camera in a slightly less meta way than he did in Deadpool 2. Or almost, such as when Colt ruminates on why there’s no Academy Award for stunt performers

It’s also a bit of an insulting premise that Gosling isn’t good looking enough to be a lead (and hence, is eclipsed by Tom Ryder). Then again, Taylor-Johnson is quite the hunk.

And it’s just as well that The Fall Guy doesn’t take anything too seriously, because the key romantic conflict — Colt’s failure to reach out to Jody after his accident — is hardly “cheating on her with her best friend” territory. The guy was going through an existential crisis, for pity’s sake. So let he who hasn’t ghosted someone after 18 months cast the first stone.

Also: 18 months? Didn’t Batman heal his own broken back in, like, six weeks?

The Fall Guy is a rarity these days: a mainstream popcorn flick that appeals to just about everyone. With some brains, a lot of heart, old school stunt work, and an authentic romance, it’s some real old-fashioned moviemaking, and a less maudlin look at the industry than Hal Needham’s Hooper.

Could’ve used more bar brawls, though.

The Fall Guy is in theaters today.