The Fall Guy

Stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is madly in love with camera operator Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) when he suffers an accident on set that breaks his back. He retreats from life and is only stirred out of retirement 18 months later when Producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) tells him his now ex-girlfriend Jody needs him on the set of her directorial debut. Her star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has gone missing and she needs a stunt double to take on his scenes. 

Colt searches for Tom at night whilst filming as Tom’s stunt double during the day. Juggling his attempts at rekindling his romance with Jody with the perils of whatever trouble Tom has managed to find himself in. 

The results are fantastic and deliver a highly enjoyable summer blockbuster.  

Gosling is wonderful delivering a hugely charismatic and comedic performance. Every reaction and line reading is perfectly crafted to add humour to the love story and action beats. Blunt matches his charisma and delivers some of the film’s best comedy moments. Her direction of a scene where Colt has to be set on fire is a particular highlight, giving him some context for his character’s motivations that hit particularly close to home. The chemistry between the two of them could power a city block for months. 

As far as supporting characters go Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s movie star is as self important and dumb as they come. His supporting role here almost as funny as his character “Tangerine” in Director David Leitch’s last film Bullet Train. Hannah Waddingham’s film producer also sends up the film industry as a ruthless luvvie that is only interested in getting her film finished. 

Ultimately the film is all about its stunts though and these are delivered with aplomb and cover the entire spectrum of set pieces. There are scenes involving cars, boats and helicopters as well as multiple fights, crashing through windows and falls from high places. All with Gosling smiling his way through it. 

There are some iconic song choices for a few noteworthy scenes that will have everyone humming along throughout as well. Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)” is perfectly placed in a cross cut between a kinetic fight scene and karaoke moment. Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” is the catalyst for a wonderful piece of comedy between the two leads. Whilst a cover of “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” by Youngblud features predominantly throughout. It very much adds to the feel good feeling of the entire feature when you exit the screen with an ear worm in your mind. 

Director David Leitch has delivered many things. A funny action packed blockbuster. A comedy that focuses on and pokes fun at the film industry. A reverential nod to the film’s inspiration; the 1980’s TV series of the same name starring Lee Majors and Heather Thomas. And ultimately an ode to the stunt community who still are not recognised at the film industry’s banner award event, The Academy Awards. That’s right, there are no Oscars for stunt people. 

If there is a flaw to the film it is that it almost is just an advertisement for the very fact that these incredibly skilled and talented people should have their own category at the Academy Awards. But given that Leitch began his career as a stuntman you can understand his passion. He has worked as Brad Pitt and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s stunt double before going on to co-direct John Wick (uncredited), Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train. There should be no surprise then that you should remain in your seats for the credits where you can see an array of behind the scenes footage of the stunts before getting a mid credits sting. 

The Fall Guy is a ridiculous amount of fun and I’m sure there are lots of film references that film nerds will spot with repeat viewings. As an example, the film within a film that Jody is making is called Metalstorm and has the phrase, “It’s High Noon At The End Of The Universe” in it.  Which just so happens to be the name and tag line of a real film made in 1983. Which means that this film is a remake of a 1989’s TV show and the film within this film is a remake of a 1980’s film. It’s the sort of thing that puts a big smile on my face. 

Unabashed joyful fun.