A down-and-out stuntman must find the missing star of his ex-girlfriend’s blockbuster film.
Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is a stuntman on his ex-girlfriend Jody’s (Emily Blunt) new movie. She’s a first-time director helming a big blockbuster. When star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes missing, Colt is tasked to find him, but that won’t stop him from trying to rekindle his romance with Jodie.
Director David Leitch was famously Brad Pitt’s stunt double for years. He’s helmed a couple of movies now, but unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this one despite being a big fan of its stars.
My biggest gripe with the film is the story. I could not get into it. I found it to be too messy, convoluted, and pretty stupid if you think about it. The story also tried to set up various stunt action set pieces instead of letting those action set pieces serve the story. Films like “John Wick” do a lot better job of showcasing and appreciating various unique stunts. I found the stunt pieces here to be serviceable; none of them wowed or excited me.
The film is also too long and has too many genres. It’s primarily an action film but has a lot of comedy and romance. Honestly, this film is in the same vein as many modern blockbuster films such as “Jurassic World” or an MCU movie, which have become tired. The film was too jokey. There are some funny lines, and Gosling is a natural comedic performer. However, the film does not give any breathing room for the jokes, so there are many more misses than hits.
The film is also very meta because it’s a movie about making a movie. For example, the line, “We have a third-act problem,” is repeated multiple times before we get to the third act, and the third act feels disjointed. Knowing you have a third-act problem does not fix it. By the way, the movie they are making in this film seems terrible.
Gosling and Emily Blunt do have nice chemistry, but I wish Blunt had more to do. She is stressed about directing her first film while also deciding whether to forgive Colt for ghosting her. She’s not involved with the star-missing subplot because there is no reason for her to be, and there’s no real reason for Colt to be involved there either, other than the plot needs him there.
The supporting players here are the film’s producer, Gail (Hannah Waddingham), missing star Tom Ryder, Tom’s assistant (Stephanie Hsu), and Colt’s friend and stunt supervisor (Winston Duke). Gail and Tom are incredibly cartoonish characters, though I did enjoy how Taylor-Johnson got to poke fun at big-name actors like Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey. Hsu and Duke are just there; they participate in a small action scene but don’t get much to do otherwise.
I think “The Fall Guy” will be enjoyable if you can roll with the story. However, I found this film to be disappointing. It’s not one that I would rush out to go to the theater to see, but one you can throw on if you are in the mood for a mindless action flick to put on in the background while you scroll on your phone.
In Theaters Friday, May 3rd
