HOLLYWOOD—I didn’t know how I would feel about watching “The Fall Guy” after seeing the first initial teaser of the movie. I didn’t know what genre it actually fell into. Was it a comedy? A romantic comedy, an action thriller or an action-mystery? Shall I say I was pleasantly surprised with the end result of this movie. For starters, you have two phenomenal stars in Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. Gosling is charismatic as hell on the big screen.
The actor just has that special quality that is quite difficult to describe with words. He resonates on the screen and he does it with perfection as stunt-man Cole Seavers. His body has been brutalized over the years with his countless stunts that he has endured for Hollywood star Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). However, it is Jody, the camerawoman who catches Cole’s eye. The two spark up a relationship that immediately turns sour after Cole suffers a debilitating injury as a result of a stunt gone wrong, and they sever working ties and their romance.
I will admit the film does a terrible job of delivering the allure of the romance between these two characters. There are small snippets, but the snippets are so tiny that I want a decent slice of their past beyond that stunt leading to the demise of their relationship. I would absolutely have to take out the romance element because the movie lacks that until we reach the third act of the movie. When the audience is finally given that satisfying ending it lands, but it would have landed much more if we were aware of the full romance from the start.
“The Fall Guy” does become wonky near the end of the first act and the entry into the second act. I’m sorry, but I did dose off a bit because the pacing slows down and the narrative just fails to deliver that compelling hook. However, a twist comes that I absolutely didn’t see coming and it grabbed my attention and had me until the end of the movie. Hannah Waddingham is an absolute treat as an eccentric producer who I’m truly hoping is not the thing that is the norm in Hollywood in 2024. Waddingham just eats the screen up as the character Gail who you suspect is just whacky, but there may be more to that tale than what appears.
Johnson is more like a secondary character whose true presence is not revealed until the third act, while Winston Duke serves as a worthy sidekick to Cole’s character as a fellow stuntman and coordinator. Blunt is solid as Jody, Cole’s love interest, and she plays off Gosling’s charisma to deliver some unexpected laughs and scene stealing moments in the movie.
I particularly loved that the movie played with the notion of giving the audience a behind the scenes look at the stunt world one that we don’t always see, while poking fun at the stunt arena, while highlighting stunts at the same time. “The Fall Guy” was very meta to say the least. Is the spectator getting an actual action movie with incredible sequences and stunts? No, you’re not, but the stunts themselves are indeed impressive, some quite riveting and a spectacle compared to what you see in a real action flick on the big screen and this is a comedy. So what is that saying? Sometimes going bigger and bolder doesn’t always yield the results you expect.
If you weave a good narrative the stunts themselves will standout as “The Fall Guy” proves while delivering some compelling characters, a romantic element and plenty of hilarity along the way. This movie was a much bigger surprise than I ever expected, which audiences will enjoy.
