‘The Fall Guy’ Review: David Leitch’s Ode to Stunt People Is Good Old Fun at the Movies
Director David Leitch may like to refer to The Fall Guy as his love letter to the stunt community, but I would rather call it the fantasy story he pictured in his head while working in the trenches and under the shadow of unbearable movie stars with no recognition or even acknowledgment. If Avengers: Endgame was the product of a nerdgasm that execs at Marvel Studios had while growing up reading comics and seeing Batman 1989 in the theater, The Fall Guy is the brainchild of someone who spent too much time doing someone else’s hard work.
Irreverent, unapologetic, and above everything else, self-aware, The Fall Guy is Leitch’s baby all the way through. It’s a lay-back, four-quadrant pleasing adventure that knows exactly what it wants to be: a romantic comedy sandwiched in between crazy stunts. The excellent featurette that plays during the credits very much accounts for this last part, while Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt‘s electricity played in the former’s favor. It’s precisely that romantic angle, and mostly, how Leitch succeeded at pulling it off, that puts this movie a notch above the rest on the stuntman-turned-filmmaker’s filmography. There is some story here that has more to say than entertain the audience while they wait for the next fight.
The main plot is set 18 months after an on-set accident that put stunt double Colt Seavers (Gosling) out of action. Moreover, he lost touch with the love of his life Judy Moreno (Blunt). Jody is now the director of a big-budget sci-fi spectacle, led by Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the biggest action star in the world. Colt, who used to be Ryder’s stunt double, is called by the film’s producer (Hannah Waddingham) to come to Australia and help with a stunt for the new film. In reality, though, she needs him to find the missing star of the film. Ryder has gone AWOL, which may put the entire project at risk in the eyes of the studio.
By far the biggest quality of The Fall Guy is how conscious it is of exactly what the audience wants to get out of it. It’s not just the crazy stunts that we want to see, which we already get from so many other entries on Leitch’s IMDb page (and plenty of other directors too). What makes this particular movie stand out is the love that Leitch and his team of Stunt-vengers put into this work. It’s the passion that they bring to the table, and it feels all the more special because it feels like the story they’ve been making up in their heads since they started in the business. In the movies, the lead actor gets all the glory and is the one who saves the day. But what if, for once, that was the stunt double?
L to R: Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch
There is a lot of heart permeating through every aspect of this story, as simple as it is, and that is what makes for a special experience at the multiplex. It also impregnates the love story between the two leads, which Gosling and Blunt (seemingly) effortlessly are able to sell us on. The Fall Guy is a lot more story-driven, thanks to its romantic subplot, than most of Leitch’s movies, which itself makes it more memorable. This is a guy trying to win a girl back, after all, but it’s in that simplicity that the movie gets under our skin and reminds us of the beauty of an old-fashioned summer blockbuster where we engage with the characters and, most importantly, have a good time. If anything, this was the perfect movie to open the summer season at the movies.
Gosling absolutely shines, as we’ve come to expect from him, though it’s actually strange for him to land two similar roles back to back. There is an alternate universe in which Ken from Barbie can be interpreted as the doll young Cole used to play with, similar to the relationship between Margot Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie and America Ferrera’s Gloria. There is a lot of Ken in Cole, even if Gosling does his best for his character in this movie to stand out. It simply jumps out because the characters he played in Blade Runner 2049, First Man, and The Gray Man are distinctively different from each other — and we can continue down this path as we go back further in his filmography.
But that’s simply how the roles turned out for him, and honestly, it’s a shtick that works. Gosling is an Oscar-level actor who can have us engaged with every move he makes on camera But Blunt certainly doesn’t fall behind here. She has a lot to do in this movie, and everything about her works here. From her girl-next-door looks to her fierceness when it comes to kicking thugs in the face, Jody is your ultimate dream of a girlfriend and also someone you would never want to cross. And Blunt sold every single aspect of her magnetic personality.
The Fall Guy suffers from some pacing issues in the second act, especially during a bunch of scenes where Cole is high off his face. But at 2h6min, the movie feels around 10 minutes longer than its perfect length. There are also some dragging issues around the conclusion of the second act, where some rather predictable twists are also introduced. But these are issues that we can happily ignore simply because of the overall joy that the movie gives off. It’s simply having a lot of fun, and it’s so easy to have fun with it.
The Fall Guy opens in most countries worldwide on May 3.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
