Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt Kick Off Summer With a Behind-the-Seams Look at Action Blockbusters
DIRECTOR: DAVID LEITCH/2024
“Don’t forget to look before you fall” may not be the first Taylor Swift lyric Colt chooses to cry to, but it’s one he could’ve benefitted from.
Just when everything seems to be going his way, Hollywood stunt man Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) forgets to look before falling into a back-breaking injury. Eighteen months later, his body has healed, but he can’t get his groove back. He’s no longer a stunt double for action superstar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and his romance with up-and-coming director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) has fizzled out. Then he gets a phone call from his old pal and producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) who he thinks could turn his luck around. Tom has gone AWOL while shooting in Australia—can Colt double for him and save Jody’s big break as a director? Like Ms. Swift says, you know you’re good when can even do your job with a broken heart, and Colt is one of the best.
Most movies go to great pains to hide their seams, but not The Fall Guy. Instead of going for broke with the stunts like in John Wick or attempting physics-defying set pieces like the Fast and Furious franchise, we are watching Jody, Colt, and their stunt team (including the always-charming Winston Duke) design and execute the punches, car jumps, and explosions we expect from Hollywood’s biggest spectacles. As they film the sci-fi epic Metalstorm (which is so inspired by Dune, Independence Day, Mad Max, and Star Wars it devolves into a genre mash-up spoof resembling Cowboys & Aliens), they are also showing us how The Fall Guy is being made right in front of us. But because The Fall Guy isn’t interested in showing us new tricks—just look to Fast and Furious to see the depreciating returns of upping the ante—this entertainment-as-education method feels fresh. Who needs new tricks when you can reveal a magician’s secrets instead?
And who needs to hide the seams when a behind-the-seams look can be so fun? Gosling continues to ride the wave of Barbie goodwill with another can’t-help-but-love-him (though less-likely-to-be-Oscar-nominated) performance, and he and Blunt have just the Sam-and-Diane chemistry needed to spark a familiar plot. Also hamming it up: Taylor-Johnson, Waddingham, and…a French-speaking dog? Perhaps the biggest stunt The Fall Guy pulls off is landing its jokes, and once the laughs start, they keep coming. Summer 2024 is starting off with a bang because The Fall Guy is a blast both as an action-adventure and as a romantic comedy, making it one of the easiest movies to recommend to just about anyone.
