126 min | PG-13 | May 3, 2024 | Universal Pictures
David Leitch makes a love letter to stunt performers with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. The chemistry is electric. The stunts are real. Hollywood makes a movie about why movies matter.
Colt Seavers is a Hollywood stunt double who fell off both a building and the radar after a set accident. Eighteen months later he gets a call. The star he doubles for has gone missing during production in Australia. The director of the film is Jody Moreno, the woman he ghosted after his injury. Colt has to find the missing actor, win back the woman, and not get killed. The film is loosely based on the 1980s TV show. It is actually a romantic action comedy about the people who make movies look dangerous while nobody learns their names.
Ryan Gosling plays Colt with the self-deprecating charm he has perfected across a decade of performances. He is funny and physical and vulnerable in ways that movie stars rarely allow themselves to be. Emily Blunt plays Jody with professional authority and personal fury. She is a first-time director fighting for her vision while her ex-boyfriend crashes back into her life. The chemistry between Gosling and Blunt is the film’s engine and it runs hot. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the missing movie star with narcissistic entitlement. Hannah Waddingham plays a producer with ruthless efficiency.
David Leitch was a stunt double before he became a director. He made John Wick and Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train. He knows this world. The stunt work in The Fall Guy is spectacular and deliberately showcased. A cannon roll sets a world record on camera. The fight choreography is precise. The car chases are practical. Leitch makes the audience understand what stunt performers do and what it costs their bodies. The film is a genuine tribute to the craft.
The film is overlong by about fifteen minutes. The mystery plot is functional rather than compelling. The villain reveal is predictable. None of that matters much when the two leads are this good together and the action is this well-staged. This is a movie about loving movies made by people who clearly love making them.