#35: THE FALL GUY

 

STARRING: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu and Winston Duke. Written by Drew Pearce. Directed by David Leitch. Budget $150 million. Running time 126 minutes.

The plot sees Colt returning to the role of stuntman after suffering a near-fatal injury on another film when doubling for arrogant action film star, Tom Ryder, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. It turns out he's gone missing from the set of his latest action film, Metalstorm which is being directed by Colt's ex-girlfriend Jody Moreno. Colt is sent out to find him on the orders of the film's producer, Hannah Waddingham's Gail Myer, who warns Colt that Ryder has fallen in with some rather unsavoury drug people. 

What follows is a series of outlandish stunts and action beats sandwiched between over-the-top violence and death-defying stunts until the insane final act showdown, where all is resolved and we're treated to a cameo, which judging from audience I saw this with went right over their heads.

For the first 30 odd minutes this is an absolute delight, Ryan Gosling's natural charm is infectious and the chemistry between him and Emily Blunt is almost intoxicating. The humour is relaxed and not forced and the whole thing is carried effortlessly by Gosling. Sadly though, the film suddenly becomes a slam-blam action romp after Colt Seavers, our hero is drugged in a nightclub and it all starts to feel a little forced. When the over complicated plot kicks in and the coincidences and plot contrivances start mounting you find yourself missing the incredibly sweet romance between Colt and Emily Blunt's character, director Jody Moreno. Plus there's a whole sequence in the trailer, that of Gosling's Colt Seavers riding a scooter that isn't in the film and that niggles me greatly. There's also a savageness to the violent action, of the bad guys that feels misplaced and far too brutal. Luckily Colt never kills anyone, but violence feels way off balance. Hannah Waddingham is great as the uber-frenetic producer, but as the plot reveals its secrets the whole film becomes a ridiculous farce that builds to an utterly stupid third act film within a film that derails the whole movie.

It's fun and frantic but the plot overwhelms everything. Hollywood did this far better with the superb and long forgotten 1978 Burt Reynolds film, Hooper directed by Hal Needham, which celebrated the role of the stuntman in a far more fun way.

Anyway, this was okay, if a little long. 

7/10