BARE BONES: THE FALL GUY (2024)

THE FALL GUY (2024)

Flick is very loosely based on the 80s TV series of the same name and follows the adventures of stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling). Life is good for Colt as he is the stunt double for hot movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and is dating beautiful camera person Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). An on-set accident sends Colt into a downward spiral losing both job and Jody. Eighteen months later he gets a second chance, as Ryder is making a new science fiction epic and wants him back, with Jody being the film’s first-time director. But second chances come at a price and when Ryder mysteriously disappears Colt is tasked by his unscrupulous producer (Hannah Waddingham) to find him and get him back on set. Soon Colt finds himself embroiled in intrigue, violence, murder and stunts far too real for his liking.

The stunts become all too real for stuntman Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy!

Action comedy is directed by Donovan Leitch, from a script by Drew Pearce that feels very made up as it goes along. There are some energetic scenes and Gosling and Blunt have good chemistry between them and it isn’t without a sense of whimsy and fun. Not all the action sequences click, though and add to that some of those action scenes and some of the romantic dialogue sequences between Colt and Jody seem to just ramble on without accomplishing much. The film seems to hurtle forward from one scene to another more than actually follow a predestined narrative. At its heart it seems very well intended but once we get our reveal and the reasons why Ryder vanished it’s actually very disappointing and underwhelming. Fall Guy does express a love for stunt work and the men and woman that make it happen but as an action adventure it’s kind of routine when all is said and done. Also stars Winston Duke, Theresa Palmer and has some fun cameos from the original Glen A. Larson show cast members.

-MonsterZero NJ

Photo: Universal pictures