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

BARE BONES: JOY RIDE (2023)

JOY RIDE (2023)

Terrible road trip comedy has adopted Chinese American lawyer Audrey Sullivan (Ashley Park) going on a business trip to China. Her three friends Lolo, Kat and Deadeye (Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu) decide to join her and embark on a quest to find her birth mother. Everything that can go wrong does and a series of pointless, vulgar and rarely funny adventures ensues.

 

A talented cast adrift in a really bad movie.

 

Forced and unfunny flick is directed by Adele Lim from her script and story with Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao. It’s a hodgepodge of scenes where our four main characters get to act as rude and vulgar as they possibly can. That would be fine and maybe a little fun if the vulgarity had some wit or cleverness behind it, but it’s shallow, foul-mouthed and vulgar simply for shock value and nothing more. It’s like the script was written by 13-year-olds. Even the attempts to add some substance and sentimentality later on falls flat as does the flick’s big last act reveal. The talented cast try hard but have very little to work with here, but at least are able to give the tedious and rude bits a little energy. It’s a forgettable road trip comedy, a waste of a good cast and an unsurprising box office bomb. Too bad, with some wit behind the raunch this could have been a lot of fun especially with its charismatic leading ladies. Representation is important but you still have to make a good movie. Rewatch Crazy Rich Asians or The Farewell instead.

-MonsterZero NJ

Photo: IMDB/Lionsgate