Part of me thinks this film is probably a blast to look at. And the only reason I know that, is because the audio description fought so hard here to cover all its bases. Kudos to whoever made this, because David Leitch did not make this easy. The Fall Guy is about a stuntman, directed by a former stunt coordinator who has since become known for his elaborate action sequences, but also has Ryan Gosling as the lead guy giving all these internal thoughts as fourth wall breaking narration to the audience. Somehow, with the high amount of action, excellent set pieces, and a very talkative lead, this audio description team found a way to describe this film.
Is it perfect? No. It is a lot of fun though. It is one of those films you know isn’t as good as you’re likely to grade it, because the experience was fun. Like, some of the plot is really obvious, and Ryan Gosling’s character should have picked up on more. But, probably the biggest thing that didn’t work for me is the elevating of Emily Blunt to co-lead. This should not be a romcom action, and her screentime often detracts. They have such odd chemistry, and it’s clear that a lot of the feelings he thinks they have at the beginning are in his head. She seems pretty annoyed by him, though he would do anything for her. This is a long film, and cutting Blunt back to supporting, and killing a lot of the romantic comedy angle here would have made for a tighter film.
the supporting cast is pretty deep. Aaron Taylor Johnson plays a good asshole, and Winstone Duke was a fun standout. The basic premise has Gosling as the stunt double to a movie star (Johnson), who has a major ego, and freaks out if he can tell the stunt wasn’t performed by him (because he doesn’t dos stunts). So, after an accident, Gosling kinda quits the film world, and is also somewhat banished, at least by Johnson. Then, Gosling gets a weird call that the love of his life (Blunt) is directing finally, and she has specifically requested him (she hasn’t), and he then has to go on mother journey to find the missing movie star, which finds him wrapped up in a murder he definitely didn’t commit. If that sounds like a lot to you, just remember… they also have to develop the relationship between Gosling and blunt. And they do all of this in about 135 minutes of screentime.
I liked Gosling in Barbie. I wasn’t sure he needed an Oscar nomination for it, but I liked it.Here, he’s working very well in the role, he has chemistry with everything, and feels like the long lost muse for David Leitch. Like, I could see Ryan Gosling essentially following in this action/comedy style much the same way Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds, and Chris Pratt all have done. It isn’t that Emily blunt is bad, because I’m not sure she’s capable of that, but she just doesn’t work in this film. there’s a longer directors cut coming to Peacock that I hope has audio description, because I’d love to see if given 30 more minutes of screentime, what David Leitch fixes.
I’m saying this is pretty underrated, and mostly a lot of fun. Check it out.
Final Grade: B+
