The action comedy The Fall Guy is a remake of a “classic” early 80s tv show… which apparently comes as a surprise to many. They both share the same premise, the same character name, and even the same truck, but otherwise the new film is out here doing its own thing. Which is fair… who even remembers the unknown stuntman who made Eastwood such a star?
Ryan Gosling (in full The Nice Guys mode) stars as Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man asked to come to Australia to help with some elaborate stunts. But he’s actually been asked down under to track down the star of the film. But, of course, there’s more going on under the surface.
This flick is a lot of fun. It’s 50% a serious action comedy and 50% just a lot of Hollywood screwing around. It’s 50% stunt performers showing off, 25% dialog references, 15% musical interludes, and 10% a music video for a particular KISS song. You might even say the point of the movie isn’t its plot… that it’s plot is a great big whatever filled with nothing but in-jokes and winks.
And since the funny in-jokes gave me a proud sense of superiority over the ones I caught and a nervous disappointment over the ones I missed, I’m completely ok with that. The people making this fluffy movie were having fun and that is transmitted directly to our eyeballs. Does the plot matter? I guess… it’s a reason for more stunts, pyro, and musical cues. Of course it matters!
The film also plays around with the idea that Gosling – actor – is playing a stuntman for another actor which I really wish was his actual stunt double (but turns out to be Aaron Taylor-Johnson). That’s too bad… but I bet the average movie goer can’t spot the doubles, especially when they use face swaps to paste Ryan Gosling into stunts (including one set to Against All Odds that focuses on Gosling’s face during a very specific lyric… oh they were having fun making this). Or maybe Gosling was doing some of his own stunts? Who knows… (probably only stunt people).
The only thing I was hoping for was the end credits to have a revamped tv theme song. And they did it! Only they did it wrong! The classic song has lines like “I’m the unknown stunt man/who made Redford such a star”… But instead of updating it to say “that made Reynolds such a star” they slap on some dopey generic lyric instead. It’s a real crime… for the 5% of people who even know there was an original song <shakes tiny fist in impotent rage>.
The Fall Guy is a ton of fun and it’s going to be one worth rewatching to catch all the references, text message, and Post-It notes scattered throughout. Stunt performers will be even more chuffed… and so will the pyro team and stunt coordinators. We could have just stayed home and let all the behind the scenes guys be pleased as punch.
Score: 86