That resistance lasted roughly through the end credits; by their conclusion, I was leaning forward in my seat, with a big goofy grin plastered across my face. The Fall Guy<\/em> may be head-scratching IP exploitation, but the pronounced lack of enthusiasm around the Fall Guy brand (if such a thing even exists) means that Leitch \u2014 like Hal Needham, a stuntman-turned-director \u2014 was able to just use the title and protagonist as cover to make a fun, throwback action\/comedy\/romance. It\u2019s entertaining from the first frame to the last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gosling steps into Lee Majors\u2019s shoes as Colt Seavers (boy, find me a more \u201880s name), a seemingly indestructible stunt performer whose life goes down the tubes when a big stunt goes sideways. He breaks away from the business and ghosts Jodie (Emily Blunt), his cameraperson girlfriend; 18 months later, he gets a call from his regular producer, who begs him to come back to work. He resists, until he discovers that the film in question is Jodie\u2019s directorial debut, a Mad Max<\/em> and Dune <\/em>mash-up called Metal Storm. <\/em>Once he arrives, though, he discovers his real job: Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the egotistical movie star he typically doubles, has gone off the grid, and if they can\u2019t find him quickly, the movie will be in trouble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, he has 48 hours to \u201csave Jodie\u2019s movie and get your life back\u201d by finding Tom Ryder, and no, I do not<\/em> think it\u2019s a coincidence that the action star with the female producing partner\/protector who likes to say he does his own stunts is named \u201cTom.\u201d Taylor-Johnson is someone I can never buy as a movie star in real life, yet he\u2019s a convincing fictional one, finding just the right notes of hubris and cluelessness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But of course, it\u2019s Gosling\u2019s show, and he\u2019s terrific \u2014 at risk of broken-recording the easiest reference point, his work here has the charming shagginess and shrugging tough-guy quality of Smokey<\/em>-era Burt Reynolds, before he turned into, y\u2019know, Stroker Ace<\/em>-era Burt Reynolds. I guess that would make Emily Blunt his Sally Field, and that comparison works as well; their chemistry is electric, and there\u2019s a real screwball, Grant-and-Hepburn energy to their dynamic that makes their scenes crackle with pleasure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The romance isn\u2019t perfunctory; in fact, the movie would fall apart without it, the plot machinations crumbling to dust if there wasn\u2019t enough heat (briefly!) between them early on to justify his decision to get back in the game solely to reconnect with her. Both Blunt and Gosling are real and grounded enough that the emotional stakes of the relationship \u2014 which is not a thing you typically even get<\/em> in a movie like this \u2014 are genuine. So it\u2019s got all that, and<\/em> the most delightful split-screen sequence since Down with Love.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The result is indisputably Leitch\u2019s best picture since Atomic Blonde<\/em>, and it makes the subtext of that picture \u2014 the necessary, and impossible to fake, quality of joy for the work \u2014 into text. This is a guy who\u2019s been on sets for decades, and knows that world inside and out: the camaraderie, the crushes, the inside jokes, the familial atmosphere, even if only for a few months. He takes some welcome risks in the filmmaking as well, most notably occasionally intercutting action scenes with dialogue and character moments, which sounds like a simple editorial act, until you see it done (and done well). And there\u2019s a lovely, sly, self-aware wit to the enterprise (at one point, Colt reprimands the villain, of their evil plan, \u201cIt\u2019s plot-heavy, we\u2019re getting tangled in exposition. It loses the audience!\u201d) The Fall Guy<\/em> isn\u2019t exactly a prestige picture, but it\u2019s an awful lot of well-made fun \u2014 a great big stupid beautiful valentine to great big stupid beautiful movies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Fall Guy” is in theaters this weekend.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/fall-guy2-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nB<\/strong>+<\/h2>\n\n\n\n