If there's a successful TV series, you can make it into a movie; even if it's so old, most people in the theater with me didn't even know it was a TV show!
But it was, and now it is. Ryan Gosling plays an injured and out-of-work stuntman who must find the missing star of a new blockbuster film directed by his ex-girlfriend (Emily Blunt).
He's the fall guy in more ways than one, and this movie is pure, sugary blockbuster entertainment. Now many liberties were taken changing the early `80s TV series where a stuntman has a side gig as a bounty hunter when they turned it into a 2 hour movie, but that's okay, because again, not manly people seeing it today care or know about the source material. And if changes like this need to be made to make a movie this entertaining, then so be it. IT's not only an update of "The Fall Guy" (TFG) but also a homage to all those stunt-driven, Burt Reynolds-led, party-on-the-set "Hooper"-esque flicks back in the late `70s or so, where the blooper reel during the credits was the cherry on top of a fun-lovin' sundae of practical stunts.
But add a talented cast led by the combined star power of Gosling and Blunt who not only have great lines but great chemistry, sprinkle a bit of self-awareness and self-deprecative comedy, and double scoops of things going boom and crash, and you've got yourself something to satisfy just about any sweet tooth!
But as you can overload on sugar, TFG does get absurd by its end even by its own standards; but I will admit to being fully on board by that time, as the movie had charmed its way into my good graces. So much so that when they added that third and fourth scoop of over-the-top crazy by the end, I was in a bit of a TFG sugar coma and just let it happen.
But it got so much that I did inevitably crash from that high (although the end credits roll helped stabilize me a bit), which brings my rating down to a "B+" for something I enjoyed.
If you like a sweet theatrical treat now and again, you'll like it even more since there's enough packed in there that most people will come away liking something about it. And if you like those stunt-based action flicks in general, or TFG series itself, there are some cameos and easter eggs from the show for those in the know.
The Fall Guy (2024)
A down-and-out stuntman must find the missing star of his ex-girlfriend's blockbuster film.
MPAA: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hr 6 min
Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama
