The Fall Guy is a movie you want to love.
Gosling is the most charming actor in the world. Blunt is the most charming actress in the world. The storyline is, basically, a rom-com stuck inside an action movie thriller, allowing room for any imaginable form of pure summer fun.
I liked The Fall Guy.
But it is also frustrating on a level that, for someone who knows their way around story structure, is almost incomprehensible. A little space and some time to think about the movie didn’t make it any better… it made it more frustrating.
The third act - which like all of the details, I will tell you nothing about, as there is no need to spoil this movie in any way to discuss it - is pretty kick ass. There are some clunky choices and missed opportunities, but it’s a pleasure. This is the action movie that David Leitch (the director) does really well. And as promised, it is a stunt fest.
But the first 2 acts are loaded with good and great ideas that simply don’t shape up into what the film is trying really hard to do. It’s trying so hard to surprise the audience by doing something other than what we are expecting that it forgets at times to do what it is trying to do.
The core of this is the romance story. We love these two actors. We will be happy to see them get together. But the way the movie is structured, it is so busy keeping the lovers apart in most of the 1st act, part of the 3rd act, and all of the 2nd act, that it really makes this a Ryan Gosling movie with Emily Blunt as a sidebar… until she is finally allowed to join in the fun. Ryan is great, but by delaying the ultimate team-up - in multiple ways - the audience is left hanging, much as her character is… and that is not to the benefit of the film.
The Fall Guy is not Deadpool, where “the girl” is great and central to motivations, but not to the movie storytelling itself. It’s not John Wick, where “the dog” is a motivator, but not central to the story itself. Emily Blunt can keep up with Gosling. But she really doesn’t get the chance. And that is a huge mistake.
The other thing that Leitch’s previous films express that doesn’t serve The Fall Guy as well is the compressed timeline. The main storyline basically seems to take place in 3 days or less… maybe 2. This worked great for Deadpool and Wick because the films are about the title personality fighting an imposed clock. The Fall Guy is not a clock film. Making movies (the canvas for the film) is not fast. It is slow. Plodding. And this movie moves through story so fast that it doesn’t allow its wonderful cast of characters to breathe. It doesn’t allow relationships to develop, for better and worse.
It takes most of the movie to actually meet The Star - Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Tom Ryder - a movie idol a step behind Tom Cruise. It’s not a surprise that he and Gosling’s Colt Seavers don’t really get along. But the idea of establishing this with dialogue in the 3rd act of the film (and a few lines in the 2nd) is just a giant mistake. A few minutes at the top of the film, when the 2 are working together, could have solved the problem. Aaron is a great actor, capable of great nuance. He gets to do some of it, but not so much until very late in the film.
Likewise, The Producer, played by Hannah Waddingham. It doesn’t take a lot… just set her up a little bit more that making her a visual cartoon who talks too fast. Waddingham does a nice job. But there isn’t enough of just her being her character and letting us decide what we think about her. I love watching Stephanie Hsu and Winston Duke… but neither gets enough screentime. It’s a 2 hour, 6 minute movie. I’m not suggesting another half hour. But what makes thrillers work, most of the time, is setting the audience up, allowing it to anticipate, and then either delivering a twist or exactly what they want times 10.
Think of the end of Animal House, when the characters’ futures are revealed. They are hysterical because we know these characters so well. Even when the punchlines are on the nose, they work… because they were set up long before.
What we get in the first 90 minutes or so of The Fall Guy are a bunch of set pieces. And they deifnitely have their charms. But some just don’t make sense in context. Like Colt arriving on set after a 14-hour (at least) trip to Australia and not only jumping into one major stunt within an hour of arriving, but then doing another major stunt 4 or 5 times the same day. Both are cool. But what is the rush? The movie story doesn’t hinge on that compression. Everyone involved, good guys and bad, wants to get the stunts right. So why would you do that? You wouldn’t. It’s a farce choice… but this movie isn’t a farce… it’s an action rom-com.
There is a running gag in the film that Colt wants coffee all the time. But it doesn’t really pay off fully because the movie - and Colt - is moving so fast that his desire for coffee plays as a kink, not a desperate need for a guy who can’t stay awake after his long trip and hard work day. I laughed out loud at the payoff coffee gag, but I bet I was amongst 10% or less of the audience that understood that’s what it was.
Leitch chooses relentless action over human logic too often. And again, I get it for some of this other films. But this film doesn’t need that so much. It needs some time to bring the lovers back together. It needs to let this guy sleep a little if he is going to keep delivering action above and beyond human expectation. (Let the sleep be funny!) It needs to set up rivalries. It needs to give us a stake in the side characters… so when their rivalries pay off in the 3rd act, it brings the house down.
And the film does a bit of 4th wall breaking… that is wonderful… when it is set up properly.
The Fall Guy is a bit like the old saw that there is no such thing as bad sex (for guys, at least). There is a ton to like. There are a lot of great stunts and fun moments and actors who we really like.
No one is a bigger Ryan Gosling fan than me. But at least half the film should have been Ryan and Emily trying to sync up to achieve the goals (don’t want to spoil). That dance is what builds a relationship and lets us be participants… whatever mistakes either makes in the process of trying to win the day.
There is a moment at what might be the end of the second act or the beginning of the third - details aren’t important in this case - but Emily’s Judy is looking for Colt and he, in the midst of a giant chase sequence, passes right by her. And my heart leapt because this was the moment when she was going to see him and understand everything that was going on (don’t want to spoil) or at least that something was going on… this was the moment they would team up for the rest of the ride… but, no.
Again, rushing through the story allowed the notion that the film must keep running, set piece after set piece, and if they stop for a minute, the magic of the pace will be broken. But this is wrong.
This is a form of movie that David Leitch has never made. It’s hard to do. Midnight Run is one of the classic forms of this, mixing a really intimate character comedy with a surprising amount of action. The Fall Guy wants to do a lot bigger action… and I am good with that. But the intimacy, which they do try, needs to move the story too. Nothing for the sake of doing something you love. Tell the story, first and last… and there is a lot to play with here. But this film kind of chases its own tail for 2 acts before getting down to it… why are we here?… what is the gimmick/twist?… how do these 2 fit together? It isn’t meant to be M. Night Shyamalan. (“I see stunt men.”)
I had a good time. I will go see the movie again with my family, who want to go. It will not hurt. It will probably be more fun for me because I will have forgiven some of this ahead of time.
But this could have been the forever movie that it wants so much to be. And it’s quite likable. It’s just not that movie. And it really could have been. Really.
Until tomorrow…
Sheesh. This is an unapologetic popcorn movie that sounds like a blast. I'm going this weekend.
Hmmm... welll done. Well written with no spoilers. Now I want it to be the movie you want it to be.
Will go see it for the little bit of love and the lotta bit of action. You make it seem worth the ticket. :)