Director
David Leitch
(BULLET TRAIN, ATOMIC BLONDE)

Starring
Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Hannah Waddingham and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

What happens when a former stunt man (Ryan Gosling) is lured back to work, only to find out the star of his latest film has gone missing? Well in this case, it’s a frenetic, action filled game of cat and mouse with a side of romance that ensues.

Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a Stunt Man that broke his back on his last film and has been valeting cars for a Mexican eatery ever since. Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) is his former love interest turned debut director who is working on her big break when unbeknownst to her, the film’s star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes missing. When the film’s Producer (Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham) gets Colt back into the stunt crew, she quickly puts him to work to find the man he has frequently put his life on the line for in the past.

This newest effort from hit making director David Leitch is a great blend of the action-packed chaos we’re used to in his previous films such as Bullet Train and Deadpool 2, but maybe not enough of the comedy that we saw in the latter. Given the cast and the known comedic talents of Gosling, Blunt and Waddingham, this feels a little light on in the laugh department. That being said, the romantic chemistry of Gosling and Blunt is well and truly endearing enough to keep us entertained. There is however, a complete underutilisation of Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) who is only in the film for about 8 minutes, which is such a shame give how brilliant she is.

Overall The Fall Guy is perfect popcorn-cinema. You will not have to think too hard to enjoy this outing. I mean let’s be real, how difficult is it to enjoy Ryan Gosling in ANYTHING? And that’s coming from a big ole queer woman. The film probably is about 25 mins too long and there is a fair bit of filler, which, IF there had have been a bit better comedic dialogue, wouldn’t have seemed like such an issue. So certain areas of the film feel as though they’re dragging somewhat. Those foibles aside however, seeing Ryan Gosling crying in a pickup truck whilst listening to Taylor Swift is worth the price of admission alone.

The Fall Guy is in cinemas now.