The Fall Guy-An Entertaining Loveletter to Moviemaking

With The Fall Guy, David Leitch and writer Drew Pierce attempt to make a Blockbuster action movie that simultaneously delivers a pure-hearted celebration of movies and moviemaking while also delivering the fight scenes and glorious practical stunts you expect in this kind of action movie. When the movie leans more towards celebrating film and the filmmaking process, it's a total blast. The best scenes in the film feature characters expressing their love of movies or the moviemaking process. Be it Ryan Gosling's Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt's Jodie Moreno discussing story and filmmaking technique, Colt and Winston Duke's Dan Tucker spouting movie quotes to each other, or characters pushing through the stress and struggle of moviemaking, there's an apparent love of filmmaking throughout the film that gives it an abundance of charm. It's also a movie that acts as a clear love letter to the below-the-line people involved in moviemaking. The movie celebrates the stunt community and other below-the-line people, whether production assistants or visual effects people.

It's all tied around a basic but well-executed classic Hollywood romance narrative. The romance, as basic as it is, works because of the great chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. The two have that natural, bickering-but-still-clearly-into-each-other chemistry of your classic Hollywood romantic pairing, making the scenes between the two incredibly charming. Ryan Gosling also shows why I consider him one of the most charismatic actors working today through his pitch-perfect comedic timing in his line deliveries and physical mannerisms.

The action here is also quite entertaining. It's clear throughout each one that each action scene was built from the ground up to showcase as much stuntwork as possible. From complicated fight scenes involving household and party appliances to complex car chases and practical car stunts, David Leitch frames each action scene in a way that makes you notice the practical stuntwork on display. Like the rest of the film, this celebration of the moviemaking process, specifically stuntwork, gives the action an apparent charm that I quite liked. The film most clearly displays its love for the stunt process in the third act, which delivers one moment of insane practical stuntwork after another.

Through all the film's charm, there's a messiness to it that held it back slightly for me. The film sometimes struggles to balance its two duel plotlines: Colt attempting to rekindle his romance with Jodie and the mystery of Aaron Taylor Johnson's Tom Ryder going missing. Throughout the film, it would cross-cut between a scene with Colt investigating or in some big, elaborate fight or action scene and a scene with Jodie. While probably done to tie Jodie into the story more, this editing style distracts from the action whenever it occurs. I'd be invested in the action with Colt, only for the film to cut away prematurely for a moment with Jodie. Because of this cross-cutting approach, the film can feel a tad overlong, dragging out each scene so that each sequence being cross-cutted between can reach a sold ending point before cutting to the next scene. While filled with undeniably impressive practical stuntwork, some of the action scenes were held back slightly for me by added CGI and an overly digital sheen in the closeups that I found pretty distracting.

But as messy and flawed as the film is, I couldn't help but love a film that's this in love with the movies and the moviemaking process. The love the film exudes for the stress and thrill of filmmaking is infectious, all added by a central romantic duo abundant with chemistry. It's a movie that may stumble in some of its writing and action, but once it focuses more on a love for moviemaking, it's a complete and utter blast.

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