The Fall Guy * * *

 

Emily reacts to my review. (Fair enough)

There is something grossly self-indulgent about this film. 

The screenplay is from Drew Pearce. He does stuff like Fast and Furious, Iron Man, so it's unsurprising that he should pen this.  He's good at what he does but for me, it's kind of boring and pointless even if its competent. 

Directed by David Leitch (John Wick 3, Bullet Train, Violent Night, Deadpool 2) and starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt  there is a LOT of talent here. 

The story is set in the film industry. Colt (Ryan Gosling) plays a stuntman and Jody (Emily Blunt) plays a camera person.  They both work on major productions. They are having a semi-serious love affair.  One day Colt has a nasty accident which puts him out of service.

Cut to a year later and Colt is a parking valet, whilst Jody's career has continued in leaps and bounds, so that she is now a director, and has been given the green light to direct a script she has written.: A $150 Million Dollar SF fantasy which looks unbelievably bad, but no one is saying anything.  (The irony is, as far as I'm concerned, that's just what this film is)

Colt is pulled out of retirement to work on Jody's big film.  The recall of Colt is courtesy of Jody's two-faced producer who has another agenda.  

Colt soon finds himself being framed for murder and has to use his stunt tricks to get himself out of (and into) trouble.

We've got bombs, explosions, fights a plenty.  And of course we have the flirting between Jodie and Colt.  In fairness they do have a bit of chemistry and there is some some good comedic smarty-pants dialogue at times, along with a few comedic visuals.

Otherwise I think you'd  have to be into old TV Series to appreciate many of the LOL's in this; after all, it's based on The TV Series of the same name.  But as that was forty odd years ago, I'm not sure too many of the audience would get it.  (Nobody laughed when Lee Major did his cameo).  It also references other TV Series of the same era like Miami Vice.  

For some reason it's all set in Sydney. Though most Aussies are getting a back seat. Other than a a cameo from Teresa Palmer they're nearly all cast as nameless crew or thugs. Oh, except for a Kelpie dog. He does well.

Some say this film is love letter to stunt men.  Well, I hope they enjoyed it. I hope you do too. You might. A lot of other viewers are.

Personally I felt used. I mean, a good film or drama is a sharing experience. Watching this felt like someone invited me to dinner,  not to share so much as just talk about themself and show off.  Nothing was served, it was just rammed down my throat.