2024 - THE FALL GUY, very entertaining action/romantic comedy

 The Fall Guy is a film supposedly based on the crappy Lee Major's TV show from the 1980s.  About the only thing this film has in common with the TV show is the name of the lead character Colt Seavers, his profession a film stuntman and the pickup truck he drives around in which was the method of transportation for Majors during the TV show.  This film is if anything the spiritual successor to the Burt Reynolds/Hal Needham stuntman film Hooper.

The story such that it is has Colt Seavers reuniting with the woman he broke up with Jody Moreno played by Emily Blunt.  Jody is directing her first film which she calls a science fiction love story entitled Metalstorm.  In  reality it's just another crappy action film.  When the leading man of Metalstorm disappears Colt Seavers attempts to locate him so Jody can finish her movie.

The Fall Guy has lots of stunts and action.  A lot of the stunts seems like practical effects. But what the film is really about is a satire of the current film business and it's obsession with actions scenes at the expense of characterization and story.  The film in fact is loaded with lots of funny bits, from the characters reciting dialog from other movies to a very funny Miami Vice stunt joke complete with the theme from Miami Vice on the soundtrack.

 Ryan Gosling is the put upon stunt man trying to solve the mystery of the missing leading man while simultaneously rekindling his relationship with Emily Blunt.  Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the vain leading man full of himself.  Hannah Waddingham is the producer of Metalstorm and Stephanie Hsu is a personal assistant pushing for a producer's credit instead of money in a ridiculous blackmail scheme.

 

The Fall Guy has not been the financial success that Universal Pictures had hoped for.  People who go to the film enjoy it but for some reason it has failed to attract a wide audience.  The worst criticism I can throw at this film is that it probably could have been a little shorter, but that's a minor complaint.  The film is entertaining  and well made.  The end of the film has outtakes from the action scenes staged for the  camera, something Jackie Chan has been doing for years.  There's also an amusing preview of the next episode of The Fall Guy.

The film was written by Drew Pearce, the running time is 126 minutes.