Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke

Director: David Leitch

Since the inception of movies (especially of the action genre), audiences have showered praises on hardcore action films, which have given them an adrenaline rush with mind-boggling action stunts and breathtaking sequences. And the reason behind that are the unsung heroes – the stunt doubles, who take risks of their lives to give us that experience. Ryan Gosling & Emily Blunt starrer The Fall Guy is a tribute to all those stuntmen.

The movie starts with Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) stunt double of action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) talking about the greatness of stuntmen while walking on the set after a stunt. While the stunt seems perfect, Tom tells Colt to go for another take as he feels in the given shot, the audience will identify that the person, who has performed the stunt is Colt because of his jawline.

While Colt gets ready for another take, he faces an accident while performing it and gets off the radar from the entertainment industry and works as a valet at a family place. 18 months later, he gets a call from Tom’s producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham), who tells him to come back to the place and do what he loves. While his response is always negative, she reveals that Jody (Emily Blunt) once a steady cam operator, who had an affair with Colt, is making her directorial debut with a biggie titled Metalstorm featuring Tom and wants him for doing stunts.

Colt agrees to come on the set and while we see his rekindling of love with Jody with cute and funny banters, the reason to call him is tricky and vicious. Gail tells Colt that Tom has been missing for quite a few days and he needs to find him out. When he enters the actor’s room, he finds another stunt double of Tom dead in the bathtub.

He panics and while trying to inform everything about the incident to Gail, we see some goons attacking him and later becoming one of the prime suspects of the murder. Well, so many questions in your mind, right? And the answer to all these you will find on the big screen while watching
The Fall Guy
, which is a fun roller-coaster with delightful action sequences.

Director David Leitch has made a film, which has its heart at the right place and makes sure to give us ample whistle-worthy moments through its entertaining screenplay, which has filmy references, AI as well as Deepfake technology.

Talking about the performances, Ryan Gosling is a one-man show and rules the screen with his enigmatic charisma. Emily is amazing as Jodi and her chemistry with Ryan is superb. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Hannah Waddingham as Tom and Gail are simply perfect. Winston Duke steals the show with his bang-on comic timing.

On the whole, The Fall Guy is a delightful action comedy, which reminds you of massy Bollywood films from the 90s minus the technology.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

The Fall Guy will release on 3rd May

Ahead of his stint at the Hollywood Bowl and the release of his Netflix comedy about Pop-Tarts’ origin this week, Jerry Seinfeld reflected on the “Seinfeld” storylines that wouldn’t be aired today and other ways “the extreme left” is influencing comedy.

In an interview with the New Yorker, the comedian said some of his jokes from the ‘90s would be subject to “cancel culture” today. Of one plot from “Seinfeld” involving Kramer’s business venture to have “homeless people pull rickshaws” because “they’re outside anyway,” the comedian asked, “Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?”

When the New Yorker‘s David Remnick said he couldn’t watch “Unfrosted” without thinking about the Israel-Hamas war and other humanitarian issues across the world, Seinfeld dismissed the idea that comedy could or should be affected or diluted by world events.

“Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it,” he said. “They need it so badly and they don’t get it.”

Seinfeld went on to reflect on the lack of comfort sitcoms like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “MASH,” “Cheers” and “All in the Family,” which guaranteed audiences had something funny to watch. He said he doesn’t think that’s the case anymore.

“This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people,” Seinfeld continued.

He noted that if audiences are looking for edgier comedy, they have to turn to stand-up comics because they “are not policed by anyone,” adding that they know when they’re “off track.”

When Remnick, who had previously asked Seinfeld about his longtime collaborator Larry David and the recent finale of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” wondered how David could pull off provocative, irreverent comedy today, Seinfeld said he had been “grandfathered” in.

David, who began his career in the ‘70s, can break the “rules” in place today, according to Seinfeld, because he had been making comedy for decades before those rules existed. Seinfeld said he doesn’t think a younger person could start out today making television shows like “Seinfeld” or “Curb,” even though audiences seek out boundary-pushing content on HBO and its competitors, as opposed to network sitcoms.

“HBO knows that’s what people come here for, but they’re not smart enough to figure out, ‘How do we do this now? Do we take the heat, or just not be funny?’ And what they’ve decided to be is, ‘Well, we’re not going to do comedies anymore.’”

The comedian said he thinks younger stand-up comedians are pushing the envelope, like he and his peers did before, and commended Nate Bargatze, Ronny Chieng, Brian Simpson, Mark Normand and Sam Morril on their work.

Seinfeld is also continuing his own stand-up gigs, including his performances at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday and Thursday with Bargatze, Jim Gaffigan and Sebastian Maniscalco for Netflix Is a Joke Fest.

Beyond his stand-up, he made his directorial debut with “Unfrosted,” a film that follows the race to make Pop-Tarts. He also wrote, starred in and produced the film, which premieres Friday on Netflix.

About The Fall Guy

The hero of The Fall Guy is a stuntman, Colt Seavers, played by Ryan Gosling. The action romance is a madcap adventure that kicks off summer blockbuster season and reminds you one of the reasons you got to the movies – to see stuff get blown up. Director David Leitch‘s film highlights the nameless men and women behind your favourite action scenes. Using Gosling and Oppenheimer’s Emily Blunt as the amiable leads, The Fall Guy is a delightful love story with wonderful beats of comedy.

The Fall Guy: Plot

Inspired by the 1980s American TV series, The Fall Guy is a behind-the-scenes romance between camera operator-turned director Jody (Blunt) and Colt (Gosling), stunt double to one of the top stars in Hollywood. After a stunt goes horribly wrong, Colt disappears to lick his wounds. But he is summoned back to work on Jody’s directorial debut, Metalstorm, a sci-fi cosmic love story, where the exes have an awkward reunion. But Colt finds himself involved in much more dangerous plot as a situation threatens to derail Jody’s first film as director. With the film and his career on the line, Colt does what he knows best, he gets into action mode.

The Fall Guy: Writing and Direction

Drew Pearce’s screenplay is warm, heartfelt and makes you laugh out loud more than once, even though the main plot gets a bit silly at times. This is clearly a film made by those who love the movies and what it represents. There are several inside jokes about filmmaking and the movie business that manage to translate over.

Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train filmmaker Leitch, who himself was a stunt professional before, seems to be having a blast dropping his characters in outlandish situations. The action sequences that Colt finds himself in repeatedly are situations in which he has been preparing himself all his career. The title of the film has a nice nod to the predicament Colt finds himself in for the second half of the movie.

The Fall Guy: Performances

Over the last few years, there’s been a lot writeups about how there are no more movie stars anymore. With The Fall Guy, I’d like to present exhibits A and B. Both A-listers Gosling and Blunt are coming off two massive hits from 2023 with Barbie and Oppenheimer respectively. In this film, they combine their star power for fantastic chemistry as reunited exes. Whether they are bantering about listening to Taylor Swift or arguing about motivation in scene, their chemistry is always entertaining. A charismatic and self-deprecating Gosling especially nails the comedic portions.

Gosling and Blunt are backed by a great supporting cast, with Hannah Waddington as the harried film producer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the spoilt movie star Tom Ryder and Winston Duke as Metalstorm stunt’s coordinator. There’s also a scene-stealing cute dog named Jean Claude who only responds to commands in French.

The Fall Guy: Critique

The Screen Actors Guild is one of the few mainstream awards organisations that honours stunt performers. The Oscars recently announced that they would be adding a new category for casting from 2025. The Fall Guy makes a great argument as to why stunt professionals should be next on that list. From acting, comedy, romance to meta quips about the movie business, The Fall Guy checks all the boxes for a good time at the movies this summer.

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