Movie Review – The Fall Guy

Going in I had higher than normal expectations based on the cast, Emily Blunt, Ryan Gosling, et al., and Director David Leitch’s previous successes with action/humor movies such as Bullet Train, and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. I’m happy to report that I didn’t feel a shred of disappointment. The story is engaging in its own rights. The characters and their development are well-written, and the plot is believable—unfortunately.

META

Obviously, a movie about making a movie is going to be meta, which makes it easy to have some cheap laughs, but the writers went the extra mile with some of the meta scenes that are highly creative and sometimes subtle. There is a little bit of a mystery going on in this movie, so I can’t talk about some of the best meta scenes without spoiling it for you, but when the movie is over just think about who the villains are and what their role in movie making is and it will make sense.

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I have to add, the split-screen scene was brilliant.

Writing

Drew Pearce did a fantastic job with the script. I especially love that the lead actor’s name is Tom Ryder, which is a total nod to Tom Cruise. (Cruise -> Ride, both relate to traveling in a car.) Also, Drew Pearce was one of the writers on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

What’s best about the script, besides the almost ceaseless humor, is how well little things are tied together throughout the movie. For instance, the Miami Vice tie-in worked really well and that’s just one example of numerous details throughout the movie work together. This is what happens when a talented writer works over a script until it is close to perfection. I’m not saying this is the best script ever written, but it’s about as good as a script for this story could possibly be.

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I grade a lot of movies based on how close I feel they came to their potential. Far too often I leave the theater thinking that if the writers had just written two or three more drafts of the script they could have squeezed out a few more unnecessary scenes and at the same time added more that would balance the story. Or if the director had a few more million to work with and an extra week or two of shooting time they could have put together something much better. I’m not saying every movie can be Best Picture material. But every movie should be as good as it can be, and so often they don’t come close. This movie is one of the exceptions. I don’t think there’s much room for improvement for Fall Guy.

Acting

Emily Blunt was pretty much what you would expect—fabulous. Plus, the character she plays feels like it lands right about in her sweet spot for acting. She’s capable of pulling off much more dramatic roles, but this one isn’t nearly as challenging as many that she’s had in the past. It felt a little like a layup for her.

This might be my favorite Ryan Gosling role yet. Ryan too has great dramatic range. His character’s role felt more challenging than most. He had to get the humor and action just right in many scenes, plus there were a few crucial dramatic scenes that needed to land just right, not too dramatic, but just enough.

Music and Cinematography References

It was a challenge to try and pick out all of the references in this movie. The look and soundtrack to Dune in a few scenes, obviously Miami Vice, Mad Max, Atomic Blond—another David Leitch movie, Mission Impossible, and I’m sure I’m missing another half-dozen. Really fun and well done.

Grade: A-

The Fall Guy end credit scene explained.

About The Peetimes: This was a crazy hard movie to get Peetimes for. All three Peetimes overlap with some action, but nothing that was important. I tried to avoid scenes with humor and plot/character development. Either of the first two Peetimes are recommended. The third Peetime isn’t bad, just not as good as the first two.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of The Fall Guy.

Plot
A down-and-out stuntman must find the missing star of his ex-girlfriend’s blockbuster film.