The Fall Guy (2024)
“The Fall Guy” (2024) was based on a tv show of the same name from 1981 that lasted for five seasons. While this movie was “only” 2.5 hours long, somehow they managed to cram an entire season’s worth of dialogue in, and you could feel every agonizing minute.
And it wasn’t even over-exposition or excessive world-building, just characters talking to each other in the most non-efficient conversations I’ve ever seen on the silver screen.
Colt (Ryan Gosling) was a stunt double for Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and in love with Jodie (Emily Blunt) the camera operator. During a drop scene, something mechanical failed and Colt broke his back, taking him out of the world of stunt-doubling completely while he recovered.
Almost two years later, Jodie got her big break and was approved by producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) to make the sci-fi action movie “Metal Storm” in Australia – also starring Tom, but with a different stunt double. Colt’s time in recovery strained his relationship with Jodie to the point of no-contact… for some reason.
When Tom went missing somewhere in Sydney, Gale called Colt out to the film set under the pretense that Jodie had asked for him, when in fact she needed someone to stand in for Colt in Tom’s absence without raising red flags. As if people wouldn’t notice the ‘world’s most famous action star’ suddenly missing on set…?
The plot was entertaining enough that I won’t spoil it.
The rest of the movie was heavily bogged down by the aforementioned dialog.
Almost every single scene had a full-length conversation between whichever two characters were on screen, whether it was Colt and Jodie reconnecting, Gail being sleazy, or any other people talking about anything random. It largely felt like the production of this movie was just the director letting the camera roll while the actors milled about on set and then told the editors to cut it all down to something “manageable.”
There was So. Much. Talking. Just far too much.
Like in the written word, narration and dialog in movies is supposed to be as efficient as possible for building the characters/world/plot that the audience is experiencing. Somehow the producer and director of “The Fall Guy” missed that particular lesson.
This could have been a tight 90-minute production if they’d simply trimmed every conversations down by 50% and left all the action sequences as-is.
Blessedly, there were LOTS of action scenes, and most of them were actually pretty impressive. There was clearly a lot of love intended for the behind-the-camera crews involved in movie production, for everything from the pyrotechnics to costumes to makeup and catering. There were stunts and action stuff, and during the end credits they showed making-of footage of the movie where Ryan Gosling’s actual stunt double did all sorts of wild things that would kill me if I tried.
While this was a rom-com, fortunately it did not fall into the “people who don’t know how to talk to fix a problem” realm of stupid plot devices: any time two characters weren’t in the same room and learned something negative about the other, they immediately pulled out their cellphones to try to call to set the record straight, only to be foiled by some random mechanic that at least felt mildly plausible and outside of the characters’ control.
As this was an action movie about making an action movie, and Jodie repeatedly said she wanted practical special effects and not CGI for “Metal Storm,” it looked like most of the effects for the actual movie were practical too: real cars flipping, real explosions happening, real car chases, etc. There was one vehicle that was jarringly CGI, so I have to assume they added it in post-production when they realized something was missing but they couldn’t go back for reshoots.
The soundtrack was all adult-contemporary rock, which was fine.
This movie was obviously and heavily funded by GM, with extended scenes showing off the Hummer EV and a few other GM-model trucks. I wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for the long-shots where the Hummer was front and center, apropos of nothing plot-related.
The fake trailer for “Metal Storm” shown at the end looked better than the actual movie I watched.
I watched this from the comfort of my couch, but I wouldn’t recommend you do the same. Save it for next time you’re on a plane; it’ll take up your entire flight, regardless of how long you’re in your seat.
If you want a hit of pseudo-nostalgia of movies that are based on old TV shows, watch “21 Jump Street” (2012) or “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (2015) or “Get Smart” (2008) or “Power Rangers” (2017) or “Bay Watch” (2017) or “CHiPS” (2017) or “Charlie’s Angels” (2019) or “The Equalizer” (2014) or “The A-Team” (2010). You have so many options, and they’re all marginally better in some way.
If you want to watch a movie about making a movie (that isn’t a documentary), watch “Inception” (2010).
