The Fall Guy
2024, PG-13, 125 min. Directed by David Leitch. Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke.
REVIEWED By Kimberley Jones, Fri., May 3, 2024
It’s not uncommon for directors to have a “this one’s personal” story they want to tell, though more often than not it’s a first film, not a fifth. Well, sixth, if you count 2014’s John Wick, which David Leitch co-directed with creative partner Chad Stahelski, but DGA rules meant only one of the two former stuntmen could get official directing credit. Since then, Leitch – who started out as Brad Pitt’s stunt double – has directed a steady clip of action films, including Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Bullet Train, that can be entertaining as hell but exhausting in their jokey-jokey glibness. Leitch’s latest, The Fall Guy – a joyful gong announcing the summer movie season’s arrival – still delivers jokes, but this one’s all heart.
A lesson in how to lightly mine IP, The Fall Guy (from a script by Drew Pearce) pulls a title character, a loose concept, a couple cameos, and a theme song (“Unknown Stuntman,” re-recorded here by Blake Shelton) from the original 1980s ABC series starring Lee Majors, and pretty much discards the rest. Ryan Gosling plays stuntman Colt Seavers, the regular double for Tom Ryder (Taylor-Johnson), a preening megastar who likes to brag that he does all his own stunts. (“Less face!” Tom hisses at Colt when he thinks his double is hogging the limelight.) During production on a sci-fi action epic called Metal Storm – the passion project of Colt’s ex, first-time director Jody (Blunt), for whom Colt still holds a mighty torch – Tom goes missing, and Colt is tasked to hunt down the missing leading man and save his best girl’s production from going down in flames.
The Fall Guy wings back and forth between the off-set passel of trouble Colt stumbles into on his search for the MIA Tom and on location with Metal Storm, where we watch stunt coordinator Dan (Winston Duke) and an army of below-the-line pros assemble jaw-dropping practical effects. (There’s a charming sequence, edited with Tommy-gun pacing, where Jody works through her past relationship trauma by setting Colt on fire repeatedly, ostensibly to get the shot right but really to burn him back for all the heartbreak he caused.) I suppose you could call The Fall Guy’s panorama of “real” / “not real” stunts meta – and sure, add another layer with the closing credits’ behind-the-scenes reel of real stuntpeople pulling off fictional stuntpeople’s stunts, a film-within-a-film-within-a-film. But “meta” implies something far headier than The Fall Guy’s heart-on-sleeve ambition to be a love letter to the stunt community. On that it succeeds beautifully, and the PG-13 rating – dramatically dialing down Leitch’s usual blood squib budget – means the message gets broadcast to a broader audience.
How broad? Romantic-comedy fans should flock to this thing. The genre is so moribund, at least theatrically, that an emphatically meh film like Anyone But You broke box office records, so hungry was the base for any fresh meat. The Fall Guy is ribeye compared to that film’s ground round, even if the rom-com beats are smuggled into the main directive of big action. Bouncy with enthusiasm and freely tapping their generous reserves of movie-star charisma, Gosling and Blunt perfectly embody the rhetorical question at the heart of this genuinely tender ode to the industry and its undersung practitioners: Aren’t movies the best?
They really are.
Read Richard Whittaker's SXSW 2024 interview with director David Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick
Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline
14028 Hwy. 183 N., 512/861-7070, www.drafthouse.com/austin/theater/lakeline
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Alamo Drafthouse Mueller
1911 Aldrich #120, 512/572-1425, drafthouse.com/austin/theater/mueller
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Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane
5701 W. Slaughter, 512/861-7060, drafthouse.com/austin/theater/slaughter-lane
Showtimes at this venue are subject to frequent change. Please confirm daily times by phone or website.
Sun., May 19
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Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
1120 S. Lamar, 512/861-7040, www.drafthouse.com/theater/south-lamar
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Alamo Drafthouse Village
2700 W. Anderson #701, 512/861-7030, www.drafthouse.com/austin/theater/village
Tuesday matinee Baby Day shows (first show of the day) are intended for parents and their children younger than 6. Showtimes at this venue are subject to frequent change. Please confirm daily times by phone or website.
Sun., May 19
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AMC Dine-In Tech Ridge 10
12625 N. I-35, 512/640-1533, www.amctheatres.com
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Barton Creek Square (AMC)
2901 Capital of Texas Hwy. S., 512/306-1991, www.amctheatres.com
Matinee discounts available before 4pm daily. Bring Your Baby matinees the first Tuesday of every month.
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Cinemark 20 and XD
N. I-35 & FM 1825, 512/989-8535
Cost for 3-D and XD shows is regular ticket price plus a premium.
Sun., May 19
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Cinemark Cedar Park
1335 E. Whitestone, Cedar Park, 800/326-3264
Call theatre for complete list of movies and showtimes.
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Cinemark Hill Country Galleria 14
12812 Hill Country Blvd., 800/326-3264, www.cinemark.com/theater_showtimes.asp?theater_id=377
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Cinemark Round Rock
4401 N. I-35, Round Rock, 800/326-3264
Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium. Call theatre for complete March 26-28 showtimes.
Sun., May 19
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Cinemark Southpark Meadows
9900 S. I-35, 800/326-3264
Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium.
Sun., May 19
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Cinemark Stone Hill Town Center
18820 Hilltop Commercial Dr., 512/251-0938, www.cinemark.com
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City Lights Theatre
420 Wolf Ranch Parkway, Georgetown, 512/868-9922
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Evo Cinemas Belterra
166 Hargraves Ste. A-100, 512/457-0700, www.evocinemas.com/belterra
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EVO Entertainment
3200 Kyle Crossing, Kyle, 512/523-9009, www.evo-entertainment.com
Sun., May 19
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Film Alley Bastrop
1600 Chestnut St, Bastrop, 512/321-0123, bastrop.filmalley.net/
Sun., May 19
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Flix Brewhouse
2200 S. I-35, Round Rock, 512/244-3549, www.flixbrewhouse.com/round-rock
Sun., May 19
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Thu., May 23
Galaxy Highland 10
6700 Middle Fiskville, 512/467-7305, www.galaxytheatres.com
No one under 18 will be allowed in the theatre on Friday or Saturday after 7pm without an adult.
Sun., May 19
Mon., May 20
Tue., May 21
Wed., May 22
Gateway Theatre
9700 Stonelake, 512/416-5700
Discounts daily before 6pm. Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium.
Sun., May 19
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iPic Theaters Austin
3225 Amy Donovan Plaza, 512/568-3400, www.ipic.com
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Metropolitan
901 Little Texas, 512/447-0101
Discounts daily before 6pm. Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium.
Sun., May 19
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Moviehouse & Eatery
8300 FM 620 N., Bldg. B, 512/501-3520, www.cinepolisusa.com/our-theaters/x0nud-moviehouse-and-eatery-nw-austin/
Sun., May 19
Mon., May 20
Tue., May 21
Wed., May 22
Moviehouse & Eatery - Lantana Place
7415 Southwest Pkwy., Bldg. 7, 512/572-0770, www.cinepolisusa.com/our-theaters/x1195-moviehouse-and-eatery-sw-austin/
Sun., May 19
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Southwest Theaters at Lake Creek 7
13729 Research #1500, 512/291-3158, www.southwesttheaters.com
$6.50 children and senior tickets (all-day), $5 Tuesdays (all tickets), Bargain Matinees before 5pm daily.
Sun., May 19
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The Spot Cinema Eatery & Social Haus
1180 Thorpe Lane #130, San Marcos, 512/210-8600, www.evo-entertainment.com/locations/the-spot/
Sun., May 19
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Violet Crown Cinema
434 W. Second, 512/495-9600, www.violetcrowncinema.com
Four-hour parking validation in attached garage with ticket purchase. Reserved seating; bar and cafe on-site.
Sun., May 19
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Westgate 11
4477 S. Lamar, 512/899-2717
Discounts daily before 6pm. Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium.
Sun., May 19
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Richard Whittaker, Aug. 5, 2022
Matthew Monagle, Aug. 2, 2019
May 17, 2024
The Fall Guy, David Leitch, Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke