With “The Fall Guy”, a film adaptation of the series “The Fall Guy”, actor Ryan Gosling continues his comic deconstruction of the blond male started in “Barbie”. And what’s more, it’s funny, spectacular and smarter than it seems!
“I am the man who falls at the right time, I have my life in my hands. And if I take risks, it is never in vain…”, showed off the French song in the credits of the American series from the 80s with Lee Majors. The inevitable film adaptation only retains the main character of accomplished stuntman, Colt Seavers, and gives him his original title, The Fall Guy ; in other words, the guy who breaks his face or whose face is broken instead of the star.
Tom Ryder’s regular understudy, an action star full of himself and admirably stupid, our debonair trick-or-treater has just spoken to her too closely when the film opens. Following a serious accident on set which almost cost him his life, Colt abandoned everything: cinema, his career but also and above all his romance with assistant camera operator, Jody Moreno.
When a producer forces him to get back into the game, he only agrees to fly to Australia for one reason: the director of this sci-fi blockbuster is none other than Jody… and she demanded his talents! Missed: on site, he learns that in truth he was sent to discreetly find this idiot Tom Ryder whose mysterious disappearance is jeopardizing the filming…
A tribute to the “little hands” of cinema
If David Leitch is not the esthete of the frame and virtuoso choreographer of the action that The Fall Guy would have deserved (but does it exist today in Hollywood?), at least he knows what he’s talking about: former Brad Pitt understudy and stunt coordinator, he co-signed John Wick with Chad Stahelski, like him, a former stuntman, before performing solo notably Atomic BlondeAnd Bullet Train .
His new film, and best to date, is an opportunity for him to pay a sincere and mischievous tribute to his former corporation and more broadly to salute all the craftsmen, technicians and cinema workers who give their all behind the scenes and anonymity. Even if it itself turns out to be too full of computer-generated images to be completely honest on this subject, it also offers an interesting reflection on the transition from physical waterfall to digital prowess, in the same way way that Babylon marked the arrival of speaking.
An adorable bluette full of references
Necessarily, The Fall Guyoffers its fill of fights, chases and other spectacular sequences but it is in the amusing pastiche (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang by Shane Black then comes to mind) and especially in the romantic comedy that it does more than satisfy but treats, let’s say, nicely.
The sublime Emily Blunt has a blast as a wounded lover while Ryan Gosling, whose comica screwball is the coolest special effect in the film, continues after Barbie with his deconstruction of the blond male. In short, in these times of all-round grayness, this is a guilty pleasure that comes at just the right time!
