The Fall Guy Is a Crowd-Pleasing Homage to Silver Screen Stunt Work
Most Hollywood screenplays tell the story of someone who has an ordinary, stable life, and then—and then!—something happens. A bus blows up. A single woman meets a cute stranger. A bus blows up, and then, on another bus that is also rigged with a bomb, a single woman meets a cute stranger. You get the idea.
The story is about what transpires after the something upends the calm and steady predictability of ordinary life. That something demonstrates how the hero or heroes deal with adversity. It’s a test of character that shows you who they really are.
In March of 2020, something happened to Hollywood. That something was the pandemic, which shuttered theaters across the world and shut down production for months after, and then added costs and complications for years. Then in 2023, something else happened—call it a second act twist—when Hollywood writers and actors went on strike, once again stopping most production for months.
Just as the screenplay gurus would tell you, this is a test of Hollywood’s character.
For the first time in years, fewer shows are being made and fewer films are being shown in theaters. Yes, there have been hits. But box office totals remain notably depressed from their pre-pandemic numbers. New wave film director Jean-Luc Godard once said that all you need for a movie is a girl and a gun. Today’s filmmakers, however, need something more: a girl, a gun—and an audience.
The Fall Guy, this year’s summer season opener—a role occupied by a Marvel superhero movie for most of the last decade—has a girl and some guns. And it is dead set on finding an audience. Rarely has a Hollywood production been so determined to please, and so successful in doing so.
This is a lightweight, star-driven, action rom-com of the highest order—charming, frothy, and almost exhaustingly fun. It’s not a great movie. But it’s a great time at the movies, and a reminder of the sort of pleasures that only big, silly movies can deliver.
The Fall Guy stars Ry
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