'The Fall Guy' Review: Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are great fun

One of the worst sins in film is when a comedy fails to at least match the natural charisma of its stars. Not all actors are capable of being effortlessly funny without a carefully crafted script and excellent direction and editing. But Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt seem to be masters of this game, at least from a distance. Just check out her charming press tour “The scapegoat.” This is the kind of funny banter that can be a little worrying – what if their riffing was better than the film?

Then that's a big relief “The Scapegoat” does what it promises. Here's a delightful mix of action, comedy and romance that will make audiences feel like a Hollywood insider for a few hours (though there may be one too many jokes about Comic-Con and Hall H).

Loosely based on the 1980s Lee Majors television series about a stuntman who made some money on the side by bounty hunting, Gosling takes on the role of said stuntman Colt Seavers.

Colt is an everyday stunt performer and longtime contact for a major movie star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Tom is the kind of deeply egotistical and self-conscious A-lister who tells everyone he does his own stunts and worries aloud that Colt's chin is distractingly softer than his own. I believe the word “potato” is used as a descriptor. Taylor-Johnson has quite a bit of fun playing off all of his eccentricities, which you hope and fear are at least partially inspired by real-life horror stories about stars behaving badly.

The film comes from director David Leitch, the stuntman and stunt coordinator for Brad Pitt, who created and directed “John Wick.” “Atomic Blonde” And “Express train.” He's a guy who not only has the vision and know-how to bring the best stunts into films and make them pop, but also has a keen interest in bringing them into the limelight. Forget the Oscar, How about easy Any recognition? Maybe “The Fall Guy” is just a small step toward making audiences aware of some of the people behind the scenes who really make movies better and risk everything to do it.

It's telling that the film opens with Colt suffering a horrific injury on set. The stunt that goes wrong is one he's just done and it doesn't make him nervous in the slightest. The film revolves around his recovery and semi-reclusive retirement until he receives a call from Tom's producer Gail (a delightfully over-the-top Hannah Waddingham), who begs Colt to come back for a new film. They need him, she pleads, as does his longtime crush Jody (Blunt), who is making her directorial debut. She is waiting to tell him that Tom is missing and he is the one who has to find him. On his search, Colt encounters tough goons, trailblazers, a sword-wielding actress, and a corpse on the ice, all of which lead to something big and rotten. And like a selfless stuntman, he does it all out of sight of Jody – trying his best to save her film without causing her any additional worries. Nothing about it is particularly plausible, but it's not hard to follow along, and that's largely due to Gosling.

Although he is not entirely underrated for his comedic timing, especially after “Barbie”, It's fun to see him really embrace the silliness and get into it – whether it's crying and singing along to Taylor Swift's “All Too Well” or quoting movie lines to his stunt coordinator buddy (Winston Duke, always a good addition) . of an actual fight.

There's something very youthful and sweet about Jody and Colt's will-they-won't-they romance, with its mix of attraction, banter, misunderstandings and hurt feelings. It was a brilliant move to juxtapose these two and it leaves me wanting more scenes with both of them.

Using a script by Drew Pearce (“Hobbs & Shaw”), Leitch packs the film with action-packed action, both on the film sets and in the real world. And with the self-referential humor, industry jokes, and promise of a little romance, it feels like one of those movies we all complain aren't made anymore.

“The Fall Guy,” a Universal Picture release in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “action and violence, drug content and strong language.” Running time: 126 minutes. Three out of four stars.