Last summer, Ryan Gosling manifested Kenergy for the blockbuster phenomenon Barbie. This year, he’s doing his part to kick off the summer movie season with the similarly hilarious The Fall Guy. 

Loosely adapted from the ’80s TV series about stunt performers who also dabble in bounty hunting, the film is a big-hearted action comedy that also functions as a valentine to the art of stuntwork. 

The Fall Guy comes courtesy of David Leitch, who cut his teeth as a stuntman on dozens of projects since the late ’90s. He has since risen to the ranks as director of non-stop actioners like Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train. While he struggles with storytelling skills like pacing and prioritization, Leitch taps into the weapons-grade charm of his lead actors and puts forth his most accomplished work from the director’s chair so far.

Gosling shines as stunt performer Colt Seavers, who doubles for hot-shot action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) until an on-set injury leaves Colt with a broken back and a broken spirit. Eighteen months later, the now-reclusive Colt gets a call from big-time producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), who wants him to get back in the stuntman saddle for a sci-fi epic called Metalstorm. Colt balks at the opportunity, until Gail tells him it’s being directed by Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), with whom he shared a brief romance when she worked as a camera operator. He makes the trek to the set in Australia, only to find out Ryder has gone missing and could be involved in shady dealings.

From there, The Fall Guy’s overly convoluted plot is mainly an excuse to get Gosling into as many stunt-reliant scenes — be they car chases, shootouts, brawls, or any combinations therein — as possible. Though they wear out their welcome a bit in the extended third act, these sequences are cleverly conceived and as skillfully executed as one would expect from a movie dedicated to stuntwork. The most memorable of these involves Gosling and a personal assistant (Stephanie Hsu) in peril, popping in and out of a seemingly indestructible garbage truck as it tears through the streets of Sydney. Another fun set piece finds Colt and his stunt coordinator (Winston Duke) as they use prop weapons to fend off a gaggle of henchmen. Duke is a hoot as he calls out action stars like Jason Bourne, the way a kid would mid-skirmish while playing pretend, as he puts the hurt on the bandits.

From the romance side of things, The Fall Guy does not care much about creating believable tension that Gosling and Blunt’s characters won’t get together, but their chemistry is dynamite regardless. Much in the way that his Ken pined for Barbie last summer, Gosling plays persistent puppy dog in his affections for Blunt’s reticent moviemaker. As terrific as their banter is, my favorite scene between the two is a dialogue-free one set to The Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” in which they choreograph and shoot an action montage in front of Sydney Opera House. Their characters have a shorthand and playfulness in their interaction that is absolutely infectious and underscores the unique joy in shooting a film on this scale with people who are on the same wavelength.

On top of the character work, the film has plenty of showbiz in-jokes (be sure to stay through the credits) and meta commentary that occasionally hits harder than it needs to in an otherwise frivolous blockbuster. 

There’s a throughline about deep-fake technology that not only feels relevant, given how often the technique is being used in videos we see all the time, but also makes one wonder how long Hollywood has used it to make stunt doubles look like their corresponding stars. Leitch also sneaks in an acute observation about how female directors can be unfairly pushed around by producers and actors on-set, based on the inference that they’re not as willing to stand their ground. 

But at the end of the day, this isn’t a treatise on gender inequality or the perils of AI; it’s a popcorn movie whose main duty is laughs and stunts, of which it has both in spades. You won’t see a movie all summer that works harder to entertain you than The Fall Guy.

New movies coming this weekend

• Out in theaters is Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes, a sci-fi action movie starring Owen Teague and Freya Allan involving a young ape who goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he’s been taught and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
• Streaming on Disney+ is Let It Be, a recently restored documentary covering The Beatles’ attempt to recapture their old group spirit by making a back-to-basics album which instead drove them further apart.
• Premiering on Netflix is Mother of the Bride, a romantic comedy starring Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove about a mother who is surprised by her daughter’s spontaneous wedding and is even more surprised to find out the groom is the son of the man who broke her heart years ago.