It’s All About the Sexy Bacon

In the new film The Fall Guy, a producer character played by Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham describes her formula for making a successful movie. She says you have to surround the meat of the film with “sexy bacon,” those aspects that make the whole thing more attractive.

Here, the sexy bacon is Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and it’s that pairing that makes this film loosely based on the 1980s TV show so much fun.

For what it’s worth, the meat of The Fall Guy involves Gosling’s Colt Seavers, an experienced stunt performer who suffers a near-career-ending injury on set when a high-wire fall goes awry. Eighteen months later, Colt gets the opportunity to make a comeback when he’s hired to work on a big-budget blockbuster called Metal Storm that’s being directed by his ex-girlfriend, Jody (Blunt), who he ghosted after his injury.

But soon after arriving on set in Australia, Colt learns that the film’s self-centered star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), is missing, and it’s up to Colt to save the day — and the film, and his relationship with Jody.

It’s not exactly a complicated plot, and the twists are somewhat predictable. But you and I both know “all too well” you’re not going to see The Fall Guy for a plot, are you? No. You’re going to see it for Gosling and Blunt, and the two Barbenheimer stars deliver. This pair have the kind of effortless, high-wattage charm that makes the whole thing an absolute blast. Seeing Colt pine over Jody and try to win her back, and she respond by trying to make him miserable for breaking her heart is funny stuff, and while there’s no suspense to the relationship, the two actors sell it easily.

The film was directed by David Leitch, who made his directorial debut with the first John Wick film alongside Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski got the credit. Leitch’s official credits include Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train. It was produced by 87North, makers of the aforementioned films, and others, including Violent Night and Nobody. Suffice it to say, this team knows its way around action scenes and moviemaking. They’re one of the best stunt teams in the game.

The Fall Guy serves as a loving tribute to these men and women, whose faces we intentionally never see, but who do all the dangerous action sequences (in this film and many others) and make them look real so the famous movie stars don’t get hurt. Appropriately, the film includes plenty of impressive action. There are classic stunts like cannon rolls, drops, actors lit on fire, a motorboat chase, hand-to-hand combat, a climactic jump onto a helicopter, and lots of explosions, as well as an exciting chase through the streets of Sydney in which Colt tries to hang on to a truck and take out some bad guys while the vehicle causes all kinds of destruction. In this scene and others, it looks like every single dollar of the budget is on the screen.

There’s currently no Oscars category for these stunt performers — a point referenced in one of the film’s many, many inside jokes — and The Fall Guy makes a more than adequate case for why there should be one. And, it should be noted, if you watch through the film’s end credits, you’ll see the actual stunt performers performing the stunts you just saw in the movie.

Leitch and screenwriter Drew Pearce load up the film with plenty of references to Leitch and 87North’s films (and Gosling’s Drive), and life on a set, that will amuse anyone with a working knowledge of how movies get made. There are also lots of meta references to the movie we’re currently watching, such as a scene where Colt and Jody discuss the merits of a split-screen while interacting in (yes) split-screen. Leitch and Pearce know how ridiculous much of what we’re watching is and even try to anticipate some of the criticism the film might receive. Turns out they know crazy stunts and star chemistry can only obscure so much.

Alright, so The Fall Guy isn’t perfect. But it’s almost silly to mention faults like an overlong run time and plot weaknesses when the film is generally so much fun to watch.

Yes, you can give much of the credit for that to our sexy-bacon stars, Gosling and Blunt, who have chemistry to spare and look like they enjoyed making the movie as much as we’re enjoying watching it. If they’re driving, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride, bumps and all.

I’m giving The Fall Guy a solid B. Or, in stuntperson parlance, thumbs up.