‘The Fall Guy’ review: Ryan Gosling doesn’t reach the heights needed to make a really big splash

CNN
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Superhero movies have seen better days at the box office, but an action comedy based on a 1980s TV show still seems like an unlikely candidate to kick off the summer. Buoyed by the allure of what Ryan Gosling can do for a post-“Barbie” (or Ken-core) encore, “The Fall Guy” is too flat at first to fully meet that challenge, rallying toward the end without reaching the heights required to cause a sensation.

At his best, director David Leitch (“Deadpool 2”) served up a film defined by his love of cinema, and specifically the stunt work where he cut his professional teeth before settling into the big chair . In this sense, the TV series starring Lee Majors (a show most memorable for its theme song, which is featured) creates a very vague template for setting a vehicle on a stuntman whose problems spill off the screen in real life, forcing him to put his skills to use against real villains.

Getting there requires some preparation, with Gosling’s Colt Seavers being introduced as an understudy for a typically egocentric star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), while also becoming involved with Jody (Emily Blunt), another member of the crew .

An accident derails Colt’s plans and even his life, and time passes before he is called out of retirement by Gail (Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham), the fast-talking troubleshooting producer on all the films by Ryder. Of course, he’d probably stay safe at home if the space epic in question didn’t mark Jody’s directorial debut, offering the prospect of a reunion that, understandably, doesn’t go as well as he hoped .

There are also hidden reasons for the renewed interest in Colt, which have to do with off-screen shenanigans and Ryder’s involvement with some nefarious characters. This forces Colt to go into private detective mode, using his filmmaking skills to put himself both in and out of perilous situations.

Setting up all of this, including the romance, results in dry stretches between the elaborate stunts, which are ultimately the main source of “The Fall Guy”‘s appeal and certainly its comedy. Gosling gives Colt a goofy charm and a fun neediness, but the underlying premise was a bit strained, even in the Reagan era, and putting the whole thing on steroids for the movies doesn’t completely solve those problems.

“The Fall Guy” therefore stands out mainly for smaller moments and wrinkles, like Colt’s boss (Winston Duke) constantly quoting movie lines at him, Taylor-Johnson looking a lot like Matthew McConaughey and a stunt dog trained to answer in French. , including a particularly juvenile command.

Perhaps above all, “The Fall Guy” feels weighed down by the weight of expectations and its positioning as a major blockbuster when the film actually functions as a lighthearted ode to the unknown stuntman, in a way that is fundamentally simply kind. Gosling has broad shoulders, but trying to do something more is, even for him, a big job.

“The Fall Guy” premieres May 3 in U.S. theaters. It is rated PG-13.