“The Fall Guy” is director David Leitch’s love letter to stunt performers, embodied by Ryan Gosling’s title character. Leitch, a former stunt performer and coordinator himself, creates a tribute to the profession in his adaptation of the 1980s TV series that starred Lee Majors as a stunt performer who works as a bounty hunter in his off hours.
In the film, Gosling’s Colt Seavers is the former stunt double for a superstar actor who’s gone missing from a major film production directed by Colt’s ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). Colt reluctantly agrees to track down the absent star, bringing up old feelings for the former couple. Leitch mixes romance and comedy with the kind of large-scale practical stunts that celebrate the ingenuity of movie-making.
