Movie Monday: The Fall Guy

 So I saw the movie The Fall Guy last week and I enjoyed it very much. I love books and movies that combine different genres and this certainly fits that criteria! It's an action adventure, mystery suspense, romantic comedy. 

I loved how there'd be a throwaway line (or a random post-it note) in one act that would eventually turn out to be a set-up (or maybe even the punchline) for a joke that doesn't occur until the next act. I love how they repeatedly nudged at the fourth wall within the context of their  "movie within a movie". I loved how over the top it was--every trope, every cliche, every plot twist and complication...well, okay, they might have missed a couple of twists, but not many. I loved all the movie references and the way that some of the characters communicated almost entirely by quoting lines to each other. I loved how I could see everything that was coming, and they still managed to surprise me.  It was a very charming, epic, madcap, screwball, slapstick farce. 

I personally would have been just as happy if a good percentage of the fight scenes-slash-stunts had been left out, but I understood that the sheer, absurd superfluousness was kind of the point. You've probably heard that it was designed to be a love letter to the stunt industry, so it made perfect sense that they just threw everything they had, everything they could think of doing, into this movie. 

It was joyful and playful. It looked like the kind of film that everyone had a blast making. I saw one review that complained that the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt wasn't that good. And all I can think is that we must have been watching two different movies. Because I completely disagree with that assessment. I think they're an amazing comedic duo.

It's snarky, ironic, clever and very meta. The actors in the film-within-the-film are frequently asked to do another take--and another, and another--to the point where the audience (or maybe just me?) was saying, "enough already. we get it!" But, aside from it sometimes being a point that "the director" or "the movie star" was making (and/or an important plot point, or an excuse for another stunt) it was also very true to life...which made it a very self-aware, intentional, commentary on the movie making experience. 

I enjoyed it a great deal. HOWEVER, if you go and see it, don't be like me and leave during the credits. I knew it was exactly the kind of movie that would have an additional scene and I was right, but I let myself get talked into leaving. 

Now I suppose I'll have to watch it again. Oh, darn.

I'm giving this movie a rating of four popcorn buckets. They lose one due to the fact that they made Aaron Taylor Johnson SO unlikable. It's similar to how I reacted to Julia Roberts in Notting Hill. The way she played the role, she really sold the whole "just a girl standing in front of a guy" thing so well that it was hard to take her seriously as a famous movie star. Even though, at the time, she was the most highly paid female actor in the world. 

Which, I know, sounds like a me problem. But it's my popcorn. 

And also...I was hoping for a little more of a payoff for the missing mouth guard bit.