Ryan Gosling disappoints in his new movie ‘The Fall Guy’

The actor that is well known for playing Ken in the blockbuster hit movie ‘Barbie’ has now taken a different turn with a new acting role as a stuntman, rather than a doll. 43-year-old Ryan Gosling is now starring in his 32nd film, “The Fall Guy.”

The new film is loosely based off of the 1980’s TV show “The Fall Guy” starring Lee Majors and Douglas Barr. The series aired on ABC for five years, premiering on Nov. 4, 1981 and ending on May 2, 1986. The stuntman show was a live action, PG rated series that was widely popular in the 80s and 90s. Taking the storyline into movie form, director and former stunt performer David Leich was excited for the role because he understands the art of stunt work. “The Fall Guy” distributed by Universal Pictures comes to theaters on May 3.

“The Fall Guy” takes place in Australia where Gosling stars as the main character, Colt Seavers, who plays the role of a stuntman in various movies within the film. After Colt suffered a back injury, he must find a way to get back on his feet and back into stunting. He then travels to Sydney, Australia to stunt in his ex-girlfriend Jody’s movie, Metalstorm; Jody is played by Emily Blunt. The purpose of “The Fall Guy” was to give credit to stuntmen and show some of the numerous things that they do. However, Gosling did not play a believable stuntman and he did not even do his own stunts, he had five stunt doubles.

To have an actor play a role, it needs to be believable. For Gosling in this movie, there were points where it was obvious that he was not made to act for a stuntman role. He more commonly fits the role of a comedic love interest, which there was some examples in parts of the film. However, just by watching some of the stunts, it was obvious that they were not preformed by Gosling. Therefor his role was not believable and the storyline did not make as much sense.

The storyline spends a lot of time debating over whether or not Jody and Colt will get back to together. They eventually did but there was a ton of horrifically coy dialogue and poor metaphors used throughout the film that did not make it exciting to watch. The main actors Gosling and Blunt are both successful actors on their own but do not make a great pair together. “The only reason Gosling and Blunt have “chemistry” is because they’re both impossibly beautiful. But they don’t actually have a lot of scenes together,” Neal Pollack from Book And Film Globe reported.

For example, characters Colt and Jody appeared numerous times during the movie and they were often talking on the phone. Which is ironic because they were in the same city as one another. It did not make a lot of sense to the storyline for them to frequently be speaking on the phone.

Although the movie has some comedic moments between Colt and Jody or other characters, there is no distinct storyline or focus. The film moves around with many different genre-wanna-be types like action, thrill, romance, comedy and mystery. Yet, it is categorized as an action/adventure movie. The only “action” takes place in the beginning of the plot and there is more mystery than adventure towards the falling action.

The film does include some stunts and special effects to help make the movie “action based.” However, there were other moments like a distant and not detailed “love story” as well as some random comedy moments where Goslings character would crack a joke about stuntmen or something along the lines. “The Fall Guy” bounced around from topic to topic and included many small side stories but there was not one big focus.

“‘The Fall Guy’ feels like an entire feature of scattered ideas that have been done better elsewhere,” Chase Hutchinson from TheWrap reported.

“‘The Fall Guy’ is too flat in the early going to fully meet that challenge, rallying toward the end without reaching the heights required to make a really big splash,” Brian Lowry from CNN reported.

“The Fall Guy” movie falls disappointingly short of expectations, stumbling through its runtime with a complicated plot and dull character development. The storyline feels disjointed, with scenes that seem more like disconnected sections rather than a cohesive narrative. The characters lack depth, coming across as clichéd rather than fully fleshed-out personalities. Despite the potential for thrilling action sequences, the film fails to deliver any real excitement, instead opting for predictable and uninspired set pieces. Overall, “The Fall Guy” leaves audiences feeling underwhelmed and uninvested, making it a forgettable addition to the action genre and individuals would be better off with watching other movies that Gosling has starred in, not this one.