Tonight's Movie: The Fall Guy (2024) on the Carnival Luminosa

A little over a week ago, the first full sea day of our Alaskan cruise became increasingly blustery.

By that evening the pool water was madly sloshing out of the pool and running all over the Carnival Luminosa's Lido Deck, where crew members did their best to sweep it away.

With water running under the deck chairs, we thought the evening's poolside movie might be cancelled, but the show went on, and thus I experienced one of the more unusual movie screenings of my life!

First, some photos taken that night on our ship, starting with the water gushing over the sides of the pool as the ship rocked back and forth:

The Dive-In Movies are shown on a big screen poolside. Captioning is provided, which we found was a good thing given it's not the quietest environment, including the periodic sound of pool waves crashing.

The reactions I'd heard to THE FALL GUY from family and friends were all over the place, so I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it. As it turned out, I found it silly yet enjoyable, and it proved to be the perfect distraction from the rough seas.

Trying to fall asleep later that night, I was more than ready for the ship's rocking to end; thankfully I finally slept, and at sunrise next morning, the water was still as could be.

The rest of the cruise was smooth, although winds would later prevent us from docking at Skagway. Though I'd very much wanted to see Skagway, we ended up having our favorite day of the trip at Icy Strait Point in Hoonah instead, so it all worked out!

Back to the movie: THE FALL GUY stars two of our current biggest stars, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a stuntman knocked out of commission when a stunt goes badly wrong. As he recovers, the depressed Colt drops contact with Jody Moreno (Blunt), a camera operator with whom he'd recently started a romance.

Time passes and producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) convinces Colt to return to work as the stunt double for movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Pietro of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON). Ryder is currently filming a sci-fi movie in Australia, directed by none other than Jody, who's received her big break in the movie business.

Gail asks Colt to find the missing Tom, who's fallen in with some bad people. The search turns into a very wild ride indeed, involving murder, fights, chases, and a highly trained stunt dog, all while Colt is also attempting to rekindle his romance with the emotionally wounded Jody.

Some of the complaints I heard about THE FALL GUY were based on disappointment that it wasn't what viewers expected. And indeed, I agree it would have been a better movie if it had focused on being a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the film business. We see flashes of that film in fun romantic banter and incisive, sarcastically funny glimpses of moviemaking, but that's all subsumed into the action movie aspect.

Instead what we get is a romantic comedy which is a relatively small part of what turned out to be a stuntman superhero-type movie. But while the ultimate film might have been sillier and less original, I have to say I nonetheless found it quite fun, holding my attention throughout its 126 minutes.

Gosling and Blunt are each charming, there's lots of amusing humor, and the stunts are impressive. There are also a few delightful cameos at movie's end.

There's not a great deal more insightful criticism to share about this funny thrill ride of a movie, other than would I watch it again? Sure. In a sentence, I liked it - and I'll always remember the first time I saw it!

THE FALL GUY was directed by David Leitch and filmed by Jonathan Sela.  It was written by Drew Pearce, loosely inspired by the TV series (1981-86) created by Glen Larson.

THE FALL GUY is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Tweet