The Fall Guy / Or, Why Isn't This a Billion Dollar Movie?

I watched the Fall Guy twice this weekend. Rare is the time that I see a movie on consecutive days (Pulp Fiction), or twice within a week (Everything Everywhere). The Fall Guy made me do it.

Yeah, I should have seen it earlier - I wanted to. But circumstances didn't quite work out.

But then I saw it, and as much as I loved it, I also was forced, sadly, to lament that it's maybe barely broken even at this point almost a month after its release. This should be a billion dollar movie, people. This is so much better than any Marvel movie since Iron Man. (And, probably better than Iron Man anyway.) Definitely better than any DC movie, period. Or any monsterverse movie (this does not count Godzilla Minus One, or Monarch the tv show - though again this is probably better than either of those, and make no mistake I loved both). Or anything that pushes CGI garbage, giving you the illusion that you're watching a live action film when really you're watching a hypnotoad cartoon.

Here is an incomplete list of reasons why this movie is amazing:

1a. Ryan Gosling - Baby Goose is in his best form since Nice Guys or Crazy Stupid Love (and also Drive, though he is much less intense here).

1b. Emily Blunt - talk about the perfect foil for the guy who has everything - she has everything too!

1ab. Ryan Gosling + Emily Blunt - this is very very believable onscreen chemistry and you root like hell for this couple to make it.

2. The love letter to practical stunts and the people who perform them - it's all just so impressive to watch this series of escalating dangerous situations, crafted solely for our benefit. Plus, there's a paragraph in the letter to stunt dogs and c'mon, this good boy kills it. (Incidentally, for a Canadian Baby Goose's French is not so hot.)

3. The love letter to movie making - it's two love letters, and one is to the actual movie making process. It's all so meta, with the talk of split screens and oners and all that, but then there's watching the team of cameras on all sorts of vehicles capturing the stunt vehicles and the stunties. It shows us what a director does, what a producer does, what on the fly script changes look like, all that stuff. It's very cool. It's not original, to show the show within (or around) a show, but it's fascinating and eminently watchable the way they present it. Also, see 1b.

4. It's very funny. I lol'ed multiple times. Overall it's just very, very entertaining.

There's other stuff as well: the rest of the cast (Winston Duke I see you), the soundtrack (so much KISS - but the real gem was the original Fall Guy theme in the credits).

I really cannot recommend it enough, and I really am sad that this didn't make a billion dollars. It's movies like this that deserve recognition so that more movies like this get made.

Please people, I implore you to go see this movie in the theatre if possible. THE FALL GUY!!