Tag: rom-com

THE FALL GUY – Review

Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch. Courtesy of Universal Pictures

A love letter to Hollywood and stunt men, THE FALL GUY is an entertaining, stunt-packed action/comedy film wrapped around a rom-com center, starring Ryan Gosling as a stuntman and Emily Blunt as the director on a big-budget action film. The two have a romantic history, and Gosling’s stuntman is longing to get her back, but there are plenty of complications, thanks mostly to the big-ego action star he is doubling and a manipulative high-powered producer, even before all those risky stunts.

Ryan Gosling follows up his Ken role in BARBIE with action-filled part as a hardworking stunt man, in director David Leitch’s THE FALL GUY. Leitch is a former stuntman, so he knows what he is doing here with this action-comedy. Leith goes with practical effects rather than green screen giving this entertaining, escapist delight an extra layer of enjoyment. The film was inspired by “The Fall Guy” TV show but draws on a host of movies about stunt work and movie-making like THE STUNT MAN and the Burt Reynolds’s vehicle HOOPER.

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is the long-time stunt double for action-movie superstar Tom Ryan (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). While working on Tom’s latest thriller, Colt has fallen for assistant director Jody (Emily Blunt). Just as their romance is getting started, Colt suffers a serious injury when a stunt goes wrong. His confidence shaken, Colt retreats into isolation, quits stunt work and ghosts Jody. But when the high-powered producer (Hannah Waddingham) tracks Colt down and tells him that Jody, now the director on her first big-budget film, a sci-fi action epic called METALSTORM, wants him to once again stunt double her film’s star Tom Ryan, Colt eventually agrees. Filled with regret about Jody, Colt hopes to rekindle their love affair but when he shows up on location in Sydney, Australia, he discovers Jody didn’t ask for him and doesn’t know why he’s there. Still hurt, Jody does decide to let Colt stay on but she is constantly testing him, making him do stunts over and over, and over. Meanwhile, Colt’s friend, stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke), does what he can to help out the pining Colt.

But then writer Drew Pearce piles on another layer, the real reason the producer wanted Colt there: star Tom Ryan has gone missing. If Colt can’t find him, the studio will pull the plug on Jody’s big-break movie. No one else knows Tom actually has disappeared – they think it is just not showing up, as he sometimes does – and Colt has to get him back before anyone finds out. The stuntman sets out to find Tom, with a little help from the star’s assistant (Stephanie Hsu), but Colt quickly finds himself embroiled in something more complicated, a mystery with underworld types and more questions than answers.

THE FALL GUY has plenty of humor, sly Hollywood jokes and movie references. The practical-effects stunts are outstanding and nearly non-stop. THE FALL GUY features an action/thriller plot wrapped around a rom-com story (a genre that could use a reboot), with Gosling and Blunt delightful as the couple, going back-and forth about restarting their romance. The humor leans into move insider jokes and poking at Hollywood tropes and more, including some ribbing of Tom Cruise, but this is not primarily a satire but a celebration of the art and craft of movie stunts and the people who do them.

While THE FALL GUY is fun, it is not flaw-free. It gets off to a precarious start by not allowing enough time at the beginning for the audience to get really get to know the two lead characters enough to want to really cheer for their love story. Once on track with the hunt for the missing star, the plot gets overly far-fetched and then also gets bogged down in a series of fights and chases with the stuntman fighting real baddies on the streets of Sydney. But eventually THE FALL GUY gets back on track, recovers from those stumbles in time, with the help of appealing performances by Blunt and Gosling, and refocuses in time to deliver a bang-up stunt–filled finale and a crowd-pleasing Hollywood ending.

Whether or not you enjoy THE FALL GUY depends on how much you appreciate real stunt work over CGI, and also how much you like Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. For the right audience, it is one fun ride.

THE FALL GUY opens Friday, May 3, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE – Review

Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz and Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry, in RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE. Courtesy of Amazon Prime

It’s still summer, so it’s still time for light, puffy comedies while the temps are warm. RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE is a beach-read of a comedy, a frothy confection in which a young American meets a young British prince. Except this American is not someone ordinary but the son of the President – a woman President no less. But the president’s son and the royal develop an immediate mutual dislike, but despite their dislike, they are forced to pretend to be friends for diplomatic reasons. You know where this goes but what looks at first like a bromance quickly shifts into gay rom-com. RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE is a modern fantasy packed with rom-com tropes, plenty of silliness, plus a touch of Jane Austen and Harry and Meghan flavor. And it all starts with a disaster involving a giant cake.

Based on the novel by Casey McQuiston, first-time director Matthew Lopez sets out to create a escapist fantasy geared to please fans of the book. This rom-com may be the feature film directing debut for Matthew Lopez, who also co-wrote the script with Ted Malawer, but Lopez is a Tony Award-winning playwright, winning for “The Inheritance.”

Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) is sent by his mother, President Claremont (Uma Thurman, sporting an odd Southern accent), along with Nora (Rachel Hilson), the granddaughter of the vice president, to represent the U.S. at a royal wedding of Britain’s Prince Phillip (Thomas Flynn), the heir to his grandfather’s throne. The media likes to compare the President’s handsome son Alex to Phillip’s younger brother Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), which irritates Alex no end. Entering the wedding reception already miffed by a a perceived snub, Alex has a bit too much to drink and there is an altercation next to the enormous wedding cake, with disastrous results. Back home, the President, Alex’s mom, orders her son back to Britain to pretend to be buddies with Henry, a plan cooked up with British contacts to smooth the diplomatic and PR water prior to an important economic summit.

You know where this goes, but that predictability is part of what rom-com fans like and this one delivers on that with karaoke, parties and other familiar tropes. This is a decidedly modern rom-com too, including a clever representation of texting and some nice banter. The movie uses a lot of familiar names from the actual British royal family but the family structure is significantly rearranged.

The two leads are handsome and appealing, with Nicholas Galitzine adding a “shy Di” touch to his blonde prince. While Prince Henry is gay, Alex is less sure of his sexual orientation, and explores some of that as part of the plot, although there is nothing really heavy here. A few bedroom scenes earned the film an R rating.

Clifton Collins Jr. gives a nice, and too brief, turn as Alex’s Hispanic dad. Stephen Fry gives us a fine turn as the King. Rachel Hilson brings a lot of charm and humor as Alex’s lively best friend Nora, while Sarah Shahi brings a breathless hysteria as the President’s assistant, often tasked with keeping wild Alex in line.

There is not much reality in this fantasy romance, including that re-imagined royal family. Alex moves freely without Secret Service and Henry is able to go unrecognized in a Texas bar, just by wearing a baseball cap. Except for Alex’s one pal who is a member of the press, reporters and paparazzi are remarkably absent.

At about 2 hours, RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE feels like it runs a bit too long, and sags a bit in its later third. For rom-com fans and particularly fans of the book, this movie should satisfy but for the rest of us, this light late-summer romantic fantasy is pretty light on interest too.

RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE opens Friday, Aug. 11, on Prime Video.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

THE PAY DAY – Review

Kyla Frye and Sam Benjamin in The Pay Day (2022). © The Pay Day Film Ltd

Comedy heist flicks can be a real treat. When blended with a rom-com, even more so. But only if you have a sufficiently twisty script, and leading actors who click on-screen. Sam Benjamin and Kyla Frye are attractive enough, but the script they co-wrote for themselves in THE PAY DAY does the acting side of their careers no favors in the appeal of the heist or the chemistry between the characters they play.

Jennifer (Kyla Frye) is a London tech whiz unfairly fired after performing a major overhaul of a large company’s computer system. Broke and desperate, she’s recruited (and snidely coerced) by a shady fellow (Simon Callow) to break into a very secure establishment and hack its system to get the key for recovering 500 million euros embezzled over time by a bunch of crooked politicians. Her promised 1% share will relieve all sorts of imminent pressures she’s facing…and then some.

From the get-go, nothing about the plan occurs as expected. Among the complications is the appearance of a character introduced as John Smith (Sam Benjamin), whose identity and motives are unclear. But Frye soon learns he’s hell-bent on snatching the “flashy” drive she made containing the valuable data. Most of the running time involves the two of them clashing, alternating in the upper-hand position, while avoiding the building’s security forces, and possibly falling for each other.

That may seem like a lot, but it doesn’t feel that way. Frye’s path from getting canned to accepting the challenge is up to snuff. But all that occurs within the barren walls of the targeted building grows tedious, and the temptation the characters are supposed to be feeling about their rivals never rings true. The script just isn’t exciting enough to support the potential appeal of the two stars and the premise. Even worse, the film ends at a point that seems to have been dictated by budget, rather than completion. Not a satisfying example of success in this genre.

THE PAY DAY opens Monday, Nov. 14, in select theaters and is available on-demand starting Nov. 11.

RATING: 1 out of 4 stars