'The Fall Guy' falls short as an action comedy

But as a secret romcom, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt make it highly watchable

“The Fall Guy” is packed with incredible practical stunts. Cars flip over and over in the air. Boats leap over exploding piers. People fall out of helicopters.

And you cannot wait for it all to be over with. 

Because once the smoke clears, “The Fall Guy” gets to the parts of the movie that work best, which is the charming romcom energy between its stars. The thrill of seeing Ryan Gosling in a fistfight on top of a runaway truck is nothing compared to the thrill of seeing him banter with Emily Blunt about whether “Notting Hill” has a happy ending.

Director David Leitch (“Bullet Train”) is himself a former stuntman, and intended “The Fall Guy” to be a love letter to the underappreciated craftsmen who risk their lives for the sake of movie magic. But, perversely, the movie ends up being an ode to movie stars and their ability to elevate mediocre material – in this case, an unwieldy action-comedy with all the drama of a Universal Studios theme park stunt spectacular.

Drew Pearce’s screenplay takes a few scraps from the old Lee Majors ‘80s TV show “The Fall Guy,” including saddling Gosling’s character with the unlikely name of Colt Seavers. As the movie opens, Colt is a hotshot stuntman who is the favorite of pampered movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson doing his best Matthew McConaughey impression). While prepping for a high fall, he flirts with camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt), with whom sparks seem to be flying.

But, perhaps distracted by the flirting, the stunt goes wrong and Colt breaks his back. Cut to 18 months later, and the Fall Guy has become the Fallen Guy, a self-pitying wreck now parking cars instead of jumping them. But redemption comes when hotshot producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) calls, saying that Jody is directing her first movie in Australia, a terrible-looking sci-fi western called “Metalstorm,” and wants Colt back to stunt for Tom.

Eager to make amends, Colt heads to Sydney, but it seems like Jody isn’t at all thrilled to see him again. And Gail has an ulterior motive – Tom has gone missing, and she wants Colt to try and find him (a nod to Colt’s side hustle as a bounty hunter on the old TV show) to save Jody’s movie.

(Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures)

Much of “The Fall Guy” just feels slack and sloppy, as the movie kind of ambles back and forth between Colt performing on-set stunts and getting into fistfights and car chases in the “real world.” There’s some funny bits, including a recurring unicorn gag, but “Bullet Train” got away with its nonsense because it moved like a, well, a bullet train. “The Fall Guy” moves at more of a mosey through its 126-minute running time.

Which is a problematic pace for an action-comedy, but a perfectly fine one for a romantic comedy. When the movie gets back to Gosling and Blunt, as Colt and Jody tiptoe back towards each other, “The Fall Guy” is a fun watch. They’re both just so darn appealing, and you genuinely root for them to get back together.

There’s a moment where Colt is listening teary-eyed to “All Too Well” in his truck, and you know that the scene was envisioned as a comic one, showing that the action hero is a big softie at heart. But damned if Gosling doesn’t sell the emotion of the moment without losing the humor.

Now that’s a truly impressive stunt to pull off.

“The Fall Guy” is now playing literally everywhere.