"The Fall Guy" - Review

Stuntman Colt Sedars (Ryan Gosling) drops out of the industry after a particularly nasty accident. He seems content to be parking cars and living a quiet life until producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) tricks him into coming back to help his old flame and true love Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) with her movie. It's Jody's first time directing and whilst she's annoyed to see Colt, her leading man Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has gone missing. To save the project and prospects of the love of his life, and maybe win her back, Colt embarks on a quest to uncover the missing action star, getting into all sorts of hi-jinks in the process...

The trailer is a touch misleading. Marketed as another action film from the guy who made "Bullet Train" (which is good clean fun), this is actually closer to the Burt Reynolds movies of the 1970s: throw a bit of everything into a blender, hit "pureee" and slather it over a love story. The framework is a sort of wacky, rekindled old flame romance which Gosling and Blunt could play in their sleep. It's honestly a kind of charming throwback in that regard, something we genuinely don't get anymore, though the latter half leans a lot more into the action movie almost like methadone to wean viewers into it. The action scenes are good, the pace bounces along rather nicely, and Stephanie Hsu has a cameo and is always welcome. Plus Winston Duke is good in this.

"Jungle Cruise" Review - From the Vaults

 "Jungle Cruise"

Dr Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) is on a quest to obtain the legendary petals of "The Tree of Life", accompanied by her foppish camp brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall). She enlists the aid of Skipper Frank Wolff (Rock "The Dwayne" Johnson) to take her down river, on his battered old boat. On the way they must deal with phantom Conquistadors (led by Edgar Ramirez) and a German Prince (Jesse Plemons) also after the petals!

Do you like "The Mummy?" Of course you do, it's a masterpiece.

Do you like "Dora and the Lost City of Gold"? Of course you do, it's delightful.

This is a fun, amiable enough, not as good version of those two films. The banter and rapport at the start is fun, there is a a lovely little recurring gag about terrible puns, and they toy with the concept of this being based on a theme park ride quite nicely.

The second half is weaker than the first, being bogged down by too many villains, losing some momentum and spinning its wheels for a bit, but it's still a fun enough little romp. Jesse Plemons is having fun (though I do wish the part was played by Kirsten Dunst) and Paul Giamatti has a small scenery chewing role as an Italian loan shark.

It's a fine enough Saturday afternoon film.