The Fall Guy is The Nice Guys sequel we’ll probably never get

Stephen Porzio

While Ryan Gosling recently dampened hopes of The Nice Guys 2, his latest movie makes the sad news easier to take.

Ryan Gosling has been on the press circuit for his new action comedy The Fall Guy, a reboot of the 1980s TV series of the same name which lands in cinemas this week.

As part of the press tour, the actor has been fielding questions about one particular topic – the chances of there ever being a sequel to The Nice Guys, his hilarious, cult action comedy from 2016 which was written and directed by Shane Black and which Gosling starred in opposite Russell Crowe.

Despite being critically acclaimed and eventually attracting a devout following, The Nice Guys was less successful financially upon its initial release, grossing only $62.8 million on a $50 million budget.

This has put the chances of a follow-up in doubt, though Crowe has been on the record as thinking Nice Guys: Mexican Detectives would be a good sequel title.

Speaking about the possibility of a Nice Guys 2 with ComicBook.com recently, Gosling admitted: “So much of a sequel, I think, is decided by the opening weekend of a movie, and we opened up against Angry Birds. So Angry Birds just, just destroyed us. Angry Birds got a sequel.”

That being said, The Fall Guy – aside from obviously starring Gosling and having the word ‘guy’ in its title – shares more DNA with The Nice Guys than you might expect.

For one, its screenplay was penned by Drew Pearce who once co-wrote another film with Shane Black – Iron Man 3.

And one wonders if Black’s style rubbed off on Pearce because while The Fall Guy is different in many ways to The Nice Guys – it is set in modern times, it’s not a buddy comedy, it is 12A rated – it does also feature Gosling in silly mode as an unconventional, bumbling detective trying to work out a mystery with ties to the film industry.

In the new flick, Gosling plays Colt Seavers – who begins the movie as the long-time stuntman for the widely beloved, though secretly incredibly irritating, Hollywood star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

Working on Ryder’s latest blockbuster, the stuntman is also part of a passionate romance with the film’s camera operator Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).

After suffering a severe injury on set, however, Seavers leaves stunt work behind – blaming himself for the accident – and turns his back on Jody.

Cut to 18 months later, Ryder’s frequent producer (Hannah Waddingham) begs Seavers to travel to Australia to save the movie his ex is now making her directorial debut with – something she has always dreamed about.

It turns out Ryder has gone missing and given how intimately his former stuntman knows him, he is tasked with locating the actor. Seeing this as the way to reconnect with Moreno, Seavers accepts the mission.

As movie premises go, The Fall Guy’s is admittedly brilliant. For one thing, it’s extremely fun and refreshing to centre an action comedy around a stuntman so that when the crazy fight sequences come – you actually believe that the hero could fend for himself against a dozen guys or jump from buildings and moving vehicles without dying.

It helps too that the film is helmed by veteran stunt performer and coordinator turned director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, Bullet Train) who brings a personal connection to the material, while also keeping the inventively staged action coming frequent and quick – even if sometimes sequences can feel slightly too digital for a flick aiming to honour the practical work of stunt performers.

On top of this, the premise is great because it enables two of Hollywood’s most charismatic actors in Blunt and Gosling to share genuine romantic chemistry, as well as just have fun.

In particular, it is clear that Gosling is having a blast playing another lovable fool – viewers get to witness such delightful moments as his character crying listening to Taylor Swift, ingesting psychedelics and seeing unicorns, and confusing the ending of Notting Hill with Pretty Woman – while nailing Pearce’s witty one-liners and self-referential dialogue.

Also a delight in a supporting role is the rumoured next 007 Taylor-Johnson, adopting a bit of a Matthew McConaughey twang to parody with surprising bite the type of Hollywood star with a widely inflated opinion of their own genius and importance.

Like all of Leitch’s solo directorial efforts, The Fall Guy doesn’t know when to end its climactic sequence – which goes on probably 15 minutes longer then need be.

But honestly, it does little to harsh the fun breezy vibes of the movie which delivers solid romance and action, a loving tribute to stuntman and also the quasi Nice Guys sequel we may never get.

We’re still holding out hope for Nice Guys: Mexican Detectives though.