Between Covid, the streaming wars, and not one but two historic labor strikes last year, it’s been tough sledding for Hollywood. With a few exceptions like Top Gun: Maverick in 2022 and the “Barben-heimmer” phenomenon of 2023, we’ve been lacking a truly monocultural moment where everyone at the water cooler is talking about the same thing. Instead, the balkanization of our media consumption and the glut of available content mean none of us are watching the same stuff, and fewer of us than ever are regularly going to the movie theater.
Fear not, because the first weekend of May marks more than just ceremonial margaritas. Traditionally, it is also the official start of the summer blockbuster movie season. And this year, for the first time since Robert Downey Jr. first donned the Iron Man suit in 2008, it wasn’t a Marvel super hero kicking us off. Instead, it was The Fall Guy, Universal’s new quasi-original action comedy headlined by two of the stars of the biggest movies of last year: Ryan Gosling from Barbie and Emily Blunt from Oppenheimer.
The Fall Guy is a zippy, if somewhat underbaked, 125-minute love letter to stunt men, the unsung heroes of our favorite summer movies. The action set pieces are creative and well-choreographed. The 80s hair needle drops are electric. Gosling continues to inspire as leading man. He and Blunt have great romantic chemistry, but the movie suffers from the sardonic, metatextual, tongue-in-cheek quality that pervades modern movies. Ultimately, The Fall Guy is tonally inconsistent and overstuffed. I wish it was more sincere, but I was nonetheless highly entertained.
Unfortunately, from a business perspective, the film was a massive flop. With a reported pre-marketing budget of over $130 million, The Fall Guy only brought in $28 million on opening weekend. Industry commentators quickly went into a tailspin.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, however, there is Challengers, Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s psychological sports drama that follows a love triangle set in the high-stakes world of professional tennis. Challengers explores the complex emotions at the core of competition, both in athletics and romance. The script soars, with Zendaya stealing the show as the ambitious and controlling Tashi, further cementing herself as *the* A-list movie star of her generation. The cinematography, particularly during the climactic tennis match, is innovative if not groundbreaking. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s thumping techno score will have your heart rate almost as high as the athletes’.
Distributed by Warner Bros. and Amazon MGM, Challengers had a modest budget of $55 million. Since its April opening, it’s had great legs, making over $78 million at the box office primarily through word of mouth. So, it’s a mixed bag to start the summer. The original, big budget action comedy may be dead, replaced in totality by the superhero slop we’ve been trough-fed for a decade and a half. But all is not lost. There are still thoughtful writers, cutting-edge filmmakers, and risk-taking actors out there making brilliant original films. We just have to get in line and buy a ticket.
The Fall Guy: 3.5 Stars
Challengers: 4.5 Stars