You know, a film company and its stars are leaving no stone unturned in trying to ensure the film’s success when the lead star shows up for the Hollywood premiere, reprising the Beavis role he took on for a Saturday Night Live skit two weeks ago. Ryan Gosling as Beavis, with SNL regular Mikey Day as Butthead, were viral sensations back then, so it was a typical Hollywood ploy to have Gosling and Day show up a few days ago as B&B when they gatecrashed the interview of Emily Blunt at The Fall Guy premiere - risking in making the premiere go viral as well. Mikey Day isn’t even in the film.

But Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are, and on the strength alone of how casting the two is a Barbie meets Oppenheimer coup - Gosling was Ken, while Blunt played the wife of Oppenheimer, you’d have thought there wasn’t a need to resort to the Beavis gimmick. But then again, when was Hollywood ever known for subtlety or restraint? 

David Leitch directs, and he used to be a stunt performer and stunt coordinator. He worked on John Wick but was uncredited and directed both Bullet Train (Brad Pitt) and Atomic Blonde (Charlize Theron), two strong action films that gained their own strong following, noted for mixing tongue-in-cheek humor with the impressive action sequences.

Gosling is stuntman Colt Seavers, a double for the egotistical, conceited Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). When we first meet Colt, he’s having a passionate affair with camera operator Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). A set accident and Colt’s punctured ego put an end to the affair, and it’s years later, on the set of Metalstorm, which Moreno is directing, Seaver resurfaces. That’s about as much plot that we need to know as the movie charms in what follows - a slightly goofy stuntman rom-com. 

References to past action films and TV shows (from Fast and the Furious to Last of the Mohicans and Miami Vice) and to rom-coms (Notting Hill, Pretty Woman, and Love, Actually) all showcase the love and devotion to the world of movies from the people behind this film. And while Gosling does most of the heavy lifting, there are moments of tenderness and effective chemistry with Blunt. But yes, given that this is a love letter to the stunt industry, it’s full of crashes, fights, spills, fireballs, and explosions.

We saw Gosling’s gift for physical comedy in the hilarious The Nice Guys (2016), where he was paired with Russell Crowe. Shane Black directed that, and it’s curious to note that Shane is the original stuntman turned film director, with Leitch following in Black’s footsteps.

Inspired by a 1980s TV show that starred Lee Majors and Heather Thomas, this film doesn’t owe much to that show other than the use of the title and cameos from both Majors and Thomas. The bigger cameo, I suspect, would be how they brought Beavis and Butthead to the film premiere. It's funny; this film can stand alone and should be an early summer hit.