Successful screwball comedies thrive on chaos, amidst which the audience is supposed to find thrill and fun as if taking a rollercoaster ride. By and large, "The Fall Guy" delivers on this promise.
A "fall guy" typically refers to someone unfairly taking the blame. In a series of jumps and falls, the protagonist, a stuntman, embodies the pun. Undoubtedly, he runs the show, until he suffers a back-breaking fall in a stunt failure engineered by a bad guy hiding in the plain sight.
Meanwhile, why doesn't his sweetheart nurse him back to health? She simply ditches him and pursues her movie director's dreams instead. Then, after an 18-month break, she catches up with her old flame. OK. Never mind. No comedy ends in bitter, salty tears anyway.
My ending note? I'm not under the impression that "The Fall Guy" is a homage to stuntmen, just as I don't believe James Bond movies truly pay tribute to MI6.
