The Full Picture

The Big Picture · Review · Top Five

‘The Fall Guy’ and Top Five Ryan Gosling Movies

May 3, 2024/ 80 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins

Sean and Amanda review David Leitch's stuntman action-comedy, then each rank their five favorite Ryan Gosling movies.

11 films across 3 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

‘The Fall Guy’

The Fall Guy poster

The Fall Guy 2024

A loose summer blockbuster adapted from the Lee Majors TV series, directed by former stuntman David Leitch. Gosling plays a stuntman who follows the love of his life (Emily Blunt, directing her first feature) to an Australian shoot that turns into a crime thriller. Both hosts had a good time, Amanda a bit more than Sean, who flagged fake-looking sparks and CG in the daylight stunts. They liked the Gosling-Blunt chemistry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson doing a McConaughey riff, an All Too Well needle drop, and a DJ Khaled 'All I Do Is Win' cue, and put it in a lineage with Hooper, The Stunt Man, and Get Shorty.

Sean Fennessey's Top Five Ryan Gosling MoviesNo. 1 first

Drive poster
No. 1

Drive 2011

No. 1: the apex of Gosling saying nothing and staying still; 'The Notebook for boys,' a 2011 time capsule down to Christina Hendricks and an early Oscar Isaac.

Barbie poster
No. 2

Barbie 2023

No. 2: he called it a perfect film. Any movie where Gosling does a dream ballet makes his top five.

The Big Short poster
No. 3

The Big Short 2015

No. 3: four scenes, all suit, all venom, Gosling playing character actor and walking off with the ensemble.

La La Land poster
No. 4

La La Land 2016

No. 4: his least favorite Chazelle but still a top-five Gosling, a Singin' in the Rain homage carried by reluctant-indie charm and that ending.

The Place Beyond the Pines poster
No. 5

The Place Beyond the Pines 2012

No. 5: the wheelman half is the one he loves; a Cianfrance reunion after Blue Valentine with Mendelsohn, Cooper, and Eva Mendes.

Amanda Dobbins's Top Five Ryan Gosling MoviesNo. 1 first

The Notebook poster
No. 1

The Notebook 2004

No. 1: his most leading-man movie ever, all smolder and little talk; she wishes he and Rachel McAdams had made eight more.

The Nice Guys poster
No. 2

The Nice Guys 2016

No. 2: Shane Black buddy-comedy in the tone he's doing in The Fall Guy; real chemistry with Russell Crowe, plus Margaret Qualley and Kim Basinger.

Half Nelson poster
No. 3

Half Nelson 2006

No. 3: revisited it the day before; the Boden-Fleck Sundance drama that got him his first Oscar nomination, opposite Shareeka Epps.

First Man poster
No. 4

First Man 2018

No. 4: the Chazelle Neil Armstrong movie as the end of his not-talking era, a kind of movie stardom that no longer exists.

Drive poster
No. 5

Drive 2011

No. 5: the era of hey-girl stillness and internet's-boyfriend crime dramas.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Blockbusters The Fall Guy winks at Notting HillThe FugitiveThe Last of the MohicansCitizen KaneJohn WickBullet TrainFast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & ShawMission: Impossible - FalloutDuneGuardians of the GalaxyMagic Mike

The stuntman lineage HooperSmokey and the BanditThe Stunt ManDeath ProofGet ShortyTouch of EvilFreebie and the BeanBusting

The action-comedy-romance shelf Romancing the StoneMr. & Mrs. SmithSix Days, Seven NightsMiss CongenialityKnight and DayThe Lost City

The Gosling filmography The Gray ManThe BelieverRemember the TitansMurder by NumbersLars and the Real GirlBlue ValentineAll Good ThingsCrazy, Stupid, Love.Only God Forgives

In the release conversation ChallengersOppenheimerCivil WarLove Lies BleedingImmaculateArgylleIFBack to BlackGodzilla x Kong: The New EmpireBeetlejuice BeetlejuiceBorderlandsThe Idea of YouKingdom of the Planet of the ApesWonkaCall Me by Your NameBones and AllA Complete Unknown

In passing I'm Not ThereSingin' in the RainReversal of FortuneWarm BodiesHacksaw RidgeLights OutSuperbadEasy ACapturing the FriedmansBlackhatA Hard Day's NightRise of the Planet of the ApesWar for the Planet of the Apes

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV The Fall Guy (1981 series)Ted LassoThe JinxYoung HerculesBreaker HighHomeboys in Outer Space

Ads Bandsplain (podcast)