I saw two movies on Labor Day: one is an emotional rollercoaster of Hollywood fun and entertainment, the other is a bizarre local horror-comedy. Both are currently showing in cinemas nationwide.

THE FALL GUY (2024)

Everybody likes a good love story wrapped in a “sexy bacon” of non-stop action-comedy and adventure. The Fall Guy is just that —David Leitch’s super-fun popcorn flick, which received a standing ovation at this year’s South by Southwest (SWSX) festival in Austin.

This is the funniest comedy Ryan Gosling has starred in since 2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love. No, I don’t consider his Ken in the overhyped Barbie funny.

Here, Gosling plays Colt Seavers, the best stuntman in Hollywood. But after a horrific accident on a film set, which severely injured his back (and his soul), Colt disappears from Hollywood and from the life of his girlfriend and camerawoman, Jody Moreno (the prolific Emily Blunt).

More than a year later, Jody and Colt unwittingly reunite on the set of a cheeky sci-fi epic called Metalstorm, Jody’s directorial debut.

That’s when the romantic drama surfaces, as Colt and Jovy are forced to face their many unresolved issues in the midst of cannon rolls, a devious film producer (Hannah Waddingham), and a famous movie star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who is also a frustrated Tom Cruise.

Capitalizing on themes of heartbreak and intense yearning — and the murky, messy misunderstandings between two lonely lovers — The Fall Guy is terribly romantic and hilarious.

Penned by Drew Pearce, based on the 1980s TV series, the dialogue is witty and snappy, triggering a series of LOLs. Gosling and Blunt have sizzling chemistry, the camera often capturing their glistening eyes that brim with pain, confusion, and sadness.

Audiences will root for Colt, “a superhero without a cape,” as he only uses his stunt skills to solve a dangerous crime. All in the name of love.

While at its core is a love story, The Fall Guy is also a riotous satire on the dark side of Hollywood blockbuster productions —from manipulative producers to insecure, megalomaniac celebrities and the perilous jobs of stuntmen (the true heroes of high-octane action flicks), and canine actors.

Bathed mostly in orange hues, with great attention to tiny comedic details, such as a bald man with a leopard-printed head, drug-induced unicorns, zany costumes, and French-language-trained dogs, Leitch obviously had fun creating an entertaining movie experience.

Cinema lovers will enjoy the many movie references, meta, and parodies, while folks in the film industry will no doubt enjoy the behind-the-scenes of a commercial movie production.

This one is worth the ticket price at the movie house.

4 out of 5 stars

BANTAY-BAHAY (2024)

Coming on the heels of Pepe Herrera’s current movie fame, Regal Entertainment releases Jose Javier Reyes’ low-budget horror-comedy Bantay-Bahay.

Herrera plays a loser, Caleb, who is tasked by his girlfriend to house-sit her Grandma’s ancestral mansion, which happens to be hiding a supernatural-horror secret.

While Herrera is a competent thespian, throwing him into a slapstick comedy with a seemingly rushed script is painful to watch. He would often scream “Mommy!” when he’s scared, his face a feigned contortion of fear mixed with forced comedy. His whimpering feels staged, like someone trying to entertain a toddler.

But it’s not Herrera’s fault. The actor, with his intellectual face, is better suited to intelligent, deadpan comedies, not in a comedy with a lazy script.

It’s very much a one-man show, which uses the social-media culture as a vehicle for its humor, which does not work. Javier even strangely made his ghosts and demons attractive (with cheap makeup and visual effects). His biggest villain, Lucio is played by a very attractive Johannes Rissler. Hence, there is zero sense of threat.

The supposed source of stress is the fact that Caleb is trapped inside the mansion, surrounded by beautiful, non-threatening entities. His adventure is incorporated with highly predictable jump scares, captured by camera angles that do not employ techniques for horror and tension. It greatly relies on musical scoring to inject horror in bland sequences.

The punchlines do not land, and nothing in the startlingly antiquated script is the least bit funny or entertaining. It’s an hour-and-a-half of endurance test as you watch Herrera fake-scared as he runs around the mansion, flailing his arms. It is also devoid of mood, lighting and atmospheric feels. Everything feels like pretend play.

Then Reyes surprises us with a lengthy lecture on climate change via Lucio, to give his villain motive for tormenting Caleb. And to aid the narrative, he inserts animation for a backstory, including one about unrequited love.

It was literally a bizarre movie experience, as if Bantay-Bahay does not understand the genre of horror or comedy. Or, perhaps, Reyes, or Regal Films, released this just too soon, betting on Pepe Herrera’s stardom despite the movie’s half-baked production.

0 out of 5 stars