Delivering the perfect date-movie blend of romance and property damage, The Fall Guy is an effervescent and irreverent actioner loosely based on the 80s TV show of the same name. Stunt-pro-turned-director David Leitch (Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde) spotlights an area of film production he knows well, following a sad, shaggy-locked stuntman as he runs into some real trouble.

Ryan Gosling is ‘fall guy’ Colt Seavers, while Emily Blunt is the woman he loves, camera operator Jody. The pair suffer a heartbreaking split following a stunt-gone-wrong, before being reunited on the Australian set of Jody’s directorial debut 18-months later – a daft, sci-fi love story dubbed Metalstorm. But things get sticky, and then really quite punchy, when Colt is recruited by hotshot producer Gail (a scenery chomping Hannah Waddingham) to track down the film’s errant star Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, seemingly sending up Johnny Depp and Matthew McConaughey).

One of the most affable screen actors of our age, Gosling’s brand of benign smirking and bemused reactions is exactly the kind of grounding this outlandish effort needs, with Blunt giving a breezy, very natural turn too. It’s a slightly chaste match, but an undeniably charming one. Unfortunately, the supporting players are less well served by Drew Pearce’s script, with Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke and Teresa Palmer wasted, and Taylor-Johnson underemployed.

Leitch (who was also the uncredited co-director of John Wick) has described The Fall Guy as a ‘love letter to stunts’, opting for a practical approach to action and throwing a world record-breaking cannon roll stunt in. If the plot feels like an afterthought, it matters very little; the film’s sweetness is a selling point and the balletically choreographed fisticuffs and cheesy pop-rock soundtrack keep the fun factor sky high.

The Fall Guy is in cinemas from Thursday 2 May.