54 Movies Like The Fall Guy (2024) (Page 2)

You may not know the name of Errol Morris, but you must have seen either Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or The Night Manager, as films and TV have offered ripe adaptations of 20th century espionage novels under the disguise of simple entertainment. What you may not know is that the author of the books they are based on has been a spy himself, for most of his life. David John Moore Cornwell, better known as John le Carré (his pen name), is the subject of the latest work of detective-turned-filmmaker Errol Morris whose penchant for exploring the limits between fact and fiction has propelled the documentary form numerous times over the last decades. The film is a quasi-biographical doc with some exceptional reenactments that color Le Carré's own tales to try and outmanoeuvre the viewer's ceaseless desire to fix what one sees into either category: fact or fiction. With an ex-spy and a documentarian, you never know. 

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Charlotte Hamblin, Douglas Rankine, Garry Cooper, John le Carré, Mike Noble, Simon Harrison

Director: Errol Morris

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Drama, Romance, Western

Actor: Alex Breaux, Colin Morgan, Danny Huston, Garret Dillahunt, Henry Mortensen, John Getz, Luke Reilly, Michael Weaver, Nadia Litz, Ray McKinnon, Shane Graham, Solly McLeod, Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, W. Earl Brown

Director: Viggo Mortensen

Rating: R

If Pete Holmes's new stand-up special comes off more like the comedian just trying out a bunch of random material instead of communicating coherent, overarching ideas, his writing is so strong that it hardly matters. You can tell Holmes is an incredibly confident performer in the way he deploys a wide range of techniques to get his jokes across: exaggerated voices, feeding off of the audience, even messing up his own jokes and rolling with the punches. But his turns of phrase are really the stars of the show here, as he gives even the most ridiculous anecdote a sense of imagination and unique visual texture. This is classic (if somewhat unsurprising) stand-up, with every idea leading into the next with ease.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Pete Holmes

Director: Oren Brimer

It’s a big deal by its very existence, being Netflix’s first pure crowd work special, further elevating the recent popularity of the niche. Rife starts off riffing about audience members’ outfits and “where you from?” banter, his conversational skills transporting you to a high school reunion-esque party where early birds aren't drunk enough yet, and it does cast some doubt on whether he was the person for the job. But seeing him loosen up along with the crowd is cool to observe, and when he does eventually find himself in the driver's seat, amid a great theme of dreams to guide the special, Rife proves he was the man for the job.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Matt Rife

Director: Erik Griffin

Rating: R

We’re familiar with dick jokes from stand-up comedians, especially male stand-up, but Jacqueline Novak’s 90-minute show about the blow job feels completely new. Get on Your Knees feels like casual storytelling from someone experienced yet distant enough to be a cool authority on it (say, your best friend’s older sister’s best friend), but funnier. It’s like a gossip session about a first experience, except the breathless, dizzying stream of thought is peppered with philosophical thought and points out the absurdity around the language and common attitudes about sex. And as she does so, and as she talks about self-conscious fumbling and unanswered questions, she strides back and forth, in an easy, self-assured way, the way we’d like to feel going into the act.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Jacqueline Novak

Director: Natasha Lyonne

Rating: R

Unlike in other films that only seem to evoke a previous era to make a target demographic feel warm and fuzzy inside, there's something vaguely artificial about Death of Nintendo's air of nostalgia—which is exactly what helps it tell its story. There isn't anything particularly novel about this movie's plot or characters, but Raya Martin's direction has us consider various themes between all the stuff you'd expect to see in a young adult movie. In moments of quiet unease that seem to punctuate every other sequence, we're drawn towards the absence of father figures, the inability of the women to get through to their sons (already embedded in patriarchal customs), and the idea that one's childhood in a Catholic country seems to be marked by physical pain. Beyond the film's feathery lighting and colorful production design, there's a surprising amount to think about.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Agot Isidro, Elijah Alejo, Jigger Sementilla, John Vincent Servilla, Kim Chloe Oquendo, Lou Veloso, Mailes Kanapi, Moi Bien, Nikki Valdez, Noel Comia Jr., Ramon Bautista

Director: Raya Martin

It starts off with a cinematic intro sequence, flexing a big budget standup show that you’d only expect from a Hollywood star like Adam Sandler. But there are also elements of “lines being blurred,” with the pre-show frenzy backstage being carried over onstage. With a bizarre atmosphere firmly established, Sandler delivers his set like what I can only describe as an upbeat Jake “The Snake” Roberts, nonchalantly talking about his bizarre everyday interactions. He also delivers many of these stories in quick song format, with lyrics that sound like someone muttering under their breath about their grim day (or life). Just a fun, odd, and even emotional storytime with Adam Sandler.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Adam Sandler, Andrew Bergman, Ann Pala, Dan Bulla, Jackie Sandler, Joseph Vecsey, Lou Adler, Mitchell Wenig, Rob Schneider, Villiam Hafoka, Willie Tyler

Director: Josh Safdie

Rating: R

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Actor: Claudine Acs, Clotilde Hesme, Estéban, Laetitia Dosch, Mélinée Leclerc, Patrick Pineau, Pietro Sermonti

Director: Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach

Rating: NR