The Stunt Driver
by George Wolf
If you’ve seen the underrated 2011 hockey comedy Goon, you’ll understand why I was stoked for The Stunt Driver. It reunites writer/director Michael Dowse with star Jay Baruchel for another based -on-true-events look at a rough and tumble lug fighting to stand out in the crowd.
Back in the 1970s Ken Carter was known as “The Mad Canadian,” a cross-eyed, bushy-haired high school dropout who made his name through high-flying car stunts. So, when Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump fizzled out in ’74, Carter hatched a plan to show him up.
He would jump over the St. Lawrence river in a “rocket car,” taking off in Canada and landing a mile away in Ogden Island, New York. In Carter’s view, Evel was “a nerd and a coward,” and the St. Lawrence jump would put the stunt driver glory – don’t call him a “daredevil!” – where it belonged.
As Carter, Baruchel delivers a career-best performance. Stunt driving is all Carter knows and the passion to “leave his mark” is felt throughout the years-long journey toward the jump. When doubt and even fear creeps in, Baruchel makes sure both are just shades of a completely human character we want to succeed.
Much like Goon, the commitment to character drives the film. Dowse surrounds his Mad Canadian with interesting people on all sides. From Carter’s long-suffering wife (Laurence Leboeuf) to his engine designer (Ed Helms), his protege (Marc Beaupré) and his promoter (Dan Bakkedahl), we get a series of fleshed-out personalities to bring a perfectly 70s aesthetic to life.
And when producers on ABC’s Wide Wide of Sports insist on bringing Evel himself (Ben Foster) on as a tech consultant, the relationship between Knievel and Carter instantly becomes a deadpan delight.
Dowse takes inspiration from the 1981 doc The Devil at Your Heels. He juggles different film stocks and aspect ratios throughout the film’s 99 minutes, which makes the use of real jump footage feel seamless, and bolsters the hardscrabble appeal of Carter’s entire persona.
Even when the tonal path starts to wobble in the second act, The Stunt Driver again shows Dowse and Baruchel can find heart, soul and authenticity in the life of a true sports underdog. Maybe Ken never got as famous as Knievel, but it’s a good bit of absurd fun getting to know him.
