--- title: "The Stunt Driver" year: 2026 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-stunt-driver" fi1m_id: "the-stunt-driver" imdb_id: "tt34611096" tmdb_id: 1562777 wikidata_id: "Q136547123" fi1m_score: 66 critics_score: 59 critics_reviews: 5 published: "2026-09-24T19:57:06.893792+00:00" updated: "2026-09-24T19:57:30.477806+00:00" region: "AU" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Stunt Driver (2026) Directed by Michael Dowse · 1h 39m · Action, Comedy, Drama ## Identity The Stunt Driver - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-stunt-driver - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-stunt-driver - **IMDb ID:** tt34611096 - **TMDB ID:** 1562777 - **Wikidata ID:** Q136547123 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34611096/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1562777, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q136547123 **Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 59 (early) from 5 reviews *In a sentence:* A man spends 99 minutes building a ramp and the film is in no more hurry than he is > Michael Dowse’s film about the stuntman Ken Carter has a fine, frightened performance from Jay Baruchel and a real feel for its era. It is also slow where it should be tense, and funnier in memory than it was while we sat through it. ## Synopsis Ken Carter (Jay Baruchel), a stunt driver from Montreal, has a plan: a rocket-powered car, a ramp built on the Canadian bank of the St Lawrence, and a jump of more than a mile across the river to the United States. He has the patter for it, the jumpsuit and the nickname, but not the money, and the ramp keeps not being finished. Dick Keller (Ed Helms) is the man in the suit trying to keep the project paid for, and Gloria (Laurence Leboeuf) is the person who has to live with Carter while he waits. Over his shoulder is Evel Knievel (Ben Foster), the daredevil everyone has heard of, whose fame Carter wants and resents in equal measure. The film follows the years of building, selling and delaying before the day of the jump. ## Review Ken Carter was a stunt driver from Montreal who decided, in the 1970s, that he would drive a rocket-powered car off a ramp and over the St Lawrence River. Michael Dowse, who wrote and directed, has made a film not about the jump but about the years of trying to reach the top of the ramp. *The Stunt Driver* is a comedy in shape and a sad film underneath, and the sad film is the better one. We liked it, with reservations, and the reservations are mostly about time. Jay Baruchel plays Carter with a slow, slightly sing-song way of speaking and a smile that arrives a beat after the joke. He has the patter of a man who has sold a great many tickets, and Baruchel lets us see, in the pauses, that the man is frightened and has been for years. It is a smaller performance than the character’s reputation would suggest, and it is the right size. When Carter stands at the foot of the unfinished ramp and talks about being remembered, Baruchel plays it straight, and it works. Sara Mishara shoots it in several ways at once: clean for the drama, and grainier, softer and more washed-out for the stretches that pretend to be footage from the time, and the joins are hard to spot. Jean-Andre Carriere fills Carter’s world with plywood, chrome and hand-lettered signs, a small operation dressed up as a large one, and Véronique Marchessault puts the men in the wide collars and tight nylon of the period without winking at any of it. The ramp itself, a slope of earth and timber climbing out of a field toward the water, is the film’s best image. Mishara holds on it long enough that it stops being funny, and we were moved by it more than we expected, because it is plainly the work of one stubborn man and plainly not enough. Ed Helms plays Dick Keller, the man in the suit around the project, with a nervous patience that gets funnier the longer it is tested. Ben Foster’s Evel Knievel is on screen for a handful of scenes and takes each of them. Carter measures himself against Knievel, and Foster plays the star as a man who has never had to measure himself against anybody. Laurence Leboeuf’s Gloria is written thinly, the woman who waits at home, and Leboeuf gets more out of a look across a kitchen than the script gives her in words. The trouble is pace. Dowse’s script circles the same problem, that the jump costs more than Carter has, and Reginald Harkema’s cutting lets the second and third go-rounds run as long as the first, so that by the hour mark the film is idling in a field. Around then, during another argument about money, we looked at our watch, and then felt guilty about it, because Baruchel was doing something careful with his face at the time. Cristóbal Tapia de Veer’s score, rising synthesiser lines and wordless voices, keeps promising an event the film keeps postponing, and after a while the promising becomes part of the wait. Dowse and Baruchel made *Goon* (2011) together, and this is a gentler cousin of that film: another kind man in a dangerous trade, another film that likes its hero more than it needs to test him. *Goon* had games to give it shape. This has one jump, and everything before it is preamble, and Dowse has not found a way to make preamble move. The reviews so far are split between those who found it a warm throwback and those who found it a long afternoon, and we can see both films in it. See it for Baruchel, for the ramp, and for Foster’s few minutes as Knievel. It will do at home, where its slowness reads as ease rather than a fault, and where you can pause during the money scenes and put the kettle on. We will not say whether the car leaves the ramp. Carter would have wanted you to buy a ticket to find out. *Fi1m score 66, published 24 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is The Stunt Driver worth watching?** *The Stunt Driver* is worth watching for patient viewers who like a slow, sad comedy about a man who cannot quite get his ramp finished, and we scored it 66. Jay Baruchel is quietly good as Ken Carter, and Ben Foster's few scenes as Evel Knievel are the sharpest thing in it. Anyone wanting a stunt film with stunts in it will find the second half a long wait. **How long is The Stunt Driver, and what is it rated?** *The Stunt Driver* runs 1h 39m. It is an action and comedy film. **Where can I watch The Stunt Driver in Australia?** *The Stunt Driver* is not on any streaming or rental service in Australia at the moment. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is The Stunt Driver, and is it suitable for children?** *The Stunt Driver* carries an R in the United States, so it is not made with children in mind, and the review found nothing violent or frightening in it. Most of the film is a man arguing about money and staring at an unfinished ramp, which is unlikely to upset anyone but very likely to bore a child. Teenagers who can sit still will be fine. **How does The Stunt Driver compare to The Fall Guy?** *The Stunt Driver* is the slower, sadder and smaller film, while [*The Fall Guy*](https://film.one/film/the-fall-guy) is a big, grinning romantic comedy with car crashes attached. Both are about stunt performers, but Michael Dowse is interested in the years of waiting and Ryan Gosling's film is interested in the crashes. We think Baruchel's is the more honest of the two, though *The Fall Guy* is the easier evening. ### Reviews we read (5) - **IndieWire**, Vikram Murthi (B): Murthi finds the film a fun, affectionate throwback that balances comedy with a moving portrait of Carter’s fear and need to be remembered. He especially praises Jay Baruchel’s performance for bringing melancholy beneath Carter’s bravado. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-stunt-driver-movie-review-1235216178/) - **The AV Club**, Monica Castillo (B-): Castillo finds the biopic warmhearted and entertaining, though its momentum sometimes falters. She especially praises Jay Baruchel’s nuanced performance, which brings the stuntman’s fear and adrenaline to life. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-stunt-driver-review-ken-carter-jay-baruchel) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Michael Rechtshaffen (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the film affable but too slow and insufficiently funny, with its many missed opportunities blunting its impact. Jay Baruchel’s performance is singled out for capturing Ken Carter’s cadence and making him feel like a poet philosopher. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-stunt-driver-review-jay-baruchel-ed-helms-ben-foster-1236697983/) - **Variety**, Vadim Rizov (30/100, inferred): Rizov finds the biopic tepid, slow-going, and less enjoyable than its documentary source. He praises Sara Mishara’s cinematography for making the film’s varied formats look period-plausible and beautifully lit. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/the-stunt-driver-review-1236860383/) - **The Wrap** (90/100, inferred): The review calls the film exhilarating and moving, celebrating its transformation of Ken Carter’s story into a tribute to stubborn optimism. It singles out Jay Baruchel’s charismatic performance, while also praising Michael Dowse’s direction for making the stunt thrilling and emotionally grounded. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/the-stunt-driver-jay-baruchel-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Michael Dowse - **Director:** Michael Dowse - **Writer:** Michael Dowse - **Cinematography:** Sara Mishara - **Editor:** Reginald Harkema - **Music:** Cristóbal Tapia de Veer - **Production design:** Jean-Andre Carriere - **Costume design:** Véronique Marchessault - **Producer:** Michael Dowse, Jennifer Wilson - **Cast:** Jay Baruchel as Ken Carter; Ed Helms as Dick Keller; Ben Foster as Evel Knievel; Laurence Leboeuf as Gloria; Dan Bakkedahl; Joe Cobden; Marc Beaupré - **Runtime:** 1h 39m - **First release (Canada):** 11 September 2026 - **Genres:** Action, Comedy, Drama - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcbRqIuFAiE ## Where to watch in Australia Not streaming, renting or buying in Australia at the last check. ## If you liked this - *The Devil at Your Heels* (1981): The documentary about the real Carter; slower still, and stranger, and true - *Goon* (2011): Dowse and Baruchel’s earlier film about a gentle man in a brutal job - *The World's Fastest Indian* (2005): Anthony Hopkins as an old New Zealander with a fast bike and no sense - *Eddie the Eagle* (2016): A hopeless British ski jumper, played for laughs and then for tears - *The Fall Guy* (2024), Fi1m 72: Stunt work as the whole point, with a much bigger budget and grin — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-fall-guy.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-stunt-driver