Film

The Stunt Driver

Name: The Stunt Driver
Genre: Comedy, Drama, History
Released: 2026
Cast: Jay Baruchel, Ed Helms, Ben Foster, Laurence Leboeuf, Joe Cobden

Car-chase action

A true story of Canadian ambition and mechanical dreams: a stunt driver, a sports manager, and rocket scientists attempt an impossible jump across the Saint Lawrence River in the 1970s. It's part biography, part heist film, genuinely funny without mocking its characters' earnestness. For anyone who loves underdogs, practical effects, and the particular madness of chasing a record nobody asked for.

If you liked this

Evel Knievel1971

The obvious precedent and actual inspiration—a charismatic daredevil's rise and fall told with surprising tenderness. George Hamilton is mesmerizing, and the stunts were genuinely performed.

But The pacing drags in places; it's a portrait more than a thriller, and some will find the hagiography of a self-destructive ego harder to swallow now.

The Right Stuff1983

Same structure: ordinary men attempting the extraordinary, the bureaucracy that surrounds them, the obsession that destroys lives. Brilliantly balances spectacle with intimacy and humour with respect.

But It's three hours and dense with period detail. The focus moves between astronauts, so no single character arc dominates, which some find frustrating.

Fitzcarraldo1982

Another visionary lunatic refuses to accept reality's constraints. Werner Herzog's obsession with authenticity creates something that feels genuinely unhinged. The obsession is the point.

But It's slow, demanding, and Herzog's production methods were notorious for their cruelty. Not a comfortable watch, and the film knows it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Stunt Driver

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

"MANOS" The Hands of Fate1966

It's the actual footage of the real world The Stunt Driver depicts. Same era, same obsession, same river. Seeing the history rather than the dramatization fundamentally changes how you read the fiction.

A documentary-drama hybrid following a Quebec stunt driver (Jean-Claude Labrecque) in real time as he prepares and performs dangerous jumps. It treats the obsession as both heroic and tragic, never settling on a judgment.

But The pacing is glacial by modern standards, and there's no plot—just observation. The image quality is poor, and it requires patience.

Unleashed2005

A character study disguised as an action film, with Ben Foster in a completely different mode—vulnerable, gentle, learning to be human. Directed by Louis Leterrier with surprising emotional depth.

But The third act becomes a conventional revenge narrative that doesn't earn its brutality. Some will feel it betrays the gentleness that preceded it.

Adventureland2009

Smaller in scope but cut from the same cloth: lovable failures navigating ambition, romance, and adulthood with humor and genuine heart. Greg Mottola's best work, funny and achingly sincere.

But It's deliberately modest and melancholic. Viewers wanting high stakes or clear emotional catharsis will feel the ending is anticlimactic.

Rush2013

Two obsessives chasing a record, the performance anxiety, the dangerous machinery, the friendship underneath the competition. Ron Howard captures the vertigo of pushing past human limits.

But Heavy on formula—rival protagonists with contrasting personalities following a predictable arc. The emotional beats arrive on schedule, and that predictability hollows some scenes.

The Great Outdoors1988

John Candy and Dan Aykroyd in a comedy that's less interested in jokes than in character. It's warm, sentimental, and Canadian in spirit without being about Canada.

But The humour is broad and occasionally lazy. It's a creature of 1988, and some gags have aged worse than others.

The Ice Road2021

A small, precisely made thriller about a widow driving a truck on a frozen Canadian road. The landscape is hostile and beautiful. Liam Neeson is subdued and credible.

But It's deliberately quiet and slow. The plot is thin, and some will feel it mistakes minimalism for profundity.

Chilly Dogs2001

A forgotten comedy about a Canadian stuntman's mishap and redemption. It's slight and earnest in a way that's oddly endearing, and wholly of its moment.

But It was forgotten for reasons. The humour is very early-2000s, the plot is tissue-thin, and it doesn't reach for anything beyond comfort.

My Winnipeg2008

Both obsess over what it means to be Canadian and what happens when personal ambition meets the landscape. Maddin's treatment is surreal where The Stunt Driver is grounded, but both trust that the obsession is the story.

Guy Maddin's hallucinogenic essay-film about Canadian memory and mythology. Absurd, funny, deeply weird, and genuinely moving about what drives people to chase ghosts in frozen landscapes.

But It's aggressively experimental—part mockumentary, part fever dream, part sincere meditation. If you want narrative, you will be lost and frustrated.

The Lathe of Heaven1980

Both use a single mad gamble—the jump, or the dream—as a vehicle to ask what happens when one person's will crashes against reality. Both are about the gap between intention and outcome, and what you can actually control.

Ursula K. Le Guin adapted to television as a slow-burn science fiction meditation on the danger of ambition and consequence. Haunting, intelligent, and utterly unlike mainstream sci-fi.

But It's a TV movie from 1980 with visible constraints and a budget that shows. The pacing is contemplative to the point of stasis for some.