R | 1h 39m | Biopic, Dramedy | 2026
“The Stunt Driver” is a mockumentary based on the true story of daredevil Ken “The Mad Canadian” Carter’s attempt to jump the St. Lawrence River in a rocket-car.
Michael Dowse’s mock is based on an actual doc about Carter, called “The Devil at Your Heels.” Carter’s attempt did not end in a fatal tragedy, though it did end in a catastrophic, injury-plagued failure, and Carter wasn’t even the one driving. Dowse attempts to demonstrate how avoidable this whole mess was, but it’s a strange artistic choice to present the entire situation comedically.
Bananas
Obviously the jump concept is, in and of itself, completely nuts, and the characters spend a lot of time trying to convince Ken (Jay Baruchel) of his lunacy. You’re gonna what?? Take a banana-yellow Lincoln Continental, retrofitted with twin hydrogen peroxide rocket engines, door winglets, and a parachute—and try and jump a whole dang mile with it??
Ken’s got his reasons, though, and it’s not that they’re given short shrift, it’s just that Ken is portrayed as though he were dropped on his head as a child. There’s a reckless toxicity that’s probably representing a self-esteem so low that it needs a stunt this high to fill the void.
The Canadian daredevil does have a grudging respect for his American counterpart, Evel Knievel (Ben Foster), but, in the same breath with a compliment, he immediately calls Knievel a coward, among other choice terms. This cartoonish immaturity undermines the realism. Even more so the fact that his adoring wife (Laurence Leboeuf) looks too intelligent to be believable as a woman who worships the ground her too-many-screws-loose husband stunt-drives on.
Carter hates being called a “daredevil” by reporters, insisting that the correct nomenclature is “stunt driver.” Why? Because, like the early jet-pilots-turned-astronauts, he wants people to know he’s got some control over the outcome of his stunts.
The Mercury 7 astronauts hated that their military jet-jockey test-pilot contemporaries, such as Chuck Yeager, called them “spam in a can,” and snickered that even a monkey could drive the rocket (which eventually actually happened). Despite Carter’s vehement “daredevil” objections, a montage of spectacular crashes appear to argue the contrary.
And yet Carter straps himself in the driver’s seat repeatedly. There’s a lot to prove there. Baruchel-as-Carter goes a little overboard on the Canadian accent, and, while he never turns Carter into a cartoon, he comes mighty close.
If You Build the Ramp They Will Come
The movie “documents” Carter’s attempts to get the St. Lawrence River spectacle off the ground—pun intended. Carter recruits a reluctant engineer (Ed Helms from “The Hangover” trilogy) to build the Lincoln-Continental-with-stubby-wings.
Carter and his manager/promoter Bill Wilkins (Dan Bakkedahl) also attempt to convince skeptical ABC executives to put the stunt on “Wide World of Sports.” They’re not interested unless the much more famous Knievel is somehow also involved. Carter, of course, hates that, and one can see swagger-versus-inferiority-complex parallels to the U.S.-Canadian relationship in these two stunt-rival’s bickering.
After all this long comedic build-up, the mockumentary gets fairly serious as it traces the downward arc of Carter’s trajectory. Spoiler alert: On Sept. 5, 1983, Ken Carter was killed instantly during a separate stunt in Peterborough, Ontario, when he overshot the landing ramp in a rocket-fitted Pontiac Firebird.
Other than the real footage, “The Stunt Driver” is slight, often silly, which I’m not sure is a fitting tribute to the man. It’s a classic tale of obsessively seeking to gain at the cost of losing one’s soul, and that’s really not a comedic topic.
‘The Stunt Driver’
Director: Michael Dowse
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Ed Helms, Ben Foster
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Rating: 2 1/2 stars out of 5
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