Free Guy (2021) 20th Century Fox/Sci-Fi-Action-Comedy RT: 115 minutes Rated PG-13 (strong fantasy violence throughout, language, crude/suggestive references) Director: Shawn Levy Screenplay: Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn Music: Christophe Beck Cinematography: George Richmond Release date: August 13, 2021 (US) Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Taika Waititi, Britne Oldford, Matty Cardarople, Camille Kostek, Aaron W. Reed, Channing Tatum. Box Office: $121.6M (US)/$331.5M (World)
Rating: ***
Free Guy is surprisingly fun for a movie about a guy going through an existential crisis. Granted, the guy in question (named Guy) is an NPC (Non-Player Character) in a popular open world video game, but who says pondering one’s own existence is exclusive to flesh-and-blood beings? Is it not possible for our pixelated brethren to think and feel? I’m sure there’s some debate on this issue, so for the purposes of this review, let’s say it is.
Every day is the same for Guy (Reynolds, Deadpool), a cheerful bank teller (and background character) in Free City, a mega-popular video game not unlike Fortnite or Grand Theft Auto. He wakes up, greets his pet goldfish Goldie, puts on the same outfit (blue shirt and tie), gets the same coffee (medium, two sugars) at the same shop and chats with his best friend Buddy (Howery, Get Out) before reporting to work at a bank that seems to get robbed hourly. For Guy, life and everything else is awesome. Well, almost everything. He hasn’t met the right girl yet. He has an idealized image in his mind, but there’s no way such a woman exists. Or does she?
One day, Guy passes her on the street humming a familiar Mariah Carey song and decides to follow her, getting run over by a train in the process. Don’t worry, NPCs have multiple lives. He wakes up in his bed safe and sound immediately after contact. Anyway, about the girl. She’s called Molotov Girl (Comer, Killing Eve) and she’s a woman with a mission. She’s acting on behalf of Millie (also Comer) back in the real world. She’s a programmer who along with her friend Keys (Keery, Stranger Things) developed a really cool world-building game that was ultimately hijacked and changed by game publisher/professional d-bag Antwan (Waititi, JoJo Rabbit). Millie, through her bad ass avatar, is searching for evidence of the theft. It’s hidden somewhere in the game’s world. She won’t stop until she has it.
Guy, wanting to help the lady of his dreams, decides to break character and become a hero. He doesn’t want to do it through violence, so he rises through the levels performing only positive missions. That is, after he relieves a bank robber of a pair of magic sunglasses that allow him to see what the players see- e.g. weapons, medikits and other objects worth a lot of points. “Blue Shirt Guy”, as Guy comes to be known, becomes an instant celebrity in the real world with YouTubers talking excitedly about him and Antwan demanding to know where he came from. He’s just days away from the launch of Free City II and doesn’t want anything or anyone interfering, especially as it involves taking the original game off-line.
Directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum), Free Guy is an enjoyably high-spirited comedy that combines elements of Ready Player One, The Truman Show, The Matrix and They Live. You’ve heard me complain about movies that look more like live-action video games, the most recent one being Jungle Cruise with its CGI jungle. I can’t lodge that same complaint against Free Guy because it’s supposed to look like a live-action video game. Even better, the makers do it very well. They’ve created a mad, mad world populated by impossibly happy people and violent criminals bent on making mayhem. In the midst of it, Guy becomes a self-aware being capable of free choice, something that baffles even the programmers. How can a character meant to remain in the background evolve like this? Whatever it is, it’s a huge breakthrough in danger of being deleted by a greedy capitalist interested only in $$$.
Levy keeps things moving at a fast but not frenetic pace in Free Guy. He gives us a few truly cool sequences like Guy being chased through Free City by a cop and pink bunny, the avatar forms of Keys and fellow programmer Mouser (Ambudkar, Brittany Runs a Marathon). It, of course, involves a building under construction. There’s also a neat bit with Guy driving (for the first time!) through a collapsing Free City. Again, it’s supposed to look like CGI, so I’ll give the effects a passing grade.
The entire cast appears to be having a blast. I can take or leave Reynolds as an actor, but he does a fine job in Free Guy. He has natural charisma that comes through in his character, a likable if somewhat obtuse fellow. Relative newcomer Comer is the real ace in the hole here. She’s terrific in both roles, equally adept at action scenes and character-driven ones. She and Reynolds have some chemistry going with cute scenes like when they discover their mutual fondness for bubble gum ice cream. Keery is an affable presence. Howery has some funny scenes as Buddy, a security guard who’s never drawn his gun. Waititi is more of a cartoon than a character with his exaggerated take on entitled rich d-bag.
I liked Free Guy very much. It’s an enjoyable zany ride that threatens to go out of control on a few occasions, but doesn’t. It also gets a bit redundant in its second half. Thankfully, none of these issues derail it. It’s solid summer entertainment with a sly sense of humor. There are some funny references to other Disney properties- e.g. the MCU and Star Wars franchises- in the climactic fight between Guy and musclehead nemesis Dude (Reed), an incomplete character who literally says “Catchphrase!” to intimidate Guy. It also has some great cameos by gamers (Ninja, Pokimane) and other celebrities including late Jeopardy host Alex Trebek (RIP).
As for how deeply Free Guy addresses the nature of existence and being, it’s as far from a philosophy lecture as Mortal Kombat is a treatise on The Art of War.
