About the film (courtesy of 20th Century Studios):
In Free Guy, a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late.

The second that you see, hear or read that Ryan Reynolds is attached to a project, one of the first that comes to mind is that it’ll be entertaining on some level…as long it isn’t Green Lantern (2011) or R.I.P.D. (2013). Thankfully Reynolds has been a bit more selective over the years and hasn’t stumbled into too many bear traps as of late. Reynolds boyish charm and his willingness to make fun of himself has endeared him to fans (including myself) over the years. Free Guy is the cumulation of all the reasons we have come to adore Ryan Reynolds.

Get ready for a very pleasant surprise if you’re contemplating whether or not to invest two hours and some decent coinage on a comedy about a video game character, a background NPC (non-player character) nonetheless. Don’t worry yourself if “NPC” went over your head or even if you don’t care for video games in the least. Free Guy is enjoyable to gamers, non-gamers, action purists, fans of comedies and even romantics. There’s just about something for everyone in the Shawn Levy-directed action comedy sci-fi.

First off, director Shawn Levy is absolutely the right person to helm such a complexly ambitious project crammed into one regular length movie. With films such as Big Fat Liar (2002), the Night at the Museum franchise, Real Steel (2011) and Arrival (2016), which earned Levy an Oscar nomination, it just shows that he’s uniquely qualified to bring all of the layers together into one delicious cinematic casserole.

There are many elements to enjoy from a gamer’s perspective that add layers of fun on top of an already solid feature, much in the way that Ready Player One (2018) did for fans of that video game themed film. I cannot express to you the desire I had to leave the theater and fire up my favorite Grand Theft Auto game. Speaking of, there are certainly some “more mature” elements to Free Guy on a violence front, but it’s just video game violence, right?

This leads me to the action, specifically CGI portion. Free Guy goes all out in an attempt to create an immersive environment where anything goes and there’s virtually no consequences to your actions, you just respawn. The only limits in this live-action movie are the imaginations of the writers and director, which happen to be pretty vast based on what you’ll experience. Let me also say that, if used correctly and morally, CGI deepfakes are proving more and more that the sometimes disturbing technology has a permanent place in the entertainment arena. Wait until you meet Dude…

But none of the technology tricky matters if you don’t have talented flesh and blood to help bring it all together. We’ve already established that Ryan Reynolds is a joy to watch perform his craft on the big screen. Joining him are Lil Rel Howery, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar and the always enjoyable and uber-talented Taika Waititi. These actors are the solid base that everything else is built upon and they perform their jobs admirably.

20th Century Studios has a bone fide “feel good” hit on their hands that happens to come at a time where we can all use a little escape to a world of make believe and fun. And given that Free Guy falls under the larger operating umbrella of Walt Disney Pictures, this film can quite literally afford to utilize some of the cool properties that are available to it, making it even cooler and more enjoyable than you could even imagine.

You can see Free Guy in theaters everywhere starting Friday, August 13, with early showings the evening prior. Do yourselves a favor and don’t sleep on this one as it might be the surprise of the summer.