Movie Review: ‘Free Guy’ Is Well Worth Seeing

by | Aug 10, 2021 | Featured, Movie Reviews, Movies | 0 comments

Review by Lauryn Angel

In the beginning, Shawn Levy’s Free Guy feels more than a little like The Lego Movie, as our protagonist, Guy (Ryan Reynolds) leaps out of bed and starts his morning to the tune of bouncy pop music. As Guy makes his way through Free City, he explains how things work – The “Sunglasses People” are the ultra-cool people who are able to do whatever they want, from stealing cars to nailing super-hero landings, and they don’t give people like Guy so much as a sideways glance. Even though the bank where he and his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery) work is robbed multiple times a day, he manages to stay upbeat. But everything is not awesome for Guy, who feels something missing from his life – especially after running into sunglasses-wearing Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer), who actually speaks to him. Emboldened, he steals the sunglasses from the next bank robber and discovers that he is actually a nonplayer character (NPC) in a video game. And once he learns how the game works, he starts to play – albeit with a very different agenda from the other players – he actually helps his fellow NPCs instead of victimizing them like the Sunglasses People do – in an attempt to win the attention of Molotov Girl.

The film has a second plot set in the real world. Molotov Girl’s real-life counterpart Millie, half of a team that developed a game that was stolen by Antwan (Taika Waititi) and transformed into the best-selling Free City – the very game Guy inhabits. The other half of the team is Keys (Joe Keery), who works for Antwan and wants Millie to give up her lawsuit, while simultaneously risking his job to help her find the evidence she’s looking for.

The real-life story line is much weaker than the in-game story, and the movie drags a little in these scenes, even with the antics of Taika Waititi. But luckily the film spends most of its running time in the vibrant, colorful world of Free City looking at the game and its players through the wide-eyes of Guy. Reynolds really sells Guy’s innocence and sincerity, and Jodie Comer is great at switching instantly from jaded assassin to nonplussed spectator of Guy’s antics.

The film makes mild attempts to address issues like toxic masculinity, sexism and racism in the industry, and gun control, but those statements aren’t very fully developed and often get drowned out by the over-the-top jokes, insider references, easter eggs, and cameos that the film piles on. And while these are fun, it would have been nice for the film to develop some of these themes further.

Ultimately Free Guy is a fun summer blockbuster that is well worth seeing – I hadn’t laughed so hard in months – that might make you think about the NPCs the next time you play a video game.