CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There’s a moment in “Free Guy” when Guy, a naively cheerful bank teller played by Ryan Reynolds, tells the residents of Free City they don’t have to be background players in their own stories. Instead, they can dream big, take charge of their lives and become heroes.
It’s the kind of cheesy, unabashedly optimistic sentiment that in any other action comedy, particularly one set inside an ultra-violent video game, would make you want to hurl and head for the exit. But in “Free Guy,” that wide-eyed idealism not only works, it seduces you, slowly, but effectively. By the end, you’ll be up to your neck in warm and fuzzies and won’t even notice you’ve actually been duped.
That snarky action-hero movie starring the guy from “Deadpool” you’ve been sold? It’s really a heartful romantic workplace comedy.
Things don’t start out that way. When we first meet Guy, he’s a wide-eyed innocent, content to wear the same blue shirt, drink the same coffee, hum the same Mariah Carey tune and endure the same humiliation of multiple bank robberies every day. That all changes when he meets Molotovgirl (”Killing Eve” Emmy-winner Jodie Comer), who he believes is his soulmate. But after their meet-cute, she has to break the bad news to him. Guy isn’t just not real, he’s a non-playable character (NPC-- think the passengers and pedestrians in “Crazy Taxi,” for example) in a first-person shooter video game called “Free City.” The objective: cause as much violent mayhem as possible.
Cut to the real world. Molotovgirl is the avatar of Millie (Comer in a movie-stealing dual role), a video game designer who suspects that Soonami Studios and its boss, Antawn (Taika Waititi, “Jojo Rabbit”), ripped off the code for “Free City” from her and her estranged friend, Keys (Joe Keery, “Stranger Things”), and has hidden the proof in the game. To help her find it, she enlists Guy, who has somehow evolved from a background character into an active player capable of making his own decisions.
In “Free Guy,” director Shawn Levy (the “Night at the Museum” trilogy) has crafted one of the most inventive and engaging films of the year. Fueled by a smart and often sentimental script by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, the trio, aided by a digital effects team at the top of their game, have built an impressive world within a video game that looks and feels authentic. And yet, the most interesting part of the story happens outside “Free City” in the real world, making it instantly more relatable than other stuck-in-a-video game movies like “Jumanji,” “Tron” or “Wreck-It Ralph.”
That’s not to say action fans won’t leave the theater satisfied. Indeed, the film is full of car chases, explosions, fights and meta-humor aplenty. But there is a method to the madness as Guy, brought to life by Reynolds’ irresistible charm, decides to level up by opting for good deeds over destruction. Amid his existential awakening, he becomes a viral sensation, encouraging Millie to come out of her shell and inspiring the other NPCs, including his best friend, Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), to step out of the background and live their lives with arms wide open. It’s not a subtle metaphor, but “Free Guy” earns it and will make your heart swell and burst.
Jodie Comer as Milly and Joe Keery as Keys in 20th Century Studios’ FREE GUY. Photo by Alan Markfield. © 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.Photo by Alan Markfield
But what happens inside ”Free City” is only in service to the heart of the film, which is the mystery over the stolen code and who or what is behind Guy’s transformation. “Free Guy,” in part, feels like one of those 1980s screwball comedies where employees of a big corporation suspect their boss is up to something no good and then go to great lengths to take him down. There’s suspense, corporate intrigue, daring hijinks and a dorky guy with a crush on a girl. As Keys, Keery has the unlikely hero thing down pat, having played the role to acclaim in “Stranger Things.” But Steve never had to face a foe like Antawn, an insufferable egomaniac portrayed with ridiculous abandon by Waititi, who means to delete “Free City” and replace it with a sequel.
Both storylines eventually converge in a climax that’s both hilarious and uplifting: hilarious thanks to a few laugh-out-loud surprises courtesy of the merger between 20th Century Studios and the Walt Disney Company, and uplifting because of its underlying message about having agency in your life.
If you haven’t noticed yet, “Free Guy” is a high-concept movie that’s sort of hard to explain. But beyond its blockbuster surface, the film is really just a feel-good romantic comedy about a boy asking a girl to love him by way of one of the most original grand gestures in the history of the genre. In short, it’s the kind of movie that doesn’t make you want to simply have a good day. It inspires you to have a great day.
“Free Guy” is rated PG-13 and opens exclusively in theaters on August 13.
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August 05, 2021 at 11:00PM
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