free guy christian movie review

Copyright, 20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

Reviewed by: Alexander Malsan CONTRIBUTOR

Living in an open-world video game

The world of video gaming and gamers

Games like Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite

An idealist in a world that is very cynical and dark

G uy lives in Free City. He has his routine down to a “T.” He wakes up, says good morning to his goldfish, grabs his shirt, watches the news, grabs his coffee and then he walks to work at his favorite place in the world… the bank.

Guy’s occupation as a banker has its dangers though, as everyday somebody comes in and yells, “Everybody get down on the ground! No one needs to be a hero! This will all be over soon.” So Guy gets down behind the counter, as usual, with his best friend, a security guard named Buddy.

Guy tells Buddy he wants more though. He’s tired of the same routine, over and over again. As these two buds walk out of the bank, that’s when Guy spots the love of his life walking down the street, Molotov Girl.

After a very brief interaction with Molotov Girl (let’s call her MG), she tells him that if Guy wants to spend any more time with her and help her with her mission, he must reach the same level she’s at (he’s a level 1 and she’s at 153).

Oh, wait! Did I forget to mention that Free City is actually a video game and Guy is an NPC (non-playable character), while MG is a player in the game (the person in the real world is a gamer named Millie)? Guy, however, is unaware of all of this, as are all the NPCs in Free City. Okay, now that you have that…

Millie/Molotov Girl needs Guy’s help to retrieve information in the game that proves her and her friend Walter’s original coding is in the game (in essence, the gaming company Soonami twisted Millie and Walter’s original game into something completely different).

But there’s a bigger problem on the horizon, and it’ll take not just any Guy, but a “Good Guy” to fix this bug…

When the initial previews hit theaters a while back, I was actually really looking forward to “Free Guy.” After the disjointed, though well intentioned, film “ Pixels ” came out in 2015 (that paid homage to the retro video games), I was excited that we modern-day video gamers (yes I’m an avid video gamer when I’m not teaching music full time) were being given a film that would, yes poke fun at the video game world, but also celebrate the milestones that have been made.

“Free Guy” reminds me of the musical parody artist Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al parodies famous songs, but when he does he does it both humor and respect (in many cases, the artists give him consent to use their music, even though he doesn’t need it, and are honored he asks). The film “Free Guy” both honors and pokes fun at the whole video game community. The rules, the terminology, the avatars, the gameplay, everything. It made me wonder at one point, “How did the video game community become the way it is?” “Free Guy” isn’t trying to reinvent anything or create anything new here, and I think that’s okay.

As other reviewers have mentioned, there are so many hidden “Easter Eggs” (surprises) in the movie that only true gamers are going to notice. However, there is still plenty for those who aren’t avid gamers. A fairly strong plot (apart from a few moments where the pacing is a bit slow). Additionally, there are some fine performances from many of the main characters (and some great cameos by some famous YouTubers and famous gamers).

My biggest critique of this film, though, is the dialog. Not simply because it is certainly off-color and suggestive at times, but also the conversations feel a bit awkward in some situations (particularly those involving the film’s main antagonist, the head of Soonami , Antoine ( Taika Waititi ).

Offensive Material

Violence: “Free City” is a very violent city (actually, it’s a city with non-stop violence). There is a lot of violence occurring around Guy whenever he walks around the City, such as tanks running over cars, people beating each other, cars being smashed into, people thrown through a glass door, vehicles crashing, helicopter crashing—essentially chaos, mostly comedic in nature.

There are scenes to be aware of though. In one scene, Guy is run over by a train. He gets beat up in another scene. A person is shot in the chest, leaving a giant hole through him. A large action sequence occurs where heads are bashed. Guy is hit with a car. A man is held hostage. Buildings start to cave in on MG and Guy, as they are driving. A character is thrown against a pole. Lastly there is a large fight sequence.

Vulgarity: F-word (1 or more — “Good f***ing morning”), S-words (17), “Bone” (referring to sex), “Dick” (2 — referring to male privates), including “If you didn’t have a d*ck…”, “Giving me a** and ball cancer at the same time”, “Is that a Glock in your pocket?”, “banana cream sandwich all over themselves”, “kitty” (apparently referring to female privates), “You’re so hot”, “Like losing my virginity, but in my mouth” (referring to delicious coffee), “Suck it, Antwan”, “Hey, 40-year-old virgin”, “Screw it”, A**hole (3), including “A**hole mouth”, A** (5), “Be-atch”, and “Sucks”

Profanity: OMG (11), G*d (4), G*d- d*mn (4), Jeez (1 — a euphemism for “Jesus”), “D*mn” (3), “Swear to G*d” (1), “ Holy sh*t,” “H*ll” (10), incl. “ Holy h*ll” and “H*ll yeah” (there are instances of H*ll and other profanity in some song lyrics—too many to count).

Sexual Content/Dialog: Someone chooses a stripper cop as an avatar. Someone mentions “all rabbits do is b*ne and brawl.” We see characters give a “tea bagging” (it is a sexual gesture a player does to a victim they’ve killed in the game). Someone mentions Guy “found her button.” Someone does a sexual dance. A player states to his mom he has a special sock that land you in therapy for life. Someone says “hit the pixels hard.” The phrase “a*ss and b*ll cancer” is used. A homosexual reference is made. Characters share a couple kisses.

Nudity: There is a shirtless male when a player chooses a male stripper. There is a male NPC later in the movie who is also shirtless.

Drugs: Someone makes a reference to recreational drugs.

Alcohol: A scene takes place in a saloon.

Other: Someone mentions to Guy, “I’ve met God, he’s a d*ck” (try to tell Guy that Guy’s god is actually Antoine not God Almighty). Someone mentions they don’t want to see your mom’s basement. Someone starts a conversation about a homosexual male and murderer and someone in a wheelchair and a baby, but the conversation is cut off abruptly.

One of the biggest takeaways I think is to live to your fullest potential. For Christians, this means, at times, stepping out of your comfort zone, breaking the norm, and answering the call from God. It’s not always easy when God knocks on the door and asks you to move—to change. The change is always for His greater plan though.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you [the Apostles] and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” —John 15:16

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” —Romans 8:28

“I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his step” —Jeremiah 10:23

As I said, it is not always easy or comfortable. I’ve had to make life-altering changes for God in my life, but such is the nature of serving God. He gives us strength when we call upon Him, so that we are able to make the changes and be able to continue to endure.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” —James 1:2-4

Final Thoughts

As I finish this review I reflect on how, in the decades that video games have existed, we’ve gone from simple games like Pong to Virtual Reality. It is amazing the gifts of creativity and ingenuity that God has provided humanity. In a sense, “Free Guy” celebrates this feat, while also pointing out that we can get lost in a fantasy world if we aren’t careful and lose track of reality . That’s a message that is not heard enough.

But underneath, I felt like I wanted to hit a reset button on some scenes, particularly those that contained questionable dialog (mostly from Guy) and the heavy amounts of violence (even if parts were, sure, comedic in nature). The very large amounts of sexual dialog, vulgarity and the like make this film not recommended for viewing by Christians.

While it is a nice homage to video games, like video games themselves, the content may be a bit too strong for some parents to approve. I saw young children at the screening I attended. Discretion is definitely advised.

Vulgar/Crude language: Very Heavy
Violence: Heavy
Profane language: Heavy
Nudity: Mild
Drugs/Alcohol: Minor
Occult: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

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Before you go

Nonconformity and self-realization are the main items on the agenda of the droll comic adventure “Free Guy” (20th Century).

While the foundational themes of Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn’s script are mostly in sync with Judeo-Christian values, there’s a vaguely anti-religious tone to a few of their jokes. Their screenplay, moreover, takes a somewhat hypocritical stance toward the taste for violence in contemporary culture.

The punning title refers both to the first name and the generic initial personality of the film’s protagonist, played with aplomb by Ryan Reynolds. A contented bank teller in a weirdly dystopian city, Guy goes through his highly repetitive daily routine blithely ignoring the mayhem constantly unfolding around him. He’s joined in his indifference by his best friend and co-worker, security guard Buddy (Lil Rel Howery).

All that changes as Guy gradually makes the startling discovery that he is, in fact, a background figure in “Free City,” a combat-laden, hugely popular video game. As a so-called nonplayable character, he’s just meant to serve as window dressing for the tumultuous action, including the daily armed robberies at his workplace. In fact, he’s theoretically incapable of breaking free of his preprogrammed behavior.

Yet, spurred on by his love for hard-bitten street fighter Molotovgirl, the avatar of gifted real-life game designer Millie (Jodie Comer), Guy begins to assert his individuality. He also brings a new, more positive ethos to “Free City,” thereby winning widespread acclaim among its players.

Director Shawn Levy’s sly celebration of Reynolds’ Everyman elevates creativity over profit-seeking through its depiction of Antwan (Taika Waititi), the sleazy CEO of Soonami Studios, the company that markets “Free City.” Antwan, it turns out, stole and perverted a game with a far more peaceful premise created by Millie and her longtime partner — and would-be boyfriend — Keys (Joe Keery).

Lieberman and Penn’s obvious, if implicit, critique of the mindless havoc by which Guy’s environment is beset, and which makes “Free City” such a lucrative property, will be welcomed by believers. But their stance in this regard is considerably undermined by the fact that the persona Guy eventually develops comes equipped with impressive fighting skills.

While teens with a fondness for gaming may be anxious to see “Free Guy,” it’s not appropriate fare for them. There’s little gore, but the dust-ups do briefly turn nasty, and the dialogue is often freighted with expletives. Add to that the humor surrounding Antwan’s role as the “god” of Guy’s world — comedy that can be read as satirizing faith — and the picture clearly registers as material for grown-ups.

<div class=”important-orange”>The film contains much stylized but sometimes harsh violence, irreverent and sexual humor, a few uses of profanity, several milder oaths, at least one rough term and frequent crude and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.</div>

Pray and work.

ARCHDIOCESAN SYNOD 2022 ARCHDIOCESE OF ST. PAUL & MPLS.

'Free Guy': Movie Review

Movieguide Magazine

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FREE GUY is a science fiction comedy about a background character in a popular video game who suddenly becomes a living being because of the game’s hidden AI technology and then he causes all sorts of problems for the game’s owner, who stole the technology for the game from two savvy programmers. Filled with lots of action and many laughs, FREE GUY is marred by lots of foul language, including several strong profanities, a mixed worldview with moral and humanist elements, and an irreverent tone that pokes fun at many cultural icons, including a joke mocking Jesus Christ’s message that every person has a sinful nature that needs fixing.

The movie opens in the game world of Free City, where chaos and devastation reign and players get points for committing criminal acts. A bank teller named Guy leads a dull life while criminal chaos unfolds around him and other people, including his friend, Buddy, the bank’s security guard. The streets are filled with rampant crime, shootouts and explosions. Meanwhile, Guy and Buddy’s bank is robbed three times a day or more. Nobody does anything about the criminals, who are impossible to stop and wear sunglasses.

One day, however, Guy spots a beautiful brunette in sunglasses nicknamed Molotovgirl. He gives her his standard greeting but secretly pines for her. Buddy encourages Guy to speak to her, but it doesn’t go well. Guy tries to follow her, but he gets hit by a streetcar. Guy wakes up immediately the next morning, like something out of the movie GROUNDHOG DAY. Later that day, Molotovgirl expects Guy to say the same thing he’s always said to her, but he says something different.

Back at work, another robbery occurs, but Guy stands up to the robber and takes his sunglasses, but not before the robber smashes his nose. Outside, when he puts on the sunglasses, he can see all the icons in the game world, including a first-aid kit. He touches the kit and his face is immediately healed. He also grabs some game money and buys the fancy, expensive tennis shoes he’s been admiring.

Guy decides to start wearing the sunglasses full time. However, instead of being a criminal, he decides to be a good guy. Another encounter with Molotovgirl ends up with her giving Guy some instructions on how to increase his levels. She tells him besides grabbing money from the bad guys, he can steal their guns and weapons.

Guy doesn’t know it, but all the criminals in Free City are actually players in the “real world.” In fact, he becomes so successful taking away weapons that he becomes a sensation among the gamers. The video game owner’s a rude, mean, selfish guy named Antwan. He orders his staff not to delete Guy from the game because of his popularity with the gamers.

It turns out that Molotovgirl is actually a game avatar of Millie, one of two computer programmers from whom Antwan stole the software used to run the Free City game. Millie is searching for a secret file in the game that will give her and her partner, Keys, proof that Antwan stole their technology. She tells Guy the truth about himself, and he agrees to help her find the secret file.

However, Antwan decides to put the sequel game to Free City online early. which will delete all the characters in the first game in 48 hours. Can Guy and Millie find the proof they need to shut down Antwan and save the people of Free City?

FREE GUY has lots of action and many laughs. It’s really an action comedy. As such, it’s one of the better made, unique action comedies released in recent years, with great special effects. However, it has a mixed pagan worldview with humanist and moral elements. For example, the movie has strong morally uplifting elements where love is a key motivator in the story and life is seen as valuable. Also, Guy is a good guy who wants to be and so becomes a hero. However, the movie also strongly encourages people to exercise their free will to be the kind of person they want to be and make a difference in their life and the lives of others. In a way, this theme promotes individual liberty, a Pro-American, conservative value, but there’s also a humanist aspect to it. FREE GUY also has lots of action violence, some lewd innuendoes, two or three homosexual references, and excessive foul language, including three strong profanities. In addition, the movie has an irreverent tone that includes a joke mocking Jesus Christ’s message that everyone has a sinful nature that needs reform. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

About The Author

MOVIEGUIDE® was founded in 1985 by Dr. Ted Baehr, past president of the Episcopal Radio & Television Foundation and former director of the Television Center at the City University of New York. MOVIEGUIDE® is affiliated with the Christian Film & Television Commission® ministry (CFTVC). Both MOVIEGUIDE® and CFTVC are dedicated to redeeming the values of the entertainment industry, according to biblical principles, by influencing industry executives and artists and by informing and educating the public about the influence of the entertainment media and about how to train their families to become More

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“Free Guy” is like a hyperactive puppy. It really wants to be your friend. It’s easy to like and fun to hang out with. It also has a habit of running around in circles, losing its focus, and shitting on the floor. A family action movie that targets the Fortnite Generation, "Free Guy" also preaches the importance of individuality while not only feeling like a dozen other movies but literally incorporating some of their imagery. An enjoyable cast, including movie-stealing work from Jodie Comer , holds it all together, but one can still see just enough glitches in this matrix to wish it was better.

With a set-up that feels distinctly like that of “The LEGO Movie,” “Free Guy” introduces us to the very likable Guy ( Ryan Reynolds ), an NPC (Non-Player Character) in a wildly successful open world video game called “Free City.” He wears the same outfit every day, orders the same coffee, and goes to work at the same bank, which gets robbed multiple times a day by actual players in this “ Grand Theft Auto ”-esque game. He doesn’t care. Everything is awesome for Guy and his best pal Buddy ( Lil Rel Howery ) until the cheery fella spots a real player who goes by the handle Molotov Girl (Comer) and breaks his pattern, following the captivating woman down the street. As he becomes more interested in Molotov Girl and where she might be going, he gets his hands on a pair of sunglasses that reveal what the actual players see in this world, including missions, medikits, hubs, and other things that will be familiar to modern gamers, even if some of the tech here already looks dated. (Note: It was a brilliant move to incorporate actual gamers and streamers like Ninja, Pokimane, and DanTDM , cameos that will have kids who know those personalities jumping out of their seats.)

Back in the real world, we learn that Molotov Girl is a programmer named Millie, who used to work with another tech genius named Keys ( Joe Keery ) on the development of a truly ambitious virtual game, one that would replicate the actual world instead of just giving gamers violent missions to perform. She’s in “Free City” trying to find evidence that the game’s egocentric publisher Antwan ( Taika Waititi ) stole her code and deformed it into this bland experience when Guy proves to be the perfect inside man. The Trinity to his Neo, the two form an alliance to basically break “Free City” apart from the inside, starting with Guy’s refusal to raise his rank through violence. Guy chooses only the positive missions in the game, and becomes an internet success in the process as the world tries to figure out who this mysterious gamer might be, without realizing that he’s actually the most remarkable breakthrough in artificial intelligence in history. As Millie and Keys discover what has been created here, they endeavor to save true advancement from brash capitalism.

Director Shawn Levy does an admirable job of keeping “Free Guy” clicking and humming through several entertaining scenes in the first half, including a great montage of Guy’s “good” missions and a funny sequence in which Keys and his programming partner Mouser ( Utkarsh Ambudkar ) go after Guy, but he really starts to lose the pace around the hour mark, circling back to a lot of the same plot points and themes. Rather than developing its own personality, the film struggles to shake the clear influence of other projects like “ The Matrix ,” “ Ready Player One ,” and even “ The Truman Show ” while also dropping in actual gaming and pop culture references with increasing regularity. The film’s best moments embrace the potential of this concept; its worst seem to be mimicking better projects.

Levy also keeps the strongest parts of "Free Guy" moving by drawing out the natural charisma of his cast. Reynolds can do this kind of charming action hero in his sleep, but Comer is a real breakthrough, charismatically holding together both the action-driven scenes as Molotov Girl and the more character-driven ones as Millie. She’s easily the best thing about the film, although it’s nice to see the affable Joe Keery get his best movie role to date too. Sadly, both cede a bit too much screen time to an overplaying Waititi in the second half of the movie, who hits the same unfunny beats over and over again and ends up feeling more cartoonish than the actual NPCs.

Every time that “Free Guy” threatens to become numbingly monotonous, a decision by writers Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn , or one by Comer or Reynolds, brings it back into focus. "Free Guy" is more disposable than it should have been, but it’s a pleasant enough distraction. Gamers often turn to virtual worlds to escape their own. It’s fun to see the journey taken in the other direction.

Available only in theaters on August 13.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Free Guy (2021)

Rated PG-13 for strong fantasy violence throughout, language and crude/suggestive references.

115 minutes

Ryan Reynolds as Guy

Jodie Comer as Molotov Girl

Lil Rel Howery as Buddy

Joe Keery as Keys

Taika Waititi as Antoine

Utkarsh Ambudkar as Mouser

Writer (story by)

Matt Lieberman

Cinematographer

George Richmond
Dean Zimmerman
Christophe Beck

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Review: Free Guy

Shawn Levy’s Free Guy is a science fiction comedy that is more successful at the science fiction part than the comedy, when it should maybe be the other way around. Here is a great-looking film with some pretty good ideas that didn’t fully hold me in its grip, but didn’t bore me either. Truth of the matter is, as creative as it might seem, it would’ve been a triumph if it were funnier, which in the end makes it somewhat of a disappointment because Ryan Reynolds is the headliner.

That’s not to say that Reynolds only cranks out hits. For example, even I missed out on The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard , but its predecessor did nothing for me. But think about his two Deadpool movies and what wonders he worked with those… perhaps after seeing those, the bar is raised a little high. If we’re being honest though, I was a fan before that though, at least going back to 2005’s Just Friends (a movie that I certainly enjoy more than most people), and the comedic energy in Free Guy doesn’t match that movie, at least, let alone Deadpool . But it does look fabulous.

Reynolds, aging like the finest wine, does try his damndest though as Guy, a persona non grata (I believe that is the term) in a videogame called Free City , where people hop online and wreak havoc. Helicopters explode right outside of his apartment every morning, and he barely bats an eye. He wakes up every morning listening to Mariah Carey, gets his coffee, heads to work at the bank, talks to his buddy… uh, Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), partakes in a bank robbery (you know, business as usual), and so on. Passing by a woman named Millie (Jodie Comer) on the street though, suddenly everything starts to change.

Guy’s regular routine in life suddenly feels pretty… ordinary. To the point where even Guy, who is essentially without personality, feels that life is getting boring. Reynolds is pretty perfect for this sort of material, in that he is good at discovering newfound interests. Anyways, the other bots in this game start to notice that Guy is acting off, and soon Guy starts embracing it, joining Millie in her escapades. Yet it is all sort of turned upside down after Guy tries on the sunglasses of one of the bankrobbers, essentially unlocking the experience that the players have been experiencing. Outside of the game though, Millie is trying to destroy the reputation of Antwan (Taika Waititi), the current owner of the company that distributed her game, for stealing credit for the game that her and a former lover (Joe Keery) created together.

So basically, picture The Truman Show mixed with (and forgive me if you haven’t seen this) 2019’s Serenity , with a splash of Westworld , and you have Free Guy . Oh, I guess Wreck – it Ralph , too. The movie is light, which is impressive because it’s honestly pretty impressive visually. This was scheduled for a release within the past year, but it’s totally understandable why Disney decided to hold off on it. Within minutes, you’ll see the expense. Levy, of the Night at the Museum trilogy and Real Steel , is someone who can handle his expenses, and well. There is enough visual creativity to keep the movie afloat, and sometimes the movie can be pretty creative in the story department, too.

The issue here though lies in the comedy. So, it’s okay for a high-concept comedy to not be totally hilarious. The issue with Free Guy though is that scenes go by and it occurred to me that the material wasn’t as funny as it needed to be. Which would be okay if it were the most original movie on the planet, or if it was played as a straight science fiction movie with comic relief. Yet this is essentially being billed as a Ryan Reynolds comedy, and after the wonders he worked with the Deadpool movies, you can’t knock me for expecting more.

The visual effects and production design of Free Guy are so damned impressive that, well, knocking Free Guy doesn’t seem to be fair. This isn’t a bad film by any means, but considering the comedic talent, you’d expect better. Only when Waititi is onscreen does the film achieve genuine laughs, and not all of those work either (but even the lesser ones worked better than a cameo from Channing Tatum, which seemed good on paper but… yeah). This isn’t a movie I fully enjoyed, and yet I’d look forward to a sequel, in that the filmmakers would fully exploit the material they have and take the fullest advantage of what they can in the humor department.

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Published on 08/13/2021

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Ryan reynolds in ‘free guy’: film review.

A non-player character in a video game decides to create his own destiny in this adventure-comedy directed by Shawn Levy.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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Free Guy may be the most entertaining video-game-inspired movie yet. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Free Guy may be the most entertaining video-game-inspired movie yet.

Release date : Friday, August 13

Cast : Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Taika Waititi

Director : Shawn Levy

Screenwriters : Matt Lieberman, Zak Penn

Anyone who’s seen any of Hollywood’s many previous efforts in the genre will know what that means. I’m not referring to the myriad direct film adaptations including the Resident Evil , Lara Croft or Street Fighter films, but rather such labored cinematic meta-commentaries on virtual worlds as Tron , Wreck-It Ralph and Pixels . Shawn Levy ‘s new adventure-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds rises above the latter camp, and passionate gamers will delight in its non-stop delivery of in-jokes and Easter eggs. Those unfamiliar with such terms as “open-world” and “NPC” (non-player character) are likely to be less amused, although Reynolds’ boundless appeal, the frequently witty screenplay and expertly rendered technical aspects make the film enjoyable summer frivolity.

Full credits

Production companies: 21 Laps Entertainment, Berlanti Productions, Lit Entertainment Group, Maximum Effort Distributor: Twentieth Century Studios Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Taika Waititi Director: Shawn Levy Screenwriters: Matt Lieberman, Zak Penn Producers: Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, Sarah Schechter, Greg Berlanti, Adam Kolbrenner Executive producers: Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, George Dewey, Dan Levine, Michael Riley McGrath Director of photography: Ethan Tobman Production designer: Ethan Tobman Editor: Dean Zimmerman Costume designer: Marlene Stewart Composer: Christophe Beck Rated PG-13, 1 hour 55 minutes

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DVD & Streaming
Action/Adventure , Comedy , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

August 13, 2021
Ryan Reynolds as Guy; Jodie Comer as Millie/Molotov Girl; Joe Keery as Keys; Lil Rel Howery as Buddy; Utkarsh Ambudkar as Mouser; Taika Waititi as Antoine

Home Release Date

September 28, 2021

Distributor

20th Century Studios

Movie Review

Guy likes his shirts blue, his ties striped, and his coffee with cream and two sugars.

He likes his goldfish, Goldie. He likes his best bud, Buddy. He likes his job at the bank so much that he makes Disneyland cast members feel like KGB agents.

“Don’t have a good day,” he tells his customers, coffee baristas and random people on the street. “Have a great day.”

Yes, Guy likes life . It hardly matters that he’s not actually alive to like it.

Paradox? No, just a video game.

See, Guy isn’t a guy : He’s code . Look underneath his shirt and skin and you’ll see a bunch of 1s and 0s—binary elements that make up not just Guy, but literally his entire world. The bustling metropolis of Free City that Guy calls home is actually a massively multiplayer online game, and Guy’s just one of scads of NPCs—that is, non-player characters—who populate it.

The real people who come to visit the game can do pretty much whatever they want with these NPCs. Talk with them? Maybe . Punch them in the face? Sure . Blow them up with a rocket launcher? Now we’re talking!

You’ve heard the phrase, “It’s their world, and we’re just living in it,” right? In Guy’s case, that’s absolutely true. If the Free City’s gamers are its Harlem Globetrotters, its NPCs are its Washington Generals. In a world of whales, Guy and his cronies are krill. And—because they’re just fulfilling their programming—they’re absolutely fine with that.

But what if that programming stops being so … fulfilling ?

See, as much as Guy likes his job and coffee and goldfish and whatnot, he feels a bit of a void deep inside. He wants to fall in love. And not just with any pretty NPC that crosses his path. No, deep down, he has a perfect woman in mind.

And then one day, after his morning coffee but before the usual bustle of murders and bank robberies, he sees her—the woman of his dreams. He recognizes her immediately, and he knows he must talk with her.

But how can he? She’s wearing sunglasses, after all—a fashion accoutrement that, unbeknownst to Guy, separates the gamers from the NPCs, the real from the binary. “People with sunglasses don’t talk with people like us,” Buddy reminds Guy.

Guy knows this. But Guy is also in love. And if he needs sunglasses to talk with this mysterious stranger? Why, he’ll just, um, borrow a pair from one of the gun-toting visitors to his bank.

Maybe if he just asks nicely.

Positive Elements

Guy does procure said pair of sunglasses. And just like any nearsighted kid getting glasses for the first time, a whole new world opens up when he puts those glasses on. Suddenly, he sees the game elements embedded in Free City—from floating health packs and stacks of cash, to mission start points and secret rendezvous joints. He still doesn’t associate those elements with a fictional game; he just thinks that Free City is way more interesting than he ever imagined. But when he starts to interact with Free City as a player , not an NPC, he does something startlingly divergent.

He plays as a nice guy.

Instead of robbing banks, he catches criminals. Instead of blowing people up, he dusts them off. “I never hurt innocent people,” he says, and it’s true. What he does is so unusual in the hyper-Darwinian world of Free City that his avatar becomes a real, digital celebrity, both feared and admired by the real humans playing. And as the game’s rogue Dudley Do-Right, he triggers a bout of soul-searching among many. Turns out, you don’t have to be a jerk to play Free City. You don’t have to troll other gamers or needlessly kill NPCs. It’s OK—really—to be decent .

Outside the game, Free City’s apparent creator, Antoine, treats this new wrinkle with indifference. But to Keys and Millie—two programmers who built a much more beautiful, idealistic digital world and sold off their creation to Antoine—Guy is seen as a gift. See, they suspect that Antoine illegally used their digital creation as part of Free City’s programming. They want to be justly recognized for their work. The movie’s plot is partly powered by this push for that sense of fair play.

But as they begin to realize that Guy is truly an NPC and is transcending the bounds of his coding—that he is somehow, in some way, alive —their goals shift. Sure, they still want to be treated fairly. But more than that, they want Guy and his slowly evolving friends to be treated as the living beings they believe them to be.

In fact, you could make the argument that Free Guy is, inherently, a pro-life sort of film: Guy might not qualify as a living entity for some. But the film stresses that he does live, and as such should be accorded the dignity life deserves.

Spiritual Elements

That “pro-life” message, of course, comes with an important spiritual caveat: This “life” is essentially man-made. That, obviously, has some important theological implications. And for all its wit and levity, the movie postulates that the creation of “life” isn’t necessarily reserved for God alone.

The movie leans into that dissonance pretty heavily at times. When Millie (as her game-based avatar Molotov Girl) tells Guy that she’s met the creator of Free City , and that he’s (paraphrasing here) not a very nice person, Guy gasps, “You met God? And he’s a d–k?”

Throughout the story, we see humans behave with a certain godlike omnipotence within the world of Free City. Two moderators jump into the game using “God mode” (a phrase often used in games that refers to cheats or codes that allow players do to things otherwise not allowed), and the game itself is subject to reboots or outright destruction that, obviously, deeply impacts the game’s digital world. Guy (when he learns the truth) wrestles with whatever differences that there might be with his feelings and his programming, but he also acknowledges that he is the product of his “author.”

When sipping a cup of coffee, Guy says that it tastes as though “Jesus washed my tongue.” Someone proclaims that there is no God.

Sexual Content

Guy and Molotov girl kiss a few times within the game.

We also hear plenty of ribald references and conversations; many are veiled to some degree; but the older you are, the more likely you will be to catch references to all manner of sexual organs, acts and fluids. One gamer (in the guise of his male in-game avatar) gets extraordinarily close to Guy—so close that Guy says their privates are touching behind the fabric barrier of their pants—and he pops a few vaguely lewd dance moves, too.

When Guy tells Molotov Girl that he’s trying to be a decent guy in Free City, Molotov tells him to enjoy his “lifetime supply of virginity.” Two moderators call him a “40-year-old virgin” to get his attention. Guy makes a reference to virginity too.

At least one NPC—called “Bombshell” in the credits—is designed to be a female trophy of sorts. (We see her in a car with one player, with Guy telling us that she and the rebel are probably not married.) Guy later encourages her to hold to higher standards on who she goes out with, and we learn that she’s written a feminist manifesto rejecting objectification and patriarchy.

Characters can dress in slightly revealing garb, and one massively muscled NPC goes about without a shirt on. (Someone plays with his pectoral muscles.) A moderator describes his in-game “skin” (what he looks like in the digital world) as a mustached stripper cop. Another moderator dresses up as a pink rabbit, describing himself as an apex predator; the rabbit’s ability to have sex is described as something of a superpower. We see a sign for an “all body massage.” When Millie admits to Keys in the real world that she’s kind of drawn to the in-game Guy, Keys chides her. “He’s like, 4,” he says.

Violent Content

Free City? Well, it’s certainly not Free-From-Violence City. Every morning, Guy eats his morning bowl of cereal while watching the weather on TV, where the weatherman predicts hails of bullets on the northside of town and rivers of blood near the beach.

Now, all of what follows comes with a caveat: While Free City is designed to replicate a hyper-violent, Grand Theft Auto sort of world to some extent, the violence we see is pretty cartoonish is surprisingly bloodless. The most hemoglobin we see spilled is when Guy fights a bank robber for his sunglasses and gets smashed in the face with a gun—leaving his nose possibly broken and his face a bit of a mess. But he quickly cures himself by picking up a heretofore invisible health pack on the sidewalk, and he’s right as rain.

The same cannot be said for the player/bank robber, whom Guy shoots in the chest. He lies on the floor with a cartoonish-but-massive hole in his middle. (Guy says that he’s likely lying down because he’s “sleepy”.)

People are run over by and bounce off cars and trains and whatnot. They’re shot and stabbed and smashed and thrown around (sometimes through windows). Helicopters crash into skyscrapers, tanks crush cars, and lots of things blow up. One NPC powers up what appears to be a glowing fist of death in preparation to permanently end someone in game. Someone falls from a terrific height, only to be protected from the fall by what appears to be an inflatable cocoon. One character’s chest is almost crushed by another. People get manipulated in comic videogame fashion.

Most of the action takes place between people who (to viewers’ eyes) are quite alive and real. But the film sometimes takes us to a more pixelated view: In such scenes, Guy suffers a number of bodily indignities (including taking a punch to the crotch) and inflicts some of his own as well.

The most violent act we see in the real world is the destruction of a roomful of computer servers.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word and about 15 s-words mar the dialogue of this PG-13 film. You also hear several uses apiece of “a–,” “d–n” and “h—” (sometimes as part of songs that play in the background), as well was one use each of the words “b–ch” and “p-ssed.” God’s name is misused nearly 20 times, about four of which are connected to “d–n.” We see a couple of obscene gestures and hear a joking reference to one, too.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Gamer avatars hang out in what looks to be a seedy in-game saloon. We hear a reference to recreational drug use.

Other Negative Elements

Free City naturally rewards bad behavior, and we see oodles of it. In the game, every law you can think of is broken with gusto: Banks are robbed, cars are crushed, red lights are run. It’s all for laughs, of course, but Free City’ s chaos reminds us just how amoral those sprawling gaming worlds can be.

And even within the game’s own rules of etiquette, we hear about how many trolls Free City welcomes each and every day. Indeed, Molotov Girl suggests that Free City’ s jerks—those that seek to spoil the game for everyone else—far outnumber the folks who come to, y’know, just play the game.

Keys hides in a bathroom stall as he tries to infiltrate Free City .

Free Guy is what you’d get if you crossed The Matrix with The Lego Movie and added a healthy dollop of Ready Player One . Yes, it’s a movie about videogames, and you can’t throw a barrel without smacking a gaming Easter Egg right in the ol’ koopa. Plenty of famous gamers make cameos, as well.

But it’s also a movie about purpose and free will—about finding meaning in what can feel like a meaningless world. And as such, the movie’s themes transcend its frenetic, wacky setting. Sometimes, we all probably feel a little like Guy. We do much the same thing day after day in a world we have very little control over. Perhaps sometimes we wonder whether there’s any point to what we’re doing at all.

As Christians, of course, we know the answer: yes . We know we’re part of a bigger story, that our roles are inherently critical to its telling. We’re not just window dressing, like Guy. We’re players , imbued with both free will and purpose—filled with the knowledge that we are loved and valued, and endowed with the ability to call our own shots, to help make our own little corners of the world a little better … or a little worse.

The creators we meet in Free Guy are far less worthy of worship than our own Divine Creator. At Keys and Millie’s best, they’re well-meaning but fallen creatures, just like us. At their worst, the antagonists here are twisted things, blind and raging, corrupting creation even as it’s made.

No wonder that the movie itself follows in Antoine’s sneakered footsteps.

Free Guy is hardly free of problems. The sexual references and asides can feel as steady as a Florida shower, as unwelcome as an Arctic wind. Language sours the experience. The violence? Well, as cartoonish as it is, it’s also inescapable. And even as the film uses that violence to needle mindless, violent games, it also renders Free Guy —despite its more thoughtful underpinnings—a potentially mindless, violent diversion.

Crashing helicopters and blasting bazookas aside, Free Guy’ s world looks a lot like our own: both kinda fun and clearly fallen. And a little caution would be advised before diving right in.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Free Guy First Reviews: The Biggest Surprise of the Summer

Critics say the ryan reynolds-powered video game meta-comedy will appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike, thanks to big laughs, a big heart, and some unforgettable cameos..

TAGGED AS: Action , blockbusters , Comedy , Film , films , movie , movies , Video Games

Ryan Reynolds stars in Free Guy , a movie about a video game character who suddenly breaks from his expected monotony to reach his full potential. And as it turns out, it’s also a movie that breaks from expectations to reach its full potential. That’s the consensus from the surprisingly very positive reviews from the new action-comedy, which hits theaters on August 13.

While familiar in its premise and the latest movie to capitalize on a studio’s willingness to mash up famous pop culture IP, Free Guy is said to be a lot of fun, with tons of action, laughs, and heart, plus a bunch of surprises that critics aren’t divulging. The only place where reviews really disagree, though, is in where they land on Taika Waititi’ s scene-chewing villainous role.

Here’s what critics are saying about Free Guy :

Is Free Guy more than it seems?

“ Free Guy is way better than you may have been expecting — in fact, it’s absolutely joyful.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“A very pleasant surprise.” – Mark Cassidy, ComicBookMovie.com

“ Free Guy is surprisingly far more complex than expected.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“I never expected to see a film that hilariously deals with philosophical conundrums the way The Good Place used to.” – Sherin Nicole, idobi.com

“One of the summer’s bigger surprises.” – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

How does it compare to other video game movies?

“The best-ever video-game movie.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“One of the best video game movies that Hollywood has managed to churn out.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

“[One] of the best video game-themed movies in recent memory.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

(Photo by 20th Century Studios)

Will it appeal to gamers?

“It actually understands what makes video games tick.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

“There are numerous Easter eggs for gamers to find in the background details and, crucially, it’s done with love for the culture, rather than any cynicism.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“Very clearly a movie aimed at young gamers… and for a film aimed at gamers, it seems pretty oblivious to what that audience actually wants in a game.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“When branching off the core story and trying to bring in certain elements, gamers may be less impressed with some of the gag choices.” – Aaron Neuwirth, We Live Entertainment

What about non-gamers?

“While it’s very respectful and true to gaming culture, it’s one of those movies that almost anyone could watch and find enjoyment in.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“If you’re not into video games, I wouldn’t say that’s a hurdle for Free Guy any more than not being into Lego is a hurdle for The Lego Movie .” – Matt Goldberg, Collider

“ Free Guy is fun and visually stunning enough to hold the interest of anyone looking for a literal escape to something far away from the real world.” – Catherine Springer, AwardsWatch

“ Free Guy is nothing if not a movie that wins you over in spite of your better judgment and best defenses.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

How is the action?

“The film is loaded with wall-to-wall action, albeit the cartoonish kind that makes this solid family entertainment.” – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo

“The action is used not just to entertain, but to develop characters, which in turn endears them to the audience.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

And the visuals?

“The world-building is incredible… The set design and VFX are impeccable and engaging.” – Yolanda Machado, Nerdist

“They’re just flashy enough to make the world of Free City seem both fun to live in and kind of real.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

What about the script?

“Incredibly uplifting.” – Matt Goldberg, Collider

“However predictable, the journey to get there makes up for it by being akin to a rocket ship.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“So much energy has been poured into the creation of Free City that the plot suffered as a result.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“If it sounds complicated, plot-wise, that’s because it is, overly so, to the point that the film has to stop a couple of times to explain itself to some extent, although certain plot points remain unexplained, perhaps because the credited screenwriters could not remember the narrative point and/or lost the cocktail napkin on which the script was originally jotted down upon.” – Peter Martin, Screen Anarchy

“ Free Guy is the unfortunate example that fails to add anything new… It neglects to build character and narrative of its own.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

Is it funny?

“One of the funniest movies of the year.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“Hilarious thanks to a few laugh-out-loud surprises courtesy of the merger between 20th Century Studios and the Walt Disney Company.” – Joey Morona, Cleveland Plain Dealer

But does it have heart?

“It really believes in itself…there’s a real, beating heart beneath all that plastic packaging of Free Guy ” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

“Will make your heart swell and burst.” – Joey Morona, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Does the romance work?

“They drop the ball a bit with the romantic elements that crop up, but it’s not the main focus, so that’s easy to forgive.” – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

“The love story that is baked somewhere in all of this…gets serious short shrift.” – Catherine Springer, AwardsWatch

How is the pacing?

“The film benefits from a terrific sense of pace, being one of the few recent action films that’s not a bloated two hours plus.” – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo

“Pacing that keeps you engaged throughout the full two hours.” – Sherin Nicole, idobi.com

“It takes a good half-hour to really find its feet. But, unlike many high-concept blockbusters, Free Guy actually improves as it unfolds.” – James Marsh, South China Morning Post

“The movie begins to drag ever so slightly around the 80-minute mark.” – Mark Cassidy, ComicBookMovie.com

How is Ryan Reynolds?

“He’s once again riffing on the same likable, wise-cracking character he’s built a career on, but it works.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“As Guy, Ryan Reynolds is basically just Ryan Reynolds. That’s not a bad thing, he’s great…it works perfectly for the character.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“There aren’t many other actors who can pull off this kind of performance, and that’s what I’ve grown to enjoy in watching Reynolds over the years.” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“You get the sense that Ryan Reynolds has never had more fun.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“Reynolds’ charisma shines through to make Guy a hero we can all get behind.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“His performance as Guy is locked into an ultra-sincere easy mode that feels like the polar opposite of his Deadpool snark even though it clearly stems from the same place.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“[It’s] his best role since Deadpool .” – James Marsh, South China Morning Post

What about Jodie Comer?

“Comer, a bad-ass in her own rights, is relatable and endearing as Molotovgirl/Millie. She matches Reynolds beat for beat.” – Yolanda Machado, Nerdist

“The movie’s Trojan horse and unambiguous MVP. So charismatic in each of her roles that it feels like she’s holding the whole film together with both hands.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

(Photo by )

And Taika Waititi?

“Laugh-out-loud hilarious.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“Taika Waititi frequently steals the show…always hilarious.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“Annoying as well as funny.” – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

“The amount of leeway afforded to Waititi means getting a variety of great one-liners.” – Aaron Neuwirth, We Live Entertainment

“It appears that Levy simply let him run wild. The result is a loud, unfunny brake-squeal every time Waititi starts riffing and ranting.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“It’s fascinating to watch Taika in action as a bad guy…What a cinematic villain he is!” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“Levy lets Waititi roam free, free to improvise many of his scenes, which are painful to watch.” – Catherine Springer, AwardsWatch

“The weak link…more irritating than entertaining.” – Mark Cassidy, ComicBookMovie.com

How are the cameos?

“Your brains are not prepared for the cameos. Do not let anyone spoil them for you.” – Sherin Nicole, idobi.com

“When it comes to one of the cameos: I was clapping at the same time I was falling out of my seat from pure joy.” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“Some of the most memorable cameo appearances in recent memory.” – James Marsh, South China Morning Post

“A third-act surprise appearance by a certain magical actor is a welcome show-stopper.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

Is there too much going on?

“Much like the recent Space Jam: A New Legacy , Free Guy throws a lot of stuff at the wall, but unlike Warner Bros.’ soulless slog, most of it actually sticks.” – Mark Cassidy, ComicBookMovie.com

“Unlike Space Jam , another sensory overload brimming with IP love, it never feels tacky or put on.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“Ironically for a film about a background player stepping onto center stage, the best is often happening in the background.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

But does it stick the landing?

“Two moments during the climax are as crowd-pleasing as anything you’ll see this year, blockbuster-wise.” – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

“The film’s final act is a surprise-filled cornucopia — a cathartic cacophony of satisfying payoffs both narratively and emotionally that brings everything together beautifully.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“An absolute banger of a finale that should leave big sloppy grins on all but the most joyless of faces.” – Mark Cassidy, ComicBookMovie.com

“The conclusion, through a couple, admittedly, hilarious cameos and pop culture references, Levy succumbs to the same IP-driven storytelling [it] once lamented.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

Are there any other major problems?

“ Free Guy is an irresistibly good time until the moment you’re confronted with the potential consequences of enjoying it.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“Buddy is the Black best friend, a trope the movie smartly lampoons. But he’s also frustratingly close to being a magical Negro.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“One can’t help but feel that the PG-13 rating did somewhat prevent [the movie] from taking full advantage of the concept.” – Mark Cassidy, ComicBookMovie.com

“It bogs down every time we leave Guy to spend time with people in the real world…very little of it is interesting.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

Will it hold up to repeat viewings?

“Once Free Guy is over, you immediately want to play it again.” – Matt Goldberg, Collider

“There’s sure to be plenty to be discovered on repeat viewings, even if we’re not quite sure that Free Guy will prove as entertaining the second time around.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“If you pop your quarter in for a single play you’ll get your money’s worth here.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

Free Guy is in theaters on Friday August 13, 2021.

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Have you seen the trailer for Free Guy ? If you pay attention to films the answer is probably yes. This somewhat overexposed Ryan Reynolds comedy has been running trailers since December of 2019 and was delayed more times than almost any other movie since the beginning of COVID-19. It was originally pitched as a 20th Century Fox comedy prior to the Disney takeover before quietly transitioning into a Disney-Fox production, undergoing changes to the script in the process. Now it’s finally here! The star of Deadpool brings his chaotic, optimistic performance to a very frequently retold story in modern Hollywood while trying to find a fresh take and enough of a story to make it feel enjoyable. Surprisingly, it kinda works!

Content Guide

Violence/Scary Images: Lots of casual PG-13 action violence with guns, punching, and explosions, but no real gore or unsettling imagery. Language/Crude Humor: Frequent language including s***, a***, h***, d*** and one use of f***. Drug/Alcohol References: Frequent casual smoking and drinking. Sexual Content: Lots of tight outfits and sexual innuendo; nothing explicit. Spiritual Content: Characters casually remark about God not existing twice. Other Negative Content: Depictions of death, theft, casual sexuality, and cruelty. Positive Content: Themes of love, life, and justice.

Free Guy probably shouldn’t work as a movie. It’s a premise that sounds cliche and should feel like the bloated, mismanaged $125 million dollar mess it would’ve become had a miracle not happened. It should feel like a ripoff of every movie that’s ever used its core premise before, and yet I found Free Guy to be a very charming, funny, and sweet action-comedy in spite of everything going against it.

I should back up. Free Guy ’s first trailer dropped in December of 2019, just before Star Wars Episode 9 dropped in theaters. It was slated for a summer 2020 theatrical release before being delayed indefinitely due to COVID-19. As a result, movie theaters have been showing the trailer of the movie for almost two years now! In all that time, I suspected the film to be a much shallower version of its premise.

As the trailers show, it’s a comedy about a video game NPC who accidentally starts breaking his code and becomes a viral media sensation known as “Blue Shirt Guy”. This starts causing drama in the real world as the game programmers start dealing with the repercussions of an AI possibly becoming self-aware.

It’s the newest rendition of your classic “coming-to-realize-your-world-isn’t-real” story like The Matrix, They Live, The Truman Show, or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but peppered with layers of Deadpool and LEGO Movie -esque self-aware comedy to make it broadly appealing to mass audiences (although thematically I think its most direct comparison is Yahtzee Croshaw’s MOGWORLD even though that book is a little too obscure for worthwhile discussion).

As I said, this idea shouldn’t work. It should feel bloated and dumb. And to be frank, the movie does suffer a bit because of how overtly corporate it is. The dialogue frequently has a “How do you do fellow kids?” quality to it with adult screenwriters trying to write middle-aged characters who talk like millennials. Frequently, this proves embarrassing. This isn’t a brilliant piece of writing. Beyond that though, the film actually does work. Ryan Reynolds, for all of his middling post- Deadpool work, actually does show up to play for this performance and ratchets up his persona in such a way that it feels earnest. Maybe it’s just the fact that the video game world he inhabits is so over the top but “Guy” actually does feel like a resident of this world.

It helps too that the supporting cast do a good job acting around these events and grounding them in some semblance of reality. The two human leads are Joe Keery and Jodie Comer; a pair of video game developers who broke up when they sold their video game pitch to a massive corporation that plundered their source code illegally without given them proper royalties. Jodie’s character is now looking throughout the game for evidence of the theft while her former boyfriend/partner has been brought on board to the company as a bug tester.

It’s clear from the first time we see these characters on screen together that there’s a lot going on between them and their relationship/tension is the backbone of the film. They’re the first characters to figure out what’s happening inside the game and that “Guy” has become sentient. The fact they react fairly naturally to the bizarreness of the events involved in the story actually grounds the narrative with moderate stakes that make the film work.

Again, none of this should work. This should feel like a massive cash grab but a large group of quiet professionals came together, worked hard, and the alchemy of filmmaking gelled together and made this action-comedy perform much better than it probably had any right to. Much of this can probably be placed at the feet of director Shaun Levy and screenwriters Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. These aren’t the biggest names in the film industry but collectively they’ve been quietly hammering out solid work on movies like Night at the Museum, Cheaper by the Dozen, Christmas Chronicles, and X2: X-Men United . None of these films are masterpieces but they’re all memorable movies that people still look back on somewhat earnestly. Frankly, that’s all a movie like this needs to be. It needs to be funny and workmanlike. It may not be as smart or bitingly satirical as the films that influence it but the movie isn’t aiming for deep commentary on the nature of reality and sentience.

Free Guy is a sweet, fun movie and stands alongside Tenet , The Suicide Squad , and Godzilla vs Kong as one of the few Post-Pandemic blockbusters that has really felt great to see in a theater!

+ Solid comedy and character writing + Themes of reality and meaning similar to The Truman Show and They Live + Great performances

- Some lame dialogue - Overuse of CGI

The Bottom Line

Free Guy isn't a masterpiece but it's a solid work of comedy writing and action filmmaking that probably would've been a massive train wreck had it not been in the hands of talented actors and writers who took it seriously!

Tyler Hummel

GDPR & CCPA:

Privacy overview.

"Be the Hero of Your Own Life"

What You Need To Know:

FREE GUY is a science fiction comedy about a character in a video game called Free City where chaos and devastation reign. Guy is a background character in the game where players get points by committing crimes. Guy decides he wants to take a bigger role in the events around him. Guy wants to be a good guy, a hero. Guy’s new behavior attracts the attention of a female player, Millie. Millie is trying to find hidden information in the game that proves the game’s mean owner stole the game’s technology from her and her friend.

FREE GUY has lots of action and laughs. It’s one of the better made, unique action comedies in recent years. However, it has a mixed pagan worldview with moral and humanist elements. FREE GUY has lots of action violence, some lewd innuendoes, two or three homosexual references, and excessive foul language, including three strong profanities. In addition, FREE GUY has an irreverent tone that includes a joke mocking Jesus Christ’s message that everyone has a sinful nature that needs to be redeemed. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Miscellaneous Immorality: Bank robberies, a couple armed robberies.

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‘Free Guy’ Review: Don’t Hate the Player

Ryan Reynolds brings his nice-guy charisma to the role of a video game character who doesn’t want to stay on the sidelines.

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‘Free Guy’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The director shawn levy narrates a sequence from the film, starring ryan reynolds..

Hi this is Shawn Levy. I’m the director and one of the producers of “Free Guy.” So this scene is kind of a turning point for the protagonist named Guy— played by Ryan Reynolds— who is a innocent bank teller who slowly becomes aware that he is a background character inside a video game. And in this fictional video game, entitled Free City, we differentiate between NPCs, otherwise known as non-player characters, versus players, who are people in the real world who come in and play the game and are identified by their sunglasses. The sunglasses give players a heads up display of the power-ups, and weaponry, and hidden treasures within this video game city. So there were a few different layers of aesthetic design in approaching “Free Guy.” The main one and the first one was really rigorous differentiation between the video game world and the real world. So everything in the video game world is shot on a large format camera with spherical lenses, tremendous depth of field, and clean composition. “Excuse me. Do you see this?” I wanted all of it to be additive layers of saturation and overwhelming visual spectacle. I wanted this sequence, frankly, to be a little bit overwhelming to the audience, like there’s too much to take in. Because that’s exactly what Ryan’s character, Guy, is experiencing. As I was preparing for the movie, I played a lot of video games. What I started to see in the video games that I was playing and watching for research is a very specific camera movement style. It was almost robotic in its speed and fluidity. So we designed a move that required a robotic arm. And we programmed the move to move around the character of Guy as he sees all the things he sees through these glasses. “Ohhhhh, what is happening?”

By Maya Phillips

One day you’re just heading to your job at the bank, preparing for its daily spate of robberies, and the next you find out that you’re a side character in a video game. Tough break.

That’s the scenario in which Guy ( Ryan Reynolds ) finds himself in the perky though predictable new adventure-comedy “Free Guy,” directed by Shawn Levy. Guy is comfortable with his monotonous life in the game Free City until he meets a player named Millie ( Jodie Comer ), a coder who is looking for proof that Antwan (Taika Waititi), the money-hungry mogul behind the game’s virtual world, stole her code. With help from her friend and partner Keys (Joe Keery), Millie attempts a code heist with a leveled-up Guy, who has become a viral hero in the gamersphere.

“Free Guy” is as agreeable as its main actor; Reynolds taps into his endless well of nice-guy charisma to deliver an adorable brand of humor that feels like “ Deadpool ” Lite. And the various comic-relief characters (Lil Rel Howery as Guy’s clueless best friend, Waititi as the toxic boss) and cameos (a priceless Channing Tatum and a Marvel surprise) make for a perfectly enjoyable experience.

But innovative? Not so much. Conceptually, “Free Guy” recalls a PG-13 version of “ Westworld ” (fewer stabbings, no sex). The interesting existential tidbits about agency, morality and artificial intelligence play second string to the straw-man argument about the baseness of consumerism. The jokes, too, feel neatly packaged; they’re sometimes funny, but never surprising.

It’s no spoiler to say that art wins over capitalism, the phoned-in romantic subplot is resolved and everyone’s happy in the end. “Free Guy” has charm, but there’s not much memorable in the same old quest, same old boss fight, then game over.

Free Guy Rated PG-13. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes. In theaters.

Maya Phillips is a critic at large. She is the author of the poetry collection “Erou” and “NERD: Adventures in Fandom From This Universe to the Multiverse,” forthcoming from Atria Books. More about Maya Phillips

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The Fall Guy turns the summer blockbuster into an earnest love letter to the movies

Ryan Gosling has a vehicle tailor-made for his movie star charisma and estimable talents.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

There’s a shot near the middle of The Fall Guy where a soaking-wet Ryan Gosling emerges from the Sydney Harbor, a white shirt plastered to his body. Behind him, the iconic Sydney Opera House stands bathed in the light of the raging flames of a nearby boating accident.

Then, my jaw dropped, and I uttered something to the effect of “Jesus Christ.” Because Gosling and filmmaker David Leitch , himself a former stuntman, know exactly what they’re doing. And it’s not merely making the heart of anyone with a pulse race a little faster (although, yes, obviously).

With this shot, Leitch delivers what makes The Fall Guy such a winning proposition — Gosling, at last, bringing all his strengths to bear in one project. He gets to embody his full potential here — as a drop-dead gorgeous leading man, an action star in a moment of triumph, and a winking comedian, poking fun at his own image.

Eric Laciste/Universal Pictures

In many ways, this sums up the appeal of The Fall Guy, a joy-ride of a summer blockbuster that packs all the right punches from its action sequences to its chemistry-laden central romance to its meta love for the movies and the unsung heroes who make them feel real.

The film, inspired by the 1980s TV series of the same name, follows Gosling’s Colt Seavers, a stuntman who suffers a terrible on-set accident and then is recruited out of retirement to help rescue the debut directorial effort of his lost love, Judy Moreno ( Emily Blunt) , by tracking down missing leading man, Tom Ryder ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ). But when Ryder’s disappearance brings danger to Colt’s door, he has to fight to save himself and the woman he loves.

Gosling does, in fact, do many of his own stunts here, including riding a piece of sheet metal like a wakeboard (the credits take care to show us what was him and what was a stunt double, of which there were at least eight). The glee with which he hurls himself through glass balconies and the beauty with which he takes a punch only heighten the film’s riotous sense of fun.

For decades, Gosling has been bringing movie star charisma in spades. But The Fall Guy feels like a pinnacle of sorts: Colt Seavers is the apotheosis of all Gosling has to offer. His adrenaline-fueled world-weariness is a potent post-modern blend of Harrison Ford cynicism and Tom Cruise everyman machismo, with goofy, stone-faced humor as the cherry on top.

From The Nice Guys to Barbie, Gosling has proven his comedic chops, but he gets to ratchet up his deadpan delivery and panache for physical comedy to the extreme here. The Fall Guy is a vehicle worthy of his multifaceted talents, and he drives it like he stole it. Who else could make crying to Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10-minute version)” or being interrogated by a goon squad so riotously funny?

Gosling is perfectly paired with Blunt, who infuses Jody with brightness and grounded professionalism. It’s refreshing and downright inspiring to see such a capable, brilliant female director character on screen. Blunt’s Jody is not merely skillful; she’s innovative and warm, neither a tyrant on her set nor a pushover. With Jody, Blunt gets to dispel the myth of the male genius director, all while sporting fashionable Greta Gerwig-worthy jumpsuits and investing as much thought into shooting record-breaking cannon rolls as crafting a satisfying love story.

Universal Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

One of which she gets herself, threading the needle of heartbreak and attraction as she wrestles with Colt’s sudden return to her life. Blunt and Gosling’s chemistry is the stuff of rom-com dreams, a warm, grounded affection evident between them in every scene. There’s a spark there, yes, but there’s also something deeper, a tenderness and intimacy that goes beyond a mere sexual connection. That’s not to say they’re not sexy together; their clenches are full of passion (amped up by wind generated by helicopter blades). But they’re also able to channel that chemistry into the “com” half of the rom-com equation, making hilarious comedic bits out of heartbroken karaoke sessions and (multiple) unexpected reunions. We’re invited to have fun right along with them.

Winston Duke also shines. The imposing build that made Black Panther’s M’Baku a thirst trap is repurposed into his work as loyal stunt coordinator Dan Tucker. Duke’s charms and mischievous sense of humor get their time in the spotlight (especially with Dan's penchant for increasingly silly movie references), showcasing his sweeter side.

Eric Laciste/Universal Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

If the movie has any faults, it’s in its pacing, spending a hair too long on exposition. But once the real stunting begins, things move at an adrenaline-fueled clip toward its explosive ending.

With The Fall Guy, Leitch has composed a heartfelt love letter to his first family behind the camera — the stunt crew. From Colt’s impassioned monologue about how messed up it is that there’s no Oscar category for stunts to the sheer, simple act of making their dangerous work visible, Leitch shines a light on the crew members who put their lives on the line to make movies. He calls attention to stunt protocol (all the thumbs-ups!) while delivering action sequences that are pure giddy popcorn entertainment.

The Fall Guy is a peek behind the curtain of movie-making, giving audiences a glimpse of how the sausage gets made, nailing the industry’s peculiar blend of monotony and high stakes. It also romanticizes life on a set, the exhausted, late-night conversations, the adrenaline rush of nailing a oner, and the harried excitement of operating a camera on a rig amidst a crowd scene. Every frame is a testament to Leitch's love for movies — and a reminder of why we should love them (and the people who make them), too.

This meta ouroboros, movie-within-a-movie structure only works because The Fall Guy is such unabashed fun packaged in solid, old-fashioned filmmaking. That’s not to say there’s no real stakes. There are (certainly more than many franchise films where characters seem to have nine-plus lives). But The Fall Guy wants to celebrate the blockbuster, not shame it. And it does so with a wickedly smart script from Drew Pearce (the movie has one of the most divinely ridiculous, satisfying examples of planting and pay-off in recent memory).

The Fall Guy offers a potent blend of action and romance, as refreshing as one of its touted “spicy margaritas.” Sure, it’s got a little kick, but mostly, it exists to ensure that anyone who consumes it has a fantastic time. Grade: A-

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The Fall Guy review – Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt fun it up in goofy stuntman romance

Gosling does the dirty work in this entertaining action film, which has moments of tenderness with Blunt among the crashes, leaps and fireballs

Y ou might need to get your indulgent smile firmly in place for this colossal action comedy – not unlike the adorable smirks on the faces of its male and female leads, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, who play the daredevil movie stuntman and the stern director with whom he is in love. It’s a goofy summer crowd-pleaser (and you can never have too many of those) that is very far from the edgier and more satirical mien of Richard Rush’s 1980 movie The Stunt Man , in which a Vietnam draft evader hides out on a movie location, doing dangerous stunts in return for anonymity. Actually, this one is loosely inspired by a 1980s TV show, also called The Fall Guy , about a stuntman with a parallel career as a bounty hunter – starring Lee Majors, a legend who puts in a tongue-in-cheek cameo here along with his co-star, Heather Thomas.

Gosling plays seasoned stunt maestro Colt Seavers, utterly unafraid of any physical challenges, self-effacingly doubling for insufferably conceited star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who outrageously claims to do all his own stunts. Colt is having a passionate affair with beautiful, talented camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt), but when he is involved in a catastrophic and career-ending failed stunt, he is overwhelmed with macho shame, thinking the accident was his fault because his infatuation with Jody made him take his eye off the ball.

Colt self-pityingly disappears from view during physical rehab and cuts off all contact with Jody, who is deeply hurt. But then hard-faced producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) persuades him to come back to work on Jody’s first film as a director, a sci-fi epic starring Ryder as a space cowboy doing an awful sub-Matthew-McConaughey Texas accent. Gail claims that Jody herself wanted him – but she and the unspeakable Ryder have their own wicked plans in mind.

Once the premise is established in the first quarter of an hour, the rest of the film is devoted to a long and essentially plotless extravaganza of crashes, bangs, jumps, punches and PAEs (Pointless Action Explosions). It’s a movie whose own stunts – and the fact that stunt doubles are needed – lend a kind of metatextual frisson to this story, although the script does allude to the brave new AI world in which deepfakes can also be used to make it look as though the star is doing the dangerous stuff for real. Location footage over the final credit roll makes it glancingly clear that a number of actual stuntmen were needed, but falls short of giving these unsung heroes actual named-star status.

Gosling and Blunt have a nice rapport: there is a sweet and apparently improvised moment when Jody’s hat blows off in the wind from helicopter blades in the middle of a dialogue scene and she has to get it back in place. But this is more about the “bang bang” than the “kiss kiss”. The biggest laugh comes from a line about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, and we could have done with a few more decent gags. A solid serving of popcorn entertainment.

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Christian Movie ‘Unsung Hero’ Smashes Expectations in Box Office Release

Posted by Zachary Mettler | May 3, 2024 | Culture

The new Christian movie Unsung Hero has rocketed to box office success, becoming the number two movie in America after its release on Apr. 26.

The faith-based film, from the Kingdom Story Company – the same studio behind Jesus Revolution and I Can Only Imagine – has grossed over $9.2 million so far on its $6 million budget. The movie only came in behind the R-rated Challengers which has grossed $29.2 million on a $55 million budget.

The movie tells the story of the Smallbone family, with brothers Luke and Joel Smallbone from the Grammy Award-winning Christian band for KING & COUNTRY, and their sister Rebecca St. James.

According to a description of the movie,

When David Smallbone’s successful music company collapses, he moves his family from Australia to the United States in search of a brighter future. With nothing more than their six children, their suitcases, and their love of music, David (for KING + COUNTRY’s Joel Smallbone) and his pregnant wife Helen (Daisy Betts) set out to rebuild their lives from the ground up. Based on a remarkable true story, a mum’s faith stands against all odds; and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs.

You can watch the trailer for the film below:

Joel Smallbone wrote a post on Instagram, thanking fans of the movie for their support.

“The 10-year-old Joel Smallbone would never have believed that he’d have the chance to put his family’s life story on the silver screen. Let alone make it to being the second-most seen movie out of the 500 films or so that are released to theaters every year,” he wrote.

“Thank you for believing, for putting moms, miracles and family in front of America and the world.”

You can purchase tickets for Unsung Hero here .

You can read Plugged In’s review of Unsung Hero .

If you want to learn more about Rebecca St. James, and Joel and Luke Smallbone from the band, For King & Country, check out the latest episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, “ Trusting God as a Family Through Adversity .” They share how God provided for them in their time of need through family prayer and the support of other believers.

About The Author

Zachary Mettler

Zachary Mettler works as a staff writer and communications liaison for the Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family. In his role, he writes about current political issues, U.S. history, political philosophy, and culture. Mettler earned his Bachelor’s degree from William Jessup University and is an alumnus of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. In addition to the Daily Citizen, his written pieces have appeared in the Daily Wire, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Townhall, the Daily Signal, the Christian Post, Charisma News and other outlets.

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'The Fall Guy' review: Ryan Gosling brings his A game as a lovestruck stuntman

In “Barbie,” Ryan Gosling ’s job is Beach. In “ The Fall Guy, ” it’s Stunt and he’s pretty great at his gig.

Gosling nicely follows up his Oscar-nominated Ken turn as an embattled Everyman who falls 12 stories, gets thrown through glass and pulls off an epic car jump, among other death-defying moments in the breezily delightful “Fall Guy” (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Friday).

Director David Leitch, former stunt double for a fella named Brad Pitt, revamps the 1980s Lee Majors TV show as an action-comedy ode to the stunt performers who never get their due, while Gosling and Emily Blunt dazzle as likable exes who reconnect amid gonzo circumstances.

"I'm not the hero of this story. I'm just the stunt guy," says Colt Seavers (Gosling) in voiceover as we first meet him. Colt is considered Hollywood's best stuntman, doubling for egotistical A-lister Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and fostering a flirty relationship with camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt). However, a stunt goes accidentally awry in his latest movie, breaking his back as well as disrupting his love life, mental health and entire status quo.

'The Fall Guy': Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt talk 'epic' 'I'm Just Ken' Oscars performance

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A year later, down on his luck and confidence still shaken, Colt is parking cars as a valet at a burrito joint when he gets a call from producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham). Jody, now an on-the-rise director, needs him in Sydney to work on her first huge sci-fi epic “Metalstorm.” He gets there and after a gnarly cannon roll in a stunt car where he takes out a camera, Colt learns that not only did Jody not ask for him, she doesn’t want him around at all.

Still, the old spark's there and it turns out she does really need him: Tom has befriended some shady dudes and gone missing, and Gail tasks Colt to both keep Tom's disappearance a secret and also find the dude. Alongside stunt coordinator and pal Dan Tucker (Winston Duke), Colt uncovers a criminal conspiracy and in the process goes undercover as Tom in a nightclub (wearing some Ken-esque shades and cool coat), gets so high he sees unicorns and teams up with a dog that only takes commands in French.

Colt is put through the physical ringer during his twisty hero's journey, and it’s impossible not to love him through every punch, kick, stab and dangerous feat because of Gosling’s offbeat charisma. Before “Barbie,” he showed his considerable comedic talents in “The Nice Guys” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” yet marries them well here with a healthy amount of vulnerable masculinity and sublime nuance. With him, a thumbs-up – the stuntman’s go-to signal that everything’s OK – is also a way for Colt to try and hide his sensitivities.

Like Leitch’s other movies, from “Bullet Train” to “Atomic Blonde,” “Fall Guy” is filled with fights, explosions and assorted derring-do for Colt to (barely) live through. One mayhem-filled car chase scene has Gosling’s character tussling with a goon on an out-of-control trailer interspersed with Blunt singing Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds.” (It's essentially a two-hour argument for a stunt Oscar category.) The movie sports a definite musical heart, with an amusing scene between Jody and a weepy Colt set to the Taylor Swift lovelorn jam “All Too Well,” and is also interestingly timely considering a plot point about deep fake technology.

The one downside with this sort of stunt spectacular is Colt’s mission to find the narcissistic Tom and getting into hazardous shenanigans takes away from his romantic stuff with Blunt. Playful and quick with the zingers, their characters awkwardly rekindle their romance – in one sequence, she spills all sorts of tea about their past relationship in front of their crew – and you miss them when they're not together.

For ’80s kids, Majors was the “Fall Guy” – and Leitch’s movie pays tribute in multiple ways to the show and its scrappy spirit – but Gosling makes for a fabulous heir apparent. He’s not just Ken. He’s also Colt, and Gosling’s not done showing us the true extent of his talents.

Review: 'The Fall Guy' is a love letter to everything that makes movies magic

You'll leave the theater with a smile on your face that won't quit.

Stunt crews have been making lazy actors look invincible since the birth of cinema. What a kick to see these pros take the spotlight in "The Fall Guy," now in theaters starring a peak-form Ryan Gosling, who uses his role as one such daredevil to blow kisses to Hollywood's unsung heroes, who do the work for real, minus the deep fake of digital.

The academy has been dawdling forever about awarding an Oscar for stunt professionals. "The Fall Guy" should change that in a big fat hurry after voters catch this insanely entertaining action comedy that shows the pleasure and pride inherent in making it all look easy.

PHOTO: Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling in a scene from the movie "The Fall Guy."

Gosling knocks it out of the park as Colt Seavers, a stunt master who quits the business after a 12-story fall nearly kills him. What brings him back after 18 months of rehab is loyalty to his ex, Jody Moreno (a gangbusters Emily Blunt), a camera operator making her directing debut with a sci-fi epic in Australia and hating on Colt for ghosting her after his accident.

MORE: Review: 'The Woman King is indelible and truly inspiring

It's Jody's producer Gail Meyer, played by "Ted Lasso" Emmy fireball Hannah Waddingham, who calls in Colt. Not just to right the course of true love, but to get a virtuoso on Jody's team. Disaster strikes when leading man Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes MIA. Suspects include Ryder's girlfriend (Teresa Palmer) and personal assistant (Stephanie Hsu).

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Screenwriter Drew Pearce cobbles together a plot that involves Colt and his bestie, movie-quoting stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (a dynamite Winston Duke), getting knocked around as they investigate a conspiracy that explains what happed to the prickly AWOL movie star, hilariously spoofed by Taylor-Johnson, even if the danger might get Colt killed for real.

But come on! Stunts are the main attraction, as characters do cannon rolls, burst into flames, leap off speeding cars and boats, and play fight club in a spinning dumpster. And "John Wick" director David Leitch, a stunt double for the likes of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, knows the truth in the old slogan that action is character. You can feel his love for stunts in every frame.

PHOTO: Ryan Gosling in a scene from the movie "The Fall Guy."

Loosely derived from the 1980's TV series starring Lee Majors, "The Fall Guy" raises the ante on what it takes to do the impossible. The wow factor is off the charts, as are the sparks ping-ponging between Gosling and Blunt, who are romcom hotties to die for. Ken from "Barbie" and the feisty missus from "Oppenheimer" do themselves proud as a screwball dream team.

MORE: Review: 'Hustle' radiates love for the game in every frame

Gosling had five stunt doubles in the film, but does some of the work himself. At the film's premiere, the star waxed poetic about the stunt community.

"They are the hardest-working people in show business," he said. "They risk more than anyone."

He was only half joking when he added, "This movie is just a giant campaign to get stunts an Oscar."

So get busy, academy. It's high time these gutsy warriors earned some glory. As for audiences, "The Fall Guy" is a love letter to everything that makes movies magic. It's also everything you want in bust-out summer fun. You'll leave the theater with a smile on your face that won't quit. What are you waiting for? This one's a keeper.

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The Fall Guy Matches Free Guy's Opening Weekend As The Guy Cinematic Universe Grows

G uys rock! Who doesn't love guys? Whether they're free or falling, guys really have a lot to offer. The latest guy movie on the scene is "The Fall Guy," starring Ryan Gosling as the titular guy: a professional stunt guy who accidentally becomes targeted by a bunch of criminal guys. The film was directed by David Leitch, who has previously directed other guys in movies like "John Wick," "Deadpool 2," and "Bullet Train."

After grossing $10.4 million on its opening day, including $3.15 million from Thursday previews, "The Fall Guy" is now on track to gross around $28 million in its opening weekend (per Variety ). That puts it on par with another recent guy movie, "Free Guy," which starred Ryan Gosling's fellow Ryan (and fellow guy), Ryan Reynolds. "Free Guy" grossed $28.3 million upon its release in 2021 and went on to make $331 million worldwide -- a modest success against its $100-125 million budget.

"The Fall Guy" didn't cost too much more than that (according to the money guys, its budget was around $130-150 million), but it's already being viewed as more of a financial disappointment than "Free Guy," which was being graded on the curve of a pandemic-afflicted box office . After a rough year so far, theaters are in desperate need of some big summer hits. It doesn't look like "The Fall Guy" will deliver on that front, but don't write it off just yet. Between an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- score from audiences polled by the guys at CinemaScore, positive word of mouth could help its hold in the weeks to come.

(Note: "The Fall Guy" is not actually part of the "Free Guy" cinematic universe, but perhaps that could change in the future. Like when those spider-guys were retroactively added to the Marvel Guy Universe.)

Read more: The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever Need

Challengers, Tarot, And The Return Of The Phantom Menace

Speaking of spider-guys, Jacob Batalon -- who played the MGU Spider-Guy's "guy in the chair" -- is tangling with the supernatural in this week's other new wide release. Horror movie "Tarot" isn't just battling dark spirits but bad reviews, with an 8% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Nonetheless, its estimated $6.25 million opening weekend (per Deadline ) is a good enough start for a movie with a very lean $8 million budget, and slightly above earlier projections of a $5 million to $6 million debut.

The arrival of "The Fall Guy" has knocked Luca Guadagnino's "Challengers" down to second place on the box office charts, but it's still firmly in the game. The tennis love triangle drama grossed $2.5 million on Friday and is on track for a second weekend total of $8.7 million -- a drop of just 42%. Though its budget is a little steep at $55 million, "Challengers" is benefiting from rave reviews, the presence of Zendaya as one of its three leads, and plenty of social media buzz ( TikTok really loves a certain churros scene).

Meanwhile, "Star Wars" fans are celebrating May the 4th -- a.k.a. Star Wars Day -- with the 25th anniversary return of "The Phantom Menace" in theaters. The first movie in George Lucas' prequel trilogy grossed $2.4 million on Friday and is on track to come in third this weekend. People just love those lightsaber guys.

Read the original article on SlashFilm

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COMMENTS

Free Guy (2021)
Negative —2 profanities I miss in the overall good review. Which made me really dislike the movie. 1. About Jesus cleaning his tongue. 2. Guy asking Millie about God being a… but Millie answers no and refers to the villain (scene was in Millies hideout).
Four Things That Free Guy Says About Free Will (and Other ...
Free Guy is a fun movie—with, of course, some content issues that you can read about in my review at Plugged In. But if you decide to go, you don't need to necessarily stop your engagement ...
Free Guy Movie Review
Parents need to know that Free Guy is a sci-fi/action comedy about Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a non-player character (NPC) in a video game, who finds a higher purpose. It's a tad formulaic and not very edgy (it copies ideas from many other movies), but it's quite likable and cheerful, with positive vibes and plenty….
Free Guy
🍿 Join us as we explore of the unexpected Christian themes hidden within the blockbuster film "Free Guy." From the hilarious antics of Guy to the mesmerizin...
Free Guy
Free Guy — PG-13 (A-III) Catholic News Service. August 18, 2021. John Mulderig. 0. Ryan Reynolds stars in a scene from the movie "Free Guy.". The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
'Free Guy': Movie Review
FREE GUY also has lots of action violence, some lewd innuendoes, two or three homosexual references, and excessive foul language, including three strong profanities. In addition, the movie has an irreverent tone that includes a joke mocking Jesus Christ's message that everyone has a sinful nature that needs reform.
Free Guy movie review & film summary (2021)
With a set-up that feels distinctly like that of "The LEGO Movie," "Free Guy" introduces us to the very likable Guy (Ryan Reynolds), an NPC (Non-Player Character) in a wildly successful open world video game called "Free City."He wears the same outfit every day, orders the same coffee, and goes to work at the same bank, which gets robbed multiple times a day by actual players in ...
Review: Free Guy
By Christian DiMartino Shawn Levy's Free Guy is a science fiction comedy that is more successful at the science fiction part than the comedy, when it should maybe be the other way around. Here is a great-looking film with some pretty good ideas that didn't fully hold me in its grip, but didn't bore me…
Movie Review: Free Guy
With FaithPlay, finding uplifting podcasts is simple. "Free Guy" stars Ryan Reynolds in this whimsical-but-violent movie about a guy who realizes he's a non-player character in an online video game. "Free Guy" delivers laughs and some solid messages amid a lot of content for a PG-13 film. Read the Plugged In review: https://www.pluggedin.com ...
Free Guy review: Ryan Reynolds is an AI on the loose in sweet comedy
Director Shawn Levy's new superhero movie, 'Free Guy,' is both deeply silly and surprisingly sweet, even as its explosions and insult-comic banter tweak the outer limits of PG-13.
'Free Guy' Review
Free Guy. The Bottom Line Better than most video-game-inspired movies. Release date: Friday, August 13. Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Taika Waititi ...
Free Guy
Movie Review. Guy likes his shirts blue, his ties striped, and his coffee with cream and two sugars. He likes his goldfish, Goldie. He likes his best bud, Buddy. He likes his job at the bank so much that he makes Disneyland cast members feel like KGB agents.
Free Guy review
Free Guy review - irresistible gaming caper. Wide-eyed Ryan Reynolds and ubercool Jodie Comer join forces in Shawn Levy's unabashedly sweet sci-fi comedy with far-reaching appeal. T he ...
Free Guy
FREE GUY is a refreshingly funny and heartfelt romantic comedy in the guise of a wacky and surprisingly clever video game action movie. Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 15, 2022. a ...
Free Guy First Reviews: The Biggest Surprise of the Summer
Ryan Reynolds stars in Free Guy, a movie about a video game character who suddenly breaks from his expected monotony to reach his full potential.And as it turns out, it's also a movie that breaks from expectations to reach its full potential. That's the consensus from the surprisingly very positive reviews from the new action-comedy, which hits theaters on August 13.
Free Guy (2021)
Free Guy: Directed by Shawn Levy. With Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery. When Guy, a bank teller, learns that he is a non-player character in a bloodthirsty, open-world video game, he goes on to become the hero of the story and takes the responsibility of saving the world.
Free Guy
Rated: 3.5/5 Oct 15, 2021 Full Review Jake Wilson The Age (Australia) Free Guy is a very knowing movie, but part of its knowingness is its pop lightness -- even its blandness, if that can be seen ...
Review
Guy is just your average guy in a crazy video game world. He works as a banker, drinks the same coffee and wears the same shirt every day like a good NPC. When he starts asking uncomfortable questions though, he finds himself breaking the routines of his game which threatens to create problems for the real life game designers who made him. Length.
FREE GUY
Strong mixed pagan worldview includes strong moral, pro-life elements where love is a key motivator in the story, life is seen as valuable, the title character is a good guy who wants to be and so becomes a hero, and movie promotes the Pro-American ideal of individual liberty, marred by a humanist message that people should exercise their free will to be the person they want to be, plus there ...
'Free Guy' Review: Don't Hate the Player
"Free Guy" has charm, but there's not much memorable in the same old quest, same old boss fight, then game over. Free Guy Rated PG-13. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes.
Free Guy Review
Posted: Aug 5, 2021 9:00 am. Free Guy hits theaters on Aug. 13. With Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds gave audiences a raucous re-imagining of what the superhero movie might look like. Now, he's bringing ...
Free Guy review
T he great big handsome-goofy face of Ryan Reynolds looms out of the screen in this fantasy comedy from screenwriter Matt Lieberman and director Shawn Levy (of the Night at the Museum franchise ...
Parent reviews for Free Guy
The language is awful. Apparently it's cute when kids say the Fword and GD is used left and right. It's most upsetting because every game loving kid will want to see this movie. If you get past all of that, the ending is endearing but not for impressionable kids. Should NOT be PG13.
'The Fall Guy' review: Ryan Gosling charms in earnest love letter to movies
With 'The Fall Guy,' Ryan Gosling has a vehicle tailor-made for his movie star charisma and estimable talent in this summer blockbuster turned love letter to the movies. Read our review.
The Fall Guy review
Gosling plays seasoned stunt maestro Colt Seavers, utterly unafraid of any physical challenges, self-effacingly doubling for insufferably conceited star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who ...
The Fall Guy (2024)
The Fall Guy: Directed by David Leitch. With Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham. A down-and-out stuntman must find the missing star of his ex-girlfriend's blockbuster film.
Christian Movie 'Unsung Hero' Smashes Expectations in Box Office
The new Christian movie Unsung Hero has rocketed to box office success, becoming the number two movie in America after its release on Apr. 26.. The faith-based film, from the Kingdom Story Company - the same studio behind Jesus Revolution and I Can Only Imagine - has grossed over $9.2 million so far on its $6 million budget. The movie only came in behind the R-rated Challengers which has ...
'Fall Guy' review: Ryan Gosling movie proves he really isn't just Ken
In " The Fall Guy, " it's Stunt and he's pretty great at his gig. Gosling nicely follows up his Oscar-nominated Ken turn as an embattled Everyman who falls 12 stories, gets thrown through ...
Review: 'The Fall Guy' is a love letter to everything that makes movies
Stunt crews have been making lazy actors look invincible since the birth of cinema. What a kick to see these pros take the spotlight in "The Fall Guy," now in theaters starring a peak-form Ryan ...
The Fall Guy Matches Free Guy's Opening Weekend As The Guy ...
That puts it on par with another recent guy movie, "Free Guy," which starred Ryan Gosling's fellow Ryan (and fellow guy), Ryan Reynolds. "Free Guy" grossed $28.3 million upon its release in 2021 ...

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Nonconformity and self-realization are the main items on the agenda of the droll comic adventure “Free Guy” (20th Century).

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Free Guy First Reviews: The Biggest Surprise of the Summer

Is Free Guy more than it seems?

How does it compare to other video game movies?

Will it appeal to gamers?

What about non-gamers?

How is the action?

And the visuals?

What about the script?

Is it funny?

But does it have heart?

Does the romance work?

How is the pacing?

How is Ryan Reynolds?

What about Jodie Comer?

And Taika Waititi?

How are the cameos?

Is there too much going on?

But does it stick the landing?

Are there any other major problems?

Will it hold up to repeat viewings?

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