Free Guy
Edwin Arnaudin: Ryan Reynolds is in an epic funk. Following 2018’s terrific Deadpool 2, he’s made Detective Pikachu, Hobbs & Shaw, 6 Underground, and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard — some of the worst films from the past two years. I liked The Croods: A New Age (2020), which features his voice work, more than you did, but now he’s given us another dud with Free Guy, which garnered a lot more laughs from you in our screening than it did from me.
Bruce Steele: That is a run of stinkers worthy of late '80s Donald Sutherland or post-Halloween Donald Pleasence. Of course, I'd include the nasty, full-of-itself Deadpool 2 and the trying-too-hard-to-be-cool Croods 2 in that smelly odorama. But I thought Free Guy broke the spell — it's an enjoyable light entertainment. Maybe this difference in our perspectives is that I prefer innocent goofball Reynolds to venomous Reynolds.
Edwin: I don’t think that’s it. I’ve enjoyed past frothy RR performances, including The Proposal, Van Wilder, and especially Definitely, Maybe, where he also gets to show some dramatic range that he’s doubled down on in the likes of his best work to date, Mississippi Grind, Woman in Gold, and The Captive. Not counting the horrible R.I.P.D. (which I’m not convinced qualifies anyway), the last time Reynolds had a lighthearted role might actually have been The Proposal (2009). I think he’s both out of practice in non-R comedy mode and dealing with some incredibly lazy material here that feels like it was written by the same algorithm that wrote Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Bruce: I dodged the Space Jam 2 ball, but I wouldn't characterize Free Guy as lazy. The idea of giving agency to a background character in a videogame is a clever hook. Reynolds' Guy works in a videogame bank, where he endures an endless series of robberies along with his friend Buddy (the endearing Lil Rel Howery). When Guy falls for a player named Millie (Jodie Comer of TV's Killing Eve), he starts acting more like a player and less like a target. It's a smartly executed character path that peaks with a brief but snappy appearance by Channing Tatum, in one of the funniest celebrity cameos I've seen in a while.
The plot line outside the videogame is more formulaic: Millie and her one-time programming partner Keys (Joe Keery of Stranger Things) are looking for evidence to prove their work was stolen to create the game in which Guy exists. This narrative unfolds routinely, but I found Comer and Keery likable enough to root for. And their antagonist, the over-the-top game mogul Antoine, is played by your guy Taika Waititi, director of Thor: Raganak and Jojo Rabbit. Even he couldn't win you over?
Edwin: Making Waititi look bad is perhaps the greatest sin committed by director Shawn Levy (the Night at the Museum series) and the writing team of Matt Lieberman (The Christmas Chronicles) and Zak Penn (he of the similar and far superior Ready Player One). None of the Oscar winner’s lines are funny and, more surprisingly, he’s unable to infuse them with his usual hilarious Kiwi patter, suggesting that he’s best when delivering his own dialogue.
I agree that the film’s core premise is creative, but the filmmakers have no interest in fleshing it out with consistent imagination or heart. The video-game-inspired time-loop scenario has been done so well in such recent films as Boss Level, Palm Springs, and the Happy Death Day movies that seeing it through an actual video game character feels like an overly safe move. The only time Levy & Co. embrace the situation’s gonzo potential is in a semi-amusing climactic battle where some famous IP comes into play — complete with a legit LOL cameo — but, as with Free Guy’s other good ideas, it’s abandoned almost as quickly as it’s introduced.
Bruce: I'm not going to claim Free Guy is an instant classic, but I was consistently entertained. Unlike Ready Player One, which strives for credibility, the plot details here bear no connection to the real world — how online videogames work, how copyright disputes work, how the media works, and so on. But Free Guy has its own internal consistency and a thin layer of moralism (nice is good, free will is good) that gives it a kind of Frank Capra Lite framework.
The movie wants to be The Truman Show for the VR generation, an ambition beyond the filmmakers' abilities, but it has some charming moments involving bubble gum ice cream and cappuccino, and loads of well-executed CG effects. I agree it could be more thrillingly gonzo, as you put it, but for the most part I thought it hit its marks and gave Reynolds plenty of space to show off his usual wide-eyed-dope demeanor. I'll give it a B.
Edwin: With the right team in place, the premise should have been an easy success for someone with Reynolds’ appeal. Instead, we get a confused jumble that’s afraid to commit to anything except mediocrity. The talented cast deserves better, but hopefully they were nicely compensated. I give it a D for “Disaster."
Overall grade: C. Now playing at AMC River Hills, Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande.
(Photo: 20th Century Studios)
