Free Guy

Directed by Shawn Levy, Free Guy follows Ryan Reynolds’ perpetually upbeat Guy as he discovers that he’s a non-player character within an expansive, open-world video game. It’s a larger-than-life premise that’s employed to predominantly entertaining (and periodically engrossing) effect by Levy, as the filmmaker, armed with Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn’s screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced endeavor that grows more and more involving as it progresses – with the movie’s almost excessively slick atmosphere, at the outset, preventing the viewer from wholeheartedly embracing the material. There’s little doubt, then, that Free Guy benefits substantially from Reynolds’ ingratiating and completely charismatic turn as the affable central character, and it’s clear, too, that the watchable vibe is perpetuated by the efforts of a uniformly compelling roster of such periphery performers as Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, and Taika Waititi. (The latter is especially strong as the picture’s over-the-top yet thoroughly captivating villain.) The film’s shift from decent-enough to unexpectedly engrossing, then, is triggered by a second half that’s been peppered with impressively engaging elements and set-pieces, while the inclusion of several genuinely surprising cameos and plot twists paves the way for an exciting, satisfying final stretch – which does, in the end, cement Free Guy‘s place as a better-than-average blockbuster wherein the predictable overuse of computer-generated special effects actually makes sense.

*** out of ****