After having its release date pushed back three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Free Guy will finally be hitting theaters on August 13. It’s expected to be in cinemas exclusively for a 45-day period, after which it will appear on streaming services to give folks a safer option to check it out.
Free Guy stars Ryan Reynolds in what’s essentially The Truman Show set in an open-world video game world. Reynolds stars as a non-player character, a bank teller, who becomes self-aware and determined to become the game’s hero–which wreaks all kinds of havoc and glitching with the game’s programming.
As of this writing, the movie has 24 critics giving an aggregate score of 63 on Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes, meanwhile has 63 reviews netting it a much more impressive 86% fresh. Of course, these scores will shift as the film comes closer to release and finally is out–but all signs seem to point towards checking the movie out if you’re at all interested, and have been waiting all this time.
Below, you’ll see a selection of the many reviews of Free Guy that have already been published. This includes GameSpot’s own review.
Free Guy
- Directed by: Shawn Levy
- Written by: Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn
- Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Joe Keery, Taika Waititi
- Release Date: August 13
GameSpot – 8/10
“The cast is fantastic, the action is better than you could have hoped for, and at the end, chances are you’ll be dying to find out when the next installment will be. While the streamer cameos stick out like a sore thumb, they cannot topple just how enjoyable this movie is and will continue to be upon rewatch.” – Chris E. Hayner – [Full review]
Polygon – no score
“Calling it the best video game film to date feels like hyperbole, but it certainly has more heart and humor than its contemporaries.” – Toussaint Egan – [Full review]
Entertainment Weekly – B
“In a genre where winky self-awareness has become standard-issue, Free Guy might have come off as manic and hollow; instead, it has fun having a heart.” – Leah Greenblatt – [Full review]
CNN – No score
“Free Guy is a cleverly programmed wedding of star (Ryan Reynolds) and subject matter, in a movie that’s silly, handsome-looking and a great deal of fun, in roughly inverse proportion to how much one sweats the details. Traveling inside videogames doesn’t always end well cinematically, but this ‘Guy’ braves that familiar scenario and comes out ahead.” – Brain Lowry – [Full review]
IGN – 7/10
“Free Guy delivers a first hour that is outrageously entertaining, stuffed with gonzo action, goofy gags, star power, big ideas, and plenty of Easter Eggs for lovers of movies and video games. However, in its second half, the joyful journey is derailed by a slog of a side quest, falling short of the potential set-up.” – Kristy Puchko – [Full review]
The Wall Street Journal – No score
“Mr. Reynolds can do goofily perplexed as well as anyone and is quite charming as Guy, who doesn’t know what’s going on, except that as ‘Blue Shirt Guy’ he’s rocked the worldview of online gamers everywhere.” – John Anderson – [Full review]
Slant – 38/100
“There’s so much discernible IP baked into Shawn Levy’s film to make its calls for artistic ingenuity feel hypocritical at best… the film is self-defeating and borders on sinister for implying that real, lasting change can only come through algorithms in fictionalized digital worlds.” – Derek Smith – [Full review]
