AT THE MOVIES

by Isy Jordan

Free Guy
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and more.


A bank teller discovers that he's actually an NPC inside a brutal, open world video game.

I didn't know exactly what I was walking into when I went to see this film. It turns out it's what you expect -- but better. It's basically Grand Theft Auto meets Groundhogs Day with a charming cast, good writing, lots of laughs, and lots of heart.

Our hero is Guy (Reynolds) who works as a bank teller in Free City. He's happy, convinced he has a perfect life. He explains to us early on that the "people with sunglasses" were special in Free City, not realizing what that means.

Until he sees a girl that captures him and takes him off script as he tries to figure out ways to talk to her.

Unlike him, Millie is a game player. In our reality, she's a game designer and programmer who we learn designed the engine and AI that powers the current version os Free City until she and her partner Keys (Keery) were duped and lost control of it to Antwan (Waititi). Keys now works for him but is torn because he's still very much loyal to Millie.

I can't go further than that without spoilers. I will tell you this film is amazingly fun. The writing is great, the acting is sublime, and there's a surprisingly deeper meaning.

It's rated PG-13 for some video-game violence and crude references. It's just under two hours long but honestly, it's so much fun that it's still over too soon. I highle recommend this one.

Isy