DIRECTOR: Shawn Levy
WRITERS: Matt Lieberman & Zac Penn
STARRING: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi, Camille Kostek, Lil Rel Howery, Aaron W Reed, Channing Tatum, Utkarsch Ambudkar, Alex Trebek, and many, many more…
Do you love Ryan Reynolds? Do you love Video games? Then this is just the film for you…as Guy (Reynolds) takes on his day-to-day job as a Bank Teller, more serious than I ever did back in the day. And as his days fly by a little “Ground hog dayish” for me, he and his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), and favorite Security guard, live out life, avoiding the constant bank robbers that fill up their days, and interacting with the heroes in their world, those sunglass wearing bad asses that seem to be found around every turn. And even though it seems that Guy is living the perfect life, his lack of having someone special to share it with, is beginning to weigh on him…
When fate injects the beautiful, and super badass Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer) into Guy’s life, he knows in an instant that this sunglasses wielding girl, is just the girl for his, and someone he has to learn more about…
And while Guy is on a mission of his own, inside his video game world, it seems that things in reality are getting pretty exciting too, as developers Keys (Joe Jerry) and Mouser (Utkarsch Ambudkar) are desperately trying to figure out what is happening inside Video game magnate Antoine’s (Taika Waititi) new game, as it seems that there is one player totally not following the rules of play, as he’s messing with the sequence of the grid they developed, and focusing on making his own life as awesome as possible, every step of the way…
I give FREE GUY a rating between MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN & WAIT AND CATCH THIS ONE ON STREAMING- 4/5! Reynolds is absolutely fabulous this time around, playing the sweet and innocent bank teller, with a heart of gold, and then some, with no hints of Deadpool showing up anywhere. And once you add in the strategically placed, perfect cameos throughout, this one will keep you entertained every step of the way. Plus, if you love video games, and movies about them, then you are going to definitely want to check this film out on the big screen, because as far as video games go, I think this one is the best created so far! I also thoroughly enjoyed the back story to the video game storyline, which gives another multidimension twist to the video game vs. reality intersection. I also think that actors Comer, Keery and Ambudkar were perfectly cast, as even though they don’t come close to getting as much screen time as Reynolds does (I mean, come on, this one was absolutely made entirely for him), I think that they, and Waititi too, played perfectly off one another, the whole time through, giving the Reynolds the flexibility to hone in on this new character, thus making a film that all the video game players/masters are going to L – O – V – E !!!-
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 