One of the most anticipated comedies of the summer is almost here. ‘Free Guy‘ is expected to hit theaters on August 13.
The movie, which stars Ryan Reynolds as a non-player character in an open world video game, has seen its release date pushed back three times, thanks to the ongoing pandemic. It was originally supposed to be released in July of 2020.
In addition to Reynolds, the action-comedy stars Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery and Joe Keery. The trailers for the film have been impressive, but can it actually deliver?
Well, the first reviews have been released, and we’re happy to report they’re mostly positive. We wouldn’t call it overwhelming praise, but at the very least, it’s a, “This ain’t bad at all” reaction.
It has an outstanding 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, but a more tepid 62 on Metacritic, which means a lot of the “positive” reviews are just barely positive.
One of the most positive reactions came from The Playlist’s Robert Daniels, who wrote that Free Guy is one of the funniest movies of the year…
This epic, crowd-pleasing adventure, one of the funniest movies of the year, needn’t be as good as ‘The Truman Sho’ or ‘Wreck-it-Ralph’ to be entertaining. It just needs to emotionally feel real, as real as Guy feels himself to be. In that regard, ‘Free Guy’ is a winner.
Another glowing review came from Screenrant’s Molly Freeman, who wrote…
Free Guy is the most creative, heartfelt and perhaps best video game movie so far, the film is fresh and original enough that anyone can enjoy it.
But what about the not-so-positive reactions? We have you covered. Slant’s Derek Smith slammed the movie…
There’s so much discernible IP baked into Shawn Levy’s film to make its calls for artistic ingenuity feel hypocritical at best.
And ScreenDaily’s Tim Grierson had this to say…
Ryan Reynolds is endearingly wholesome as this likeable digital nonentity, but once the story’s initial burst of cleverness fades, director Shawn Levy becomes bogged down in convoluted plotting and the overfamiliarity of his seize-the-day message.
But still, the majority of reviews were positive, so it’s looking like this might perform well at the box office. The audience wants a good comedy.
