Free Guy
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: August 13, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 51 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
21
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 12, 2021
The script by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn is hysterical, but director Shawn Levy must’ve sold his soul to the devil to secure this cast. Read full review
81
CNETRussell HollyOct 8, 2021
Five minutes after finishing Free Guy I found myself looking up showtimes to rewatch one of the best films of the summer. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeAug 14, 2021
There are thematic parallels with everything from The Lego Movie to The Matrix, but key to its appeal is an unabashed sweetness and goofy enthusiasm that proves irresistible. Read full review
80
The TelegraphEd PowerAug 6, 2021
Levy ultimately wants to yank the heart-strings more than poke the grey matter. And as Free Guy breaks free from his programming and explores the world on its own terms, the film has lots to say about loyalty, friendship and love. Read full review
80
PolygonToussaint EganAug 6, 2021
Calling it the best video game film to date feels like hyperbole, but it certainly has more heart and humor than its contemporaries. Read full review
80
Total FilmJane CrowtherAug 5, 2021
Warm and witty, Free Guy is expertly crafted disposable fun. And right now, that feels essential. Read full review
80
Screen RantMolly FreemanAug 5, 2021
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. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleAug 9, 2021
Free Guy takes the time to create something unique and grounded and make us care about the future of these NPCs. With every reason in the world to fail, Free Guy succeeds. It’s a welcome reminder that sincerity can still play as the basis for a Hollywood blockbuster. Read full review
75
Original-CinLiam LaceyAug 11, 2021
Intermittently witty, technically impressive, Free Guy sheds points in its second half, with pandering (Star Wars and Captain American references) and a series of numbing narrative loops, celebrating originality while practicing the opposite. And all of this with the usual alibi that none of this is meant to be serious. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 11, 2021
Thanks in large part to the vibrant, funny, sweet, endearing work by Reynolds and Comer, Free Guy delivers. Read full review
75
CNNBrian LowryAug 5, 2021
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. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittAug 5, 2021
Free Guy is a big, warm hug of a movie with plenty to love, even if you’re not super into bubble gum ice cream, swing sets and vintage Mariah Carey like Ryan Reynolds' goodhearted title character. Read full review
75
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonAug 5, 2021
But there’s something surprising about its approach to both blockbuster filmmaking and Ryan Reynolds star vehicles. It’s at once a Deadpool riff and the absolute opposite, a violent video game movie that’s about how fighting isn’t actually the answer. And what’s more, it commits to those lofty aspirations, couching a sweet little love story in the CG-addled mayhem of a Ryan Reynolds action-adventure flick. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattAug 5, 2021
In a genre where winky self-awareness has become standard-issue, Free might have come off as manic and hollow; instead, it has fun having a heart. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRobert DanielsAug 5, 2021
This epic, crowd-pleasing adventure, one of the funniest movies of the year, needn’t be as good as “The Truman Show” 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. Read full review
75
TheWrapCarlos AguilarAug 5, 2021
Less inventive that it gives itself credit for, Free Guy qualifies as a summer blockbuster with something mildly compelling to say; not the most articulate or substantial in its exploration of its most interesting ideas, to be sure, but enjoyable nonetheless Read full review
73
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 5, 2021
Free Guy is here, it repeatedly reminds us, to have a good time, not a long-franchise time. But there is something so overwhelmingly corporate and safe about the thing that you can see the glimmer of a brand-new cinematic universe in every twinkle of Reynolds’ dreamy hazel eyes. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneAug 16, 2021
Levy, holding his nerve, does cut through the chaos, delivering a fable that, if not exactly coherent, is nonetheless tinged with the very last virtue that you’d expect in a movie of this ilk. It has charm. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellAug 13, 2021
Packed with wit, humor, action and plenty of heart, Free Guy might just be the best video game movie to ever come out of Hollywood. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 5, 2021
Free Guy is a lot of fun, despite the fact that Levy and the screenwriters seem to be changing the rules as they go. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckAug 5, 2021
Reynolds’ boundless appeal, the frequently witty screenplay and expertly rendered technical aspects make the film enjoyable summer frivolity. Read full review
70
IGNKristy PuchkoAug 5, 2021
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. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 12, 2021
Sometimes Free Guy expands on its predecessors, just as often it doesn’t. In such an uninspired movie summer, derivativeness may not be as much of a problem, and the movie does have its moments. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 11, 2021
Reynold’s charisma and some solid gags hold things together for a while but the movie ultimately comes up short despite its promising premise. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenAug 10, 2021
The plot may be nothing special, but Reynolds most certainly is. He’s just so relatable, genial, nice, in an unforced sort of way that he makes the movie, which he also produced, a fun ride. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 10, 2021
An enjoyable cast, including movie-stealing work from Jodie Comer, holds it all together, but one can still see just enough glitches in this matrix to wish it was better. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleAug 5, 2021
It’s a charming concoction of cliches cribbed from other movies, from Tron to Truman, without its own coding. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 5, 2021
Whatever its loftier existential ambitions, Free Guy is never much more than big screen eye candy with Reynolds’ grinning deadpan anchoring it with his amusing over and under reactions to all that befalls Guy. And if you love Reynolds — And seriously, who doesn’t? — that’s enough. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 13, 2021
Like its star, Ryan Reynolds — and maybe thanks to its star, Ryan Reynolds — the picture occasionally seems aware of its limitations. At its best, it turns its cynicism into an asset. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 13, 2021
Free Guy is a little like Ready Player One jumbled with The Truman Show, with some Sleeping Beauty and The Velveteen Rabbit mixed in. It is, admittedly, a lot of movie, probably too much. But Reynolds makes the most of Guy’s elation at finally busting out. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeAug 13, 2021
There is a fair degree of fun to be had before the script gets too caught up in its own mythology. Read full review
60
ABC NewsPeter TraversAug 13, 2021
Ryan Reynolds piles on the charm as a bland bank teller who discovers he’s just a pixelated extra in a violent video game. The comedy could have been sharper, spikier and riskier—like ‘The Truman Show’— but this summer funfest goes down easy, even for non-gamers. Read full review
60
The New York TimesMaya PhillipsAug 12, 2021
Free Guy has charm, but there’s not much memorable in the same old quest, same old boss fight, then game over. Read full review
60
Time OutHelen O'HaraAug 11, 2021
The result is overlong and rarely groundbreaking – there are hints of The Truman Show, Edge of Tomorrow and, visually, Inception – and suffers from some obnoxious filmmaking shorthand in its portrayal of other cultures late on. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 6, 2021
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. Read full review
60
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiAug 5, 2021
Free Guy is the equivalent of a pop earworm – something a little tinny and artificial that nevertheless worms its way into your brain, whether you want it or not. Which makes it rather fitting that the big emotional crux of the movie is actually based around a pop song. And that the film’s star is epitome of pop likability: smooth, digestible, inoffensive — yes, even with all the curses that roll off his tongue. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 5, 2021
If Free Guy really was a video game, it’s not one you’d play over and over. But as a one-time lark, it’s entertaining enough to invest in. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 5, 2021
Free Guy isn’t going to have many MA theses written about it, but it has entertainment value. Read full review
58
The Film StageConor O'DonnellAug 14, 2021
The macro result of Free Guy is an innocuous, not-totally-unpleasant time-killer. It doesn’t warrant strong castigation, frankly because of the energy that would require. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 5, 2021
For all its casual mayhem, Free Guy turns out to be a rather cuddly crowdpleaser, a high-concept blockbuster trifle with bubblegum ice cream clogging its circuits. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 19, 2021
Reynolds is like a puppy dog who moonlights as a male model, or maybe vice versa. He’s the only reason to see Free Guy, but you already know this going in. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshAug 12, 2021
Reynolds is a bit too glib and smug to buy as the romantic lead. It’s actually a relief that the movie salvages the romance by relegating it to the game world. But the whole film remains a bit too glib and smug anyway. Read full review
50
Vanity FairRichard LawsonAug 11, 2021
Free Guy has moments of dizzying action and offers up some intriguing sci-fi speculation, but it is decidedly not a cool movie. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussAug 11, 2021
Free Guy is an ode to independence, creativity and the nicer aspects of anarchy. Read full review
50
Washington PostHau ChuAug 10, 2021
It’s hard not to imagine that there could have a better version of this movie’s premise: one that upped the cultural satire, while still having fun tossing low-key, cheeky references at the audience. In the end though, disappointingly, Free Guy only plays itself. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 5, 2021
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. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 5, 2021
Free Guy is nothing if not a movie that wins you over in spite of your better judgment and best defenses, but its “be the change you wish to see in the world” energy feels like a micro-transactional smokescreen for a corporate monoculture that only values creativity so far as it can be used to fool us into paying for things we already own. Read full review
45
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerAug 13, 2021
Reynolds, as ever, seems both happy to be there and faintly self-mocking about his never-ending quest for validation. A better movie could tease out of that tension, or allow its star to unravel a little, rather than just get knocked around. Free Guy is too busy mashing buttons. Read full review
40
EmpireNick de SemlyenAug 5, 2021
Not quite ‘Ready Player One Star’, but this is an odd duck: a Black Mirror-ish concept played for laughs, which ends up getting tangled up in its own code. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithAug 5, 2021
There’s so much discernible IP baked into Shawn Levy’s film to make its calls for artistic ingenuity feel hypocritical at best. Read full review
0
ObserverRex ReedAug 13, 2021
The target audience — people who waste their lives playing video games — might be amused by a movie about devices designed for the sole purpose of destroying everything in sight, but the serious audience the film industry wants to lure back to brick-and-mortar cinemas won’t find much substance here. Read full review
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