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
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
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
More From This Movie

62 Critic Reviews

7.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL