Free Guy
Entry updated 22 September 2025. Tagged: Film.
Film (2021). Berlanti Productions, 21 Laps Entertainment, Maximum Effort, Lit Entertainment Group. Directed by Shaun Levy. Written by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. Cast includes Utkarsh Ambudkar, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi. 115 minutes. Colour.
Guy (Reynolds) and Buddy (Howery) work in a bank, unaware that they are NPCs (non-playing characters) in the Massively Multiplayer Online Game Free City. In the real world, software engineer Millie (Comer) attempts to find evidence that the Free City developers, Soonami, stole the source code from her game Life Itself, which used AI Technology to give life to the NPCs. When her avatar sings a song to Guy he begins to deviate from his programming. Millie's formed colleague Keys (Keery) is now working for Soonami, and tries to remove Guy from the game, believing him to be a hacker disguised as an NPC. Millie thinks Guy is a legitimate player and helps him race through the levels of the game, his achievements going viral.
The truth becomes clear when other NPCs begin acting independently after interacting with Guy. However the imminent release of Free City 2 will wipe the existence of all NPCs, but when Millie reveals to Guy the truth of his existence he works with her to find evidence of Soonami's wrongdoing. The company's CEO, Antwan (Waititi) sees the launch of his new game threatened by Guy's popularity so orders him wiped, but Guy regains his memories when Millie kisses him. Antwan then has all the characters removed and sends in an unfinished character to destroy Guy, but Guy avoids him, causing Antwan to attempt to destroy all the servers in anger. Before he can do so, Millie makes a deal with him, freeing her to revive the NPCs in a new game, Free Life, while Free City 2 flops. Guy and friends return to their lives online, while Millie and Keys reunite when Guy revels to her that the source code contains a secret love letter from Keys to Millie.
Free Guy knows its target audience: not only is it set in an online game, but various well-known gamers and streamers make cameo appearances, and independent programmers triumph over greedy corporations. As an amiable vehicle for Reynolds' well-established charm, without attempting to stretch his range, it skirts over any angst despite the inevitable scenes in which Guy temporarily despairs over the reality of his life. A small irritation are the frequent cutaways to people playing or watching the game, their reactions to the action they are viewing clearly intended to manipulate the film's audience into feeling the same way. Few found inevitable comparisons to The Truman Show (1998) to work in the film's favour, but on its own terms it is perfectly enjoyable. [CWa]
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