Free Guy Breaks Ryan Reynolds’ Movie Formula (& That’s Why It Works)

Throughout his career, Ryan Reynolds has adopted his own movie formula, which Free Guy creatively breaks. Whether consciously or not, Ryan Reynolds has fallen into a pattern of accepting roles with similar characteristics. As such, the actor might have established an acting comfort zone. Fortunately, Free Guy offers a breath of fresh air, both for him and his viewers — a factor contributing to the film’s generally positive reviews.

Although a sequel has already been confirmed, Free Guy deviates from Hollywood’s franchise approach. Set in the world of the multiplayer open world game Free City, Free Guy follows Reynolds’ character Guy, a non-player character leading a mundane life with his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). This routine changes when Guy sees Molotov Girl, the player character of Millie (Jodie Comer), and he breaks away from his programming. Soon, Guy learns about the reality of his life and realizes that he needs to save himself and the residents of Free City from deletion by its owner. However, despite the movie occurring in a video game setting, it goes beyond the literal and offers deeper themes of empowerment and self-awareness. Additionally, the celebrity cameo-loaded Free Guy presents a different side of Reynolds as an actor.

Mostly due to his self-aware role as the fourth-wall-breaking Deadpool, Reynolds is often seen as playing fictional versions of himself onscreen. His self-effacing humor becomes the foundation of most of his characters, who are almost always snarky, yet still likable because of their charm and heroic ability to save the day. In fact, critics have pointed out that for the past years, Reynolds’s movie characters are just the same guy, only with different names and occupations. Meanwhile, his character in Free Guy runs counter to this formula, as Guy is incredibly sincere and sweet. This refreshing take then proves that Reynolds still has a good chance of breaking free from his one-trick persona, given that he has the range to take on other roles. Consequently, this angle makes the movie work, although aspects of it are questionable.

Early in his career, Reynolds was known for being the male lead in 2000s romantic comedies, showcasing his charisma alongside actresses such as Sandra Bullock and Isla Fisher. He eventually transitioned into the superhero genre, portraying smug protagonists with twisted senses of humor. His post-Deadpool roles seemingly involved minimal acting from Reynolds’ end, and, arguably, his most challenging role in the last few years was voicing the titular Pokémon in Detective Pikachu. Most of these characters allowed him to simply play off his persona, with little regard to their development. While Free Guy failed to completely avoid that and had glaring flaws, it provided something unusual — Reynolds portraying a relatable character whose innate goodness was overwhelming. Instead of simply wanting to be seen, he also wanted to help save a world he did not fully understand.

Unfortunately, within the same year of Free Guy’s release, Netflix’s big-budget production Red Notice backtracked and reemployed the somewhat tried-and-tired Ryan Reynolds persona. Instead of creating a character who had his own growth arc, Red Notice overly relied on Reynolds’ comedic sensibilities and Dwayne Johnson’s badass, yet big-hearted energy. As a result, the Netflix film received mixed reviews, compared to Free Guy, which successfully broke Ryan Reynolds’ movie formula.

About The Author