he Canadian director Shawn Levy takes a particular joy in breathing life into things that should, by rights, be inanimate. So the jump from the sentient statues and relics of the Night at the Museum franchise to the virtual carnage of an ultra-violent video game in Free Guy is not as much of a stretch as it might at first seem.
In this case it’s a non-playable character, or NPC, that is jolted out of its background role as cannon fodder for pre-teen gamers. Unaware that he’s in a game, bank teller Guy (a wide-eyed and adorable Ryan Reynolds) is content with his daily ritual of coffee, banter with best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery) and upwards of five separate armed raids on his place of work, until he sees Molotov Girl, the online avatar of Millie (Jodie Comer, hitting the sweet spot between unapproachable cool and utterly beguiling).
Having crossed the rubicon that prevents the normals from talking to the “sunglasses people”, or players’ avatars, Guy starts to learn the rules of the game he didn’t know he was part of. A combination of puppyish devotion to Millie (who has her own reasons for doggedly returning each day) and inherent decency means that he’s unexpectedly good at it.
Tweens and teens will embrace the pinballing energy, the gamer-vlogger cameos and the fact that there are more Easter eggs than Cadbury World. But the film’s reach is considerably wider. 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.
