Ryan Reynolds has posted a new “Free Gal” image in honor of Britney Spears finally being free of her father Jamie Spears’ conservatorship. News that Jamie Spears was stepping down from his conservatorship broke at the same time that Reynolds’ new movie, Free Guy was starting its Thursday night preview showings in theaters. Rather than battle for trending topic position, Reynolds (ever the media mogul) chose instead to embrace the bigger news suddenly overshadowing his movie and give a salute to Britney Spears for her long-fought victory. It’s a classy (yet still funny) move by Ryan Reynolds – and ironically one that will only increase awareness that Free Guy is now out in theaters.
In our ComicBook.com Free Guy review, critic Charlie Ridgley had the following to say about Reynolds’ new film:
Free Guy is a great balance of Reynolds’ Marvel work with his sometimes forgotten (and always underrated) work in rom-coms, both in terms of the actor’s performance and in the movie as a whole. There’s ridiculous violence, adolescent jokes, and plenty of industry satire, but there’s also a couple of genuine love stories at the heart of this story, and they’re what make for the film’s best moments. This goes for romantic love stories as well as platonic ones, with Guy and Lil Rel Howery’s Buddy coming through with some real tear-jerking encounters.
It’s the genuine human connection and optimistic outlook on life that make the Free Guy engine run, but that’s not to downplay just how good a job this film does at bringing a video game to the screen. The gaming industry is explored in Free Guy almost as well as it is in Apple’s Mythic Quest, while the in-game jokes also happen to land more often than not. Hollywood has proven time and again that filmmakers struggle with turning video game concepts into good movies, but the script from Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn puts enough care into both mediums to find success, while director Shawn Levy provides a steady hand to keep it from venturing too off-course.
Free Guy is also certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with nearly 150 reviews submitted (at the time of writing this). All in all, the film looks to be one of the biggest sleeper hit films of 2021 – the question is, will audiences actually head out to see it. With the COVID-19 Delta Variant surging, public confidence in movie theater outings seems to be waning. So, while Britney Spears may now be free, Free Guy may ironically be in a box office bind.
Free Guy is now out in theaters.