Free Guy review round-up: Ryan Reynolds film 'is an undemanding and cheerfully silly riff on the themes of VR and AI'

Free Guy, filmmaker Shawn Levy’s latest time travel movie with Ryan Reynolds hit theatres this week. Previously titled Our Name is Adam, the project hails from Skydance and shifted from Paramount, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Levy helmed the film with Reynolds playing a man who must travel back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self. Together, they encounter their late father, who is now the same age as Reynolds. Here’s the review round-up of Free Guy Variety: Pulling ideas from everywhere, this at-times unwieldy mash-up of multiple-reality blockbusters like The Matrix and The Lego Movie yields a surprisingly original crowd-pleaser. The Guardian: Free Guy is an undemanding and cheerfully silly riff on the themes of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, and what the heck we’re all doing in this big old universe of ours: as if someone took The Truman Show or Inception – or even The Lego Movie – and stripped out every serious satirical ambition, replacing it with M&M-coloured spectacle. The Hollywood Reporter: Free Guy may be the most entertaining video-game-inspired movie yet. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Free Guy may be the most entertaining video-game-inspired movie yet. IndieWire: Free Guy boasts a high-concept premise that’s so much fun and full of potential you’ll wish it hadn’t been wasted on a Disney movie. IGN: The film delivers a first hour that is outrageously entertaining, stuffed with gonzo action, goofy gags, star power, big ideas, and plenty of Easter Eggs for lovers of movies and video games. However, in its second half, the joyful journey is derailed by a slog of a side quest, falling short of the potential set-up. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)