Free Guy Review: Ryan Reynolds Searches For The Meaning Of Life In Video Game Version Of The Truman Show
Plus: the review of the Thai found-footage horror The Medium.

Free Guy (PG)
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi
Directed by Shawn Levy
Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, a non-player character in a Grand Theft Auto -esque open-world shooter called Free City. But here’s the thing: he doesn’t know that. And when he does, he suffers an existential meltdown. With help from Molotovgirl, a gun-toting avatar of a programmer (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer), Guy embarks on a journey of self-discovery. If Ralph Breaks the Internet and The Truman Show had a baby, Shawn Levy’s meta-movie would be that bouncing bundle of joy. A hyperactive eye-candy coasting on Reynolds’ irresistible goofball charm (better used here than in the obnoxious The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard), Free Guy is many things roll into one — a meditation on free will, a gaming-culture satire, a workplace rom-com, and a Henley shirt commercial. (3.5/5 stars)
Photo: 20th Century Studios
The Medium (M18)
Starring Narilya Gulmongkolpech, Sawanee Utoomma, Sirani Yankittikan
Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun
Just when you thought the ‘found footage’ horror sub-genre has run its course, comes this riveting chiller — a collab between Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter) and Na Hong-Jin (The Wailing) — about a documentary team that gets more than they bargained for while chronicling a shaman’s (Sawanee Utoomma) exorcism of her demonically-possessed niece (Narilya Gulmongkolpech) in a remote village in Northern Thailand. The mock-doc starts off slow but quietly fills the atmosphere with dread, building up to a pants-wettingly terrifying third act, including a surveillance sequence shot in night-vision a la Paranormal Activity and a bonkers finale where things go south-of-heaven fast. (3.5/5 stars)