After surviving the Fox/Disney merger along with multiple bumped release dates, Free Guy has finally made it into theaters. One of the first films to be released under 20th Century Studios, it stars Ryan Reynolds as Guy, a non-playable character (NPC) in a video game (though he doesn’t know that). He works as a teller at a bank that gets robbed multiple times a day by “sunglasses people”, who NPCs know they can’t interact with except to play out their predetermined roles. But then Guy sees the woman of his dreams and decides to change his life.

Free Guy revels in its video game world, with vibrant colors, crazy action and scenarios any gamer would recognize. But the good thing is, you don’t need to be into video games to enjoy the movie. Sure, if you’re a gamer you’ll get a bit more out of it, like recognizing the cameos from Twitch and YouTube personalities or some of the weaponry Easter eggs. But the overall plot is straightforward and, surprisingly, has much more to it than you get in the trailers.

The cast is really fun to watch, from Reynolds trying to comprehend what exactly is going on while trying to be a good guy to Taika Waititi as a perfectly stereotyped douchbag gaming company owner to Jodie Comer in dual roles as a gamer/creator and Guy’s in-game dream girl. And then there’s Guy’s buddy Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), Dude (also played by Reynolds), Channing Tatum as a “cool adventure guy” avatar and loads of both onscreen and voice cameos.

This is the first movie I’ve been to since Avengers: Endgame that the audience actually cheered during, which should tell you something. And there was even applause at the end – Free Guy really is that fun to watch. I think it was worth the wait and I was pleased to read that Disney is already considering a sequel.