Free Guy is the surprise hit of the summer. The film takes everything we love about video games and creates one of the year’s most entertaining films. The Ryan Reynolds flick follows Guy, an NPC, in an open-world game. He gains awareness and becomes the hero of his own story. The film is filled with laughs and heart—the perfect combination for a summer blockbuster.
While Free Guy is an entertaining and inventive movie, its comedic style and story fit in line with other films of the past, so we’ve got a list of seven movies like Free Guy if you’re looking for more laughs or movies in a similar vein.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
This isn’t your parents’ Jumanji. This retelling of a classic story sees four high schoolers taken into the world of Jumanji. The kids must learn to use their in-game abilities and real-world skills to beat the game and save their lives.
What makes Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle so great is the way it tells its story. The four kids and their video game counterparts make for such a fun film. The world of Jumanji is also very intriguing. The animals, NPCs, and environment are marvelous.
Deadpool
This Ryan Reynolds film has much of the same tone as Free Guy but with more of an edge. In this film, Reynolds suits up as the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool. A mutant whose origin is very similar to Wolverine, only with more jokes and gore.
Deadpool is an R-rated superhero comedy that embraces the ridiculous nature of the character and takes the X-Men universe in a bold and surprising direction. Characters like Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead pair nicely with Deadpool, and Reynolds’ sense of humor is perfect for the character
The LEGO Movie
If you’re willing to risk getting the song “Everything Is Awesome” stuck in your head, then you have to watch The LEGO Movie. This film follows Emmet (Chris Pratt), a construction worker in this LEGO world. This super upbeat and naive LEGO sees the world as awesome, but things won’t be awesome if Lord Business takes over. Emmet and his friends have to save the world before it’s too late.
This animated adventure takes us through the vast world of LEGOs and just oozes happiness. The charm and just pure joy that this film brings is so touching. It’s such a feel-good movie and one that everyone can enjoy, and much like Free Guy, it's extremely clever in its approach to sneaking surprising IP cameos into the story.
Ready Player One
Director Steven Spielberg adapts this best-selling Young Adult sci-fi novel, Ready Player One. In this film, we travel to the year 2045. The world is on the brink of destruction, but people find solitude in the OASIS, a virtual reality created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance).
Halliday promises a giant fortune to the one who can find the Easter egg within the OASIS. That leads to the adventure for our main character, Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), who travels through all kinds of inventive scenarios and high-concept settings on his hunt for the Easter Egg - including some beloved films from the past. Much like Free Guy, Ready Player One takes advantage of its video game setting and creates this immersive world where the players put everything on the line to achieve their goals.
Wreck-It Ralph
This Disney film shows us that not all bad guys are evil. In the world of arcade games, Wreck-It Ralph is a “bad guy” who’s tired of constantly losing to the “good guy” Fix-It Felix Jr. Ralph ends up leaving his game to prove that he can become a hero. As he sets out on his game-hopping adventure, Ralph makes new friends and accidentally unleashes a great evil that puts the entire arcade in danger.
Like most of Disney’s animated features, Wreck-It Ralph is about self-discovery, adventure, and family. It uses the idea that we are born good or bad as this jumping-off point for an incredible story.
The Social Network
This David Fincher drama has almost nothing in common with the comedies on this list. However, it’s here because it ties into the more subtle themes of Free Guy. The Social Network is a film about Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his creation of the website and app Facebook. As Zuckerberg becomes one of the youngest billionaires in the world, he starts to have trouble in his personal life and legal situations with his business.
The Social Network is a film based on a true story that highlights the dark side of success. Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) sues Zuckerberg because he practically booted him out of his co-founded company. This ties back into Free Guy and the storyline that takes place between Antwan (Taika Waititi), Keys (Joe Keery), and Millie (Jodie Comer).
Thor: Ragnarok
Director Taika Waititi joined the Marvel Universe and gave us this hit film, Thor: Ragnarok. In this movie, we see Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) attempt to stop the long-prophesied end of all things, Ragnarok. This quickly spirals out of control as he must face his sister, Hela (Cate Blanchett), with the help of his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
Waititi brought his comedic flair to the MCU and that tone is very similar to Free Guy. The balance of humor and world-ending stakes is something we don’t see often but films capture that magic beautifully. Thor: Ragnarok is a film that tells one of the darker stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the way Waititi infuses the movie with humor masks its overly cynical tone. It makes the film a fantastic comedy, but it still can hit with the emotions you want to see in the trilogy’s third film.