3 Similarities Between Free Guy Truman Show | Review

Free Guy is a modern version of The Truman Show with resemblances like the main character’s carefree naivete, the world within a world, and forbidden outside love. If you enjoy the metaverse, then Free Guy is the movie for you. 

Free Guy Truman Show Movie Review

Free Guy is an action, comedy movie about a man, creatively named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who is an NPC (non-playable character) in the popular video game, Free City. Lovestruck by a playable character (characterized by cool sunglasses) in the game, Guy steals sunglasses for himself, opening him up to a whole new reality. Now cognizant of this new reality, the future of Free City rests in Guy’s hands.

**Heads Up** There WILL be spoilers in this review.

3 Main Similarities in Free Guy & The Truman Show

These parts of Free Guy reminded me of The Truman Show: the Main Character’s Demeanor, the World Within a World, and the Forbidden Love.

The Main Character’s Demeanor

One aspect of this movie that really stood out to me was the main character’s demeanor. Guy and Truman are practically long-lost fraternal twins.

Starting with the names, they’re both given the most generic names to describe a generic human: Guy and Truman (True-man).

Next, the large cheesy smiles, the happy-go-lucky walk down the street, and the ignorance of the monotonous, identical patterns of their everyday lives.

And finally, the chipper catchphrases:
Truman: “And in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.”
Guy: “Don’t have a good day, have a great day!”

The World Within a World

Another aspect of this movie that really stood out was the world within a world.

Truman lives on an artificial island that was curated around his experimental life and filled with actors. He was completely isolated from the real world.

Guy lives in a virtual world which is a separate entity from the real world as well.

Both Guy and Truman are living in isolated worlds that are separate from the real world, and the reality that everyone else is sharing. The truth exists beyond the sea.

In the outside world, there is a puppet master who controls the happening of the little world. In The Truman Show, it was the serious and stern Christof, and in Free Guy, it was the wild and impulsive Antwan.

The outside world knows what’s going on in the inside world and can even control it, while the inside world, the isolated world, is oblivious to its ignorance, at least for the first portion of the film.

The outside world is constantly watching and commenting. Especially in the big scene at the end when the main character does the unthinkable and escapes.

Forbidden Love

The forbidden love among the main characters is another amusing aspect of both movies.

In both Free Guy and The Truman Show, the main character falls in love with a woman from the outside world. Their different worlds create an obstacle to their love.

Love is the catalyst for change in both Guy’s and Truman’s life. The pursuit of a woman opens their eyes to the reality of their world.

In the end, Truman becomes free and Sylvia, his love, is waiting for him on the other side. However, in Free Guy, Guy learns to live without Millie and focuses on his friendships while Millie realizes that the heart of Guy was living in the real world the whole time, in the body of her longtime business partner, Keys.

Free Guy Review

Artistic Choices

Regarding the technical elements of the film, I was really impressed with the world-building of Free City; the ability of the creators of this movie to make it look both real and virtual at the same time.

The vivid colors made the lines between reality and fantasy blur. Every color and detail almost looked too perfect and too manicured, which is the right vibe for this film.

I was truly impressed by the immaculate world-building of Free City and truly admire the minds that brought this unique world to life.

Other Similar Movies

Not only did Free Guy remind me of The Truman Show, but it also reminded me of The Matrix, The Lego Movie, and Pixels.

My little brother said that Ryan Reynold’s demeanor in this movie also reminded him of Will Ferrell roaming New York City in Elf which is another example of a carefree, naïve man being exposed to the gritty real world.

Criticisms

As cool as Free Guy is, it misses something that The Truman Show didn’t – a crisp sense of focus.

The beginning of Free Guy sucked me right in. I was immediately intrigued by this new world and excited to see the details unravel. But as the movie progressed, I found myself less and less engaged with the plot.

The focus started to shift and disperse into less interesting topics. It would fluff out unnecessary scenes in the name of comedy and the plot branched out so much, I just began to care less about where the movie was going.

By the end of the Free Guy I was like, wait, is this a romantic comedy now?

A lot of cute, modern references and jokes within the movie but sometimes, the comedy just fell flat for me. Super cool movie with a lot of amazing elements but there were some flavors mixed in that just didn’t blend nicely.

In Conclusion…

Free Guy is an eclectic, modern spin on themes similar to those seen in The Truman Show. It produced a really colorful narrative that is sure to please the masses, however, sometimes too many good elements create something not as spectacular as it has the potential to be.

Rating 6.5/10

What did you think of Free Guy? Let me know in the comments below!

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Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

IMO