This is no Ernest Cline novel; our emotional connection to the world and its characters goes far beyond the level of pop culture references.

Free Guy is a very knowing movie, but part of its knowingness is its pop lightness -- even its blandness, if that can be seen as a virtue.

Free Guy is a big old mess. It's a movie that's more parts than the sum of its parts.

Its indictment of the power fantasy aspect of games like Grand Theft Auto is hilariously unsubtle, and yet, it demonstrates a gross, bafflingly hypocritical adherence to the philosophy of video games as pleasure factories.