Friday, November 8, 2024

Deadpool: Ryan Reynolds Is Finally Going to Have a Well Reviewed, Commercial Hit Movie

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If you wait long enough, anything can happen. Ryan Reynolds is about to have his first actual hit, and a well-reviewed one. “Deadpool” has already taken in $14 million abroad, and is set to be the number 1 movie of the weekend. Plus, it’s got an 82 on Rotten Tomatoes. For Reynolds, that’s a 100.

It’s not like he hasn’t tried. “The Green Lantern” made over $100 million, but the reviews were terrible, no one liked it. “Woman in Gold” was an arty movie with Helen Mirren, but it made $33 million, and it wasn’t so popular.

Reynolds tried a series movie with “Buried,” and it was buried alive. A bad idea, the confining film took in one million dollars. And that may have been by accident.

Reynolds’ only real hit was “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock in 2009. It wasn’t well reviewed, but it was better than you thought, and made over $300 million worldwide. But it was a Sandra Bullock movie.

“Deadpool,” which I haven’t seen, expands on his “X Men: Wolverine” character also from 2009. Reviews and the trailers and clips suggest that director Tim Miller, and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, have actually been able to capture Reynolds’ strong, sarcastic delivery and mix it with an action movie.  He’s glib, and facile with smart-mouth dialogue. Mix that with leading man good looks, and Ryan Reynolds may be on to something at last.

He’s worked hard enough.  He was even in a Julia Roberts movie no one’s ever heard of, called “Fireflies in the Garden.” This weekend belongs to Ryan Reynolds. Congrats.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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