Ryan Reynolds may not be the best thing to have come out of Canada, but he is quite close to it. One of the best and most popular actors in the world at the moment, Reynolds has been entertaining and enthralling people around the world for over 20 years. The Canadian first gained fame in the American sitcom Two Guys and a Girl, which ran from 1998 until 2001. Reynolds played the role of Michael Eugene Leslie “Berg” Berge, a handsome young man studying medicine at college and with boyish charm and a mischievous character who creates chaos and mayhem in his friends’ lives. It was Two Guys and a Girl that saw Reynolds make his mark as a comic actor who appeals to teenagers and young adults.
It was probably his mannerism and natural take to comedy on television that saw him earn a big break in the movies. True, Reynolds had already played roles in Ordinary Magic (1993), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) and Coming Soon (1999), but it was cult movie Van Wilder: Party Liaison in 2002 that saw him gain worldwide attention. Reynolds played the role of Van Wilder, a 20-something college student who refuses to graduate and just wants to stay in school. The movie is popular to this day and has earned cult status. That movie saw the Vancouver-born Canadian actor make the big time.
Reynold went on to play roles in The In-Laws (2003), Foolproof (2003), Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) and The Amityville Horror (2005) before starring in Chaos Theory (2008). Reynolds players the role of a Frank Allen, who is a professional speaker and speaks on time management. Allen keeps time perfectly in his life, until one day his wife sets the alarm clock back 10 minutes to give him some extra minutes in bed. What happens is chaos, both in the lives of Allen and in his wife – thus the name of the movie, Chaos Theory. The movie saw Reynolds in the very serious role of a tormented man who is coming to grips with his life falling apart. That very same year, Reynolds had a more light-hearted romantic-comedy movie released in the theatres.
Definitely, Maybe is probably one of the best and perhaps most underrated romantic movies of the 21st century so far. Directed by Adam Brooks and also starring Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks and Rachel Weisz, the movie is set in New York in the 1990s and is about a father explaining to his daughter how he and his mother met. It sounds a bit like the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, but is much better and classier – and executed in a better fashion. Reynolds’ portrayal of a cool father was one of the many positives in the film, which grossed over $50 million worldwide.
Until this period, Reynolds was largely seen as an actor who could act in romantic movies and semi-serious films, but that changed in 2009 when he had a role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The 41-year-old played the role of Wade Winston Wilson/Weapon XI. Reynolds did not speak in the movie, but his sword-fighting skills and physical demeanour were superb, and it was only logical to give him his own film: Deadpool. Released in 2016, Deadpool was a box office smash hit, picking up over $750 million at the box office. In the film, Wade Wilson is on the hunt for the man who gave him mutant abilities and a scary face. One of the reasons why the film was so successful despite being a superhero film is Reynold’s flamboyant wisecracking and the light-hearted tone. Reynolds has superhero abilities but he does not consider himself to be a superhero. There is little wonder that Deadpool 2 is set to be released in theatres in 2018 and should be a massive hit as well.
Reynolds is a multi-dimensional actor who is more than just a pretty face on the big screen. One of his best and perhaps most underappreciated films is Mississippi Grind. Released in 2015 and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the movie follows the adventures and misadventures of Gerry – played by Ben Mendelsohn – and Curtis (Reynolds) who strike up an unlikely friendship in a casino in Dubuque, Iowa. While Gerry is down on his luck and is struggling due to his loses in gambling, Curtis is young and charismatic and has a “don’t care” attitude. Curtis’s attitude of not being emotionally invested in the outcome of the games he plays at the casinos and his total disregard for winning is something that perhaps that many gamblers should take note from. Of course, nowadays there is no need to go to an on-site casino to indulge in responsible gambling; you can do it from the comfort of your living room or your bedroom. The best part is that you do not actually have to pay anything from your own pocket. Websites such as Oddschecker.com list casinos that offer free spins with no deposit needed. You cannot get wrong with that if you are a first-time gambler.
Reynolds has also been successful with movies such as Self/less (2015), Safe House (2012), Life (2017) and The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017). Safe House saw Reynolds play a serious role. His character, Matt Weston, is a CIA agent in charge of a safe house where Tobin Frost, played by the great Denzel Washington, is being interrogated. After mercenaries attack the safe house, Weston has to work with Frost to keep themselves alive. The way the two actors played off of each other was superb, and it underlined the versatility of Reynolds. The Canadian played a similar role in The Hitman’s Bodyguard in 2017 where he is a bodyguard to a hitman who has to testify at the International Criminal Court. The tone of the film, though, is very different from Safe House, as it is distinctly light-hearted. The plot was not very strong, but the acting of Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson and the way they played off each other saved the day.
He may be 41 years of age at the moment, but Reynolds still has retained his boyish good looks and charm. The Canadian has matured as an actor, but as his perfect portrayal of Deadpool suggests, he still has that sense of fun and frolic. In recent years, Reynolds has done a whole range of movies, and one can only expect and hope that he continues to do so in the coming years.
Nice write up. I find his current “wise-cracking fast-talking handsome man” shtick pretty intolerable as it seems to be seeping in to all of his major roles at the moment; however, he’s one of the best actors at picking interesting low-key films between his big paychecks.
Films like The Nines, Self/Less, Burried remind me never to write him off!