Ryan Reynolds' 5 Best Performances

His accolades include 1 Golden Globe nomination, 2 MTV Movie Award wins from 10 nominations and 1 Saturn Award win from 2 nominations

Ryan Reynolds. The king of the sense of humour. Since starting his career in the early 90s, he has grown to become one of the most prominent names in Hollywood. Whether it’s a comedic superhero or the man who can’t catch a break, he’s really carved his corner of the market with his wit and sarcasm.

Question is, which of his roles is the best of his? Let’s take a look at what we think shall we.

5. Guy in Free Guy (2021)

It must be tough being an NPC. Directed by Shawn Levy, Reynolds plays a non-playable character, simply called Guy, in a global online game called Free City. When he decides to do as he likes in a game where his function is to blend in, plus clossing paths with a programmer (Jodie Comer’s Millie), things begin to take unexpected turns.

At this point in his career, Reynolds had indented his form of humour. So, to see him hitting comedy from a different angle as a naive, all smiles background character is a nice mix-up.

Shawn Levy actually read and then passed on the script for this film in 2016. But, with a bit of persuasion from his friend, Ryan Reynolds, he reconsidered.

4. Andrew Paxton in The Proposal (2009)

Who doesn’t want to be forced to marry their nightmare of a boss? Reynolds’ Andrew Paxton is in a right pickle when hardened, stone hearted Margaret Tate (played by Sandra Bullock) blackmails him into marrying her to stop her being deported to Canada. As you can imagine, the lie isn’t so easy to maintain and lovey mushy stuff also is at play eventually.

Reynolds’ awkwardness and on edge approach makes for some hysterical back an forth with Bullock’s uptight character. I’d put this down as one of Reynold’s finest on-screen duos.

Reynolds and Bullock were actually friends for 9 years before making this film. Even so, they initially felt quite awkward filming their nude scene.

3. Wade Wilson/Deadpool in Deadpool 2 (2018)

This is what you get when you pit this guy against Josh Brolin. The sequel to 2016’s superhero hit, Reynolds’ Wade Wilson returns, still up to his old tricks as his merc with a mouth alter ego. This time, tragedy throws him into a downward spiral that ironically puts him on a collision course with Brolin’s Cable, a being from the future bent on killing someone who will cause havoc in his time.

Deadpool 2 allows our actor to dig deeper into the title character. He really builds on the emotional range that was established in the first instalment. We also can’t help but admire how Reynolds is able to be as funny as before.

Reynolds himself actually wrote the whole “baby legs” scene. The scene ended up 11 pages and was dialogue heavy. Something almost unheard of in such an action-heavy movie. To Reynolds credit, pretty much nothing was changed from it’s first draft.

2. Chris Brander in Just Friends (2005)

A deep dive into the dark side of being friend zoned. Only Reynolds could make this work surely. Once the fat kid in school who was devastated by his childhood crush, Chris Brander finds himself back in his home town after 10 years. Coming home then puts him on a mission to finally sleep with the girl who put him in the friend zone a decade earlier.

Reynolds may not have had a real hold on his unique style of comedy at this point, but his wackiness still keeps him in very good stead to lead the film and be a success in doing so. You can’t help but laugh at the freakout scene in the car and the constant back and forth between him and his character’s brother.

It would take up to 4 hours to apply the 12 pound chubby face to Ryan Reynolds. The make-up would make the actor unrecognisable, to the point where someone actually came up to him and asked where Ryan Reynolds was. He, of course, played along.

1. Wade Wilson/Deadpool in Deadpool (2016)

Yep, the first instalment of the Deadpool film series made it to number 1 of course. The original film establishes the character’s origins as a mercenary who finds out he has terminal cancer. In an effort to survive and marry the woman he loves, he accepts an invitation to be part of an experimental procedure. This leaves him with mutant abilities at the cost of a scarred physical appearance. From there, Wade Wilson’s alter ego is born.

More so than the sequel, Reynolds gets to play some pretty harrowing scenes whilst of course establishing his unique comedy style. Considering Reynolds nearly missed his chance to play a more accurate version of the character after 2008’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he made sure we were thankful for what we eventually got. Thank God for that suspicious leak, right?

In yet another scenario around heavy make-up, Reynolds’ full body prosthetics took 8 hours to apply. One they were fully applied, he was unable to sit or lie down. Those long days on set mustn’t have been as cheery as you’d think!

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So, what are your thoughts on our top 5 Ryan Reynolds performances? Let us know in the comment section below!

Ryan Reynolds’ 5 Best Performances