Before Ryan Reynolds became the media mogul, owner of a soccer club, and viral shill for Mint Mobile, he was just an actor. But he hustled as hard as anyone. No one over the last 30 years has wanted to be a movie star as much as Ryan Reynolds. He parlayed a sitcom stint into a comedy career, tried his hand at action, horror, and indie films, and even rom-coms. Everyone in Hollywood knew he had that special something, but no writer, director, or producer could quite crack it. Which might explain why Reynolds went back to the superhero well twice after Blade: Trinity, appearing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Green Lantern. Those were both disasters too.
But then came Deadpool. Reynolds, passionate about resurrecting the character after X-Men Origins cratered, went out and self-produced test footage of himself in the full red-spandex regalia to pitch studios on doing the superhero thing his own way. No one said yes until he leaked that footage and the internet went gangbusters. The rest is history — and not just for Deadpool's characters' ascent to billion-dollar franchise status. With charm intact and cultural cache to wield, Reynolds charted a safe movie star lane in parallel to his Merc with a Mouth. Free Guy, Hitman's Bodyguard, Detective Pikachu, Red Notice, The Adam Project, and IF are just a few of the sugar-coated blockbusters Reynolds used to become a household name that could leverage major businesses outside the world of movies. At least Aviator Gin is good.
However, it's important to note that not all of Reynolds' films have been well-received. Red Notice, in particular, has been considered both his and The Rock's nadir. Personally, I think this is a missed opportunity for Reynolds to explore more dramatic work, and his last great performance is evidence of this. Love or hate Deadpool, fanboy or massive hater of the man's last few years, you need to see Mississippi Grind.
Mississippi Grind is a shaggy, melancholy road movie dressed up like a gambling drama. Co-written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the 2015 indie plays like a lost 1970s character study: two men, through whiskey-soaked conversation, manifesting the biggest wins of their lifetimes. Ben Mendelsohn stars as Gerry, a deeply unhappy Iowa real estate agent whose gambling addiction has hollowed out his life, while Reynolds plays Curtis, a charismatic drifter who breezes through poker rooms with effortless charm. Boden and Fleck channel the energy that makes Reynolds a viable romantic lead or a quick-witted comedic presence into a mythmaker, albeit one who crashes at dirt-cheap motels.
What makes this particularly fascinating is that Curtis still talks like a Ryan Reynolds character — jokes, stories, and playful swagger — but he's chasing disaster with a partner in crime who is somehow burnt out than he is. The film initially teases him as a possible con man or bad influence, only to reveal that Curtis may actually be the most emotionally grounded person in the movie. This is a wistful Americana fantasy about losers and the seduction of the 'win' that can fix broken people.
Throughout the movie, I felt myself completely disarmed by Reynolds' performance — playing a burnout and masquerading as a poker pro is as effortless as when he suits up in the Deadpool mask and spits out profanity. But unlike most of the scripts he signs on for, the world around Mississippi Grind pushes back on Curtis. When he takes Gerry out to the horse races only to find he can't pull his new buddy away from a double-or-nothing bet, the camera sits on his sorry-ass face where you see the gears turning: I screwed up. Later in the movie, Curtis escapes his downward spiral to meet up with his mom, a lounge singer who clearly has been on a wayward path for even longer than her son. This man is trapped and no amount of Woodford is going to cloud reality enough.
In my opinion, Reynolds could do this all day. Paul Schrader is right there. Josh Safdie is right there. Derek Cianfrance is right there (but his Gambit, Channing Tatum, beat him to the curveball team-up with last year's fantastic and overlooked Roofman — but Reynolds could do it too!). He's a great actor stuck appealing to the mass audience. But if you want to see his best performance in over a decade, go watch Mississippi Grind. It's even streaming for free on Tubi and Netflix.
Mississippi Grind is a hidden gem that showcases Reynolds' versatility and talent. It's a film that deserves more recognition and a wider audience. So, if you're looking for a movie to watch, I highly recommend giving it a try. You won't be disappointed.
