FREELANCE
A fun, twisty action-comedy grown-ups can enjoy — with real cautions.
Should You Watch It?
Here's the honest answer. FREELANCE is a genuinely entertaining action comedy — fast, funny, and stacked with twists that keep you guessing who the real villain is. John Cena and Alison Brie are terrific together, and the movie surprises you with a pro-family, anti-totalitarian spine and even a few unexpected Christian moments.
But it earns its cautions. Nearly 40 obscenities and profanities run through it, including nine "f" words. The action violence is intense, there's some lewd comedy, and the ending muddies its own moral clarity with mixed political values. This was made for older teenagers and adults, not for the whole family.
So if you're an adult who enjoys a clever action-comedy and can look past the rough language, this one's worth your time — but bring it home, where you control the room and can skip what you'd rather not sit through. It's a wait-for-home watch for grown-ups.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESMason Pettits (John Cena) is a former Special Forces soldier turned lawyer and family man — married, with a young daughter, and quietly miserable in a job he loathes. He's still searching for purpose.
Then an old military friend offers him $20,000 for a personal protection detail: keep disgraced journalist Claire Wellington (Alison Brie) safe while she interviews Juan Venegas, the notorious dictator of a Latin American country. Mason can barely hide his contempt for the man. But when their convoy is ambushed by mercenaries, nothing is what it seemed — and everyone's guessing who's really pulling the strings.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars, and they're well earned. FREELANCE delivers exactly what an action comedy should: lots of excitement, plenty of laughs, and surprising twists that keep you off balance right through the finish.
The craft backs it up. The cinematography is fantastic, with characters navigating the genuine beauty of the jungle, and the costumes and dialogue lend real authenticity. Best of all is the cast. Cena and Alison Brie both land their comedic performances, and Juan Pablo Raba is charming and funny as the dictator who turns out to be far more than he first appears. It's a well-built, thoroughly enjoyable ride.
The Worldview
For an action comedy, FREELANCE carries more moral weight than you'd expect. It has a strong, pro-family worldview, and it celebrates family reconciliation — Mason's marriage is strained, but he and his wife make peace by the end. There are even a few unexpected Christian touches: in one scene, President Venegas is shown praying in a church, after the film reveals he's fighting to wrest his country back from corrupt corporate interests. The movie's anti-totalitarian streak plainly favors liberty and free elections — solid ground.
The ending is where it wobbles. It leans into the idea that a nation's citizens should simply share in the profits from its natural resources, without reckoning with the cost and labor that developing those resources actually requires. It's a well-meaning sentiment that doesn't think itself through. There are also some light, brief feminist notes about a woman climbing the corporate ladder against male opposition.
Take it together, and FREELANCE is a movie about a man searching for purpose and finding it in loyalty, courage, and his own family — a good instinct pointed in a good direction. Scripture names where that search finally rests: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong moral, pro-family worldview promotes family reconciliation, includes a scene with a man praying in a church and has an anti-totalitarian view that also promotes positive Western, conservative values, but is marred by some socialist, anti-capitalist ideology at the end about citizens sharing the profit in their country’s natural resources (will they also share in the expense of developing those resources?), plus there are some light, brief feminist references to the idea of a woman climbing the corporate ladder against a amidst oppression from men
Foul Language
28 obscenities (including 9 “f” words), one borderline exclamation when someone says, “Sweet Baby Jesus”), nine light exclamatory profanities, two obscene gestures from children, a character vomits, and three obscenities (including one “f” word) during outtakes in the end credits
Violence
Lots of strong action violence with some blood includes gunfights between armies and soldiers, hero shoots his way out of an ambush which includes explosions, hero brings down a helicopter trying to kill him and the woman he’s protecting by shooting the pilot, other multiple gunfights, explosions and individual fights, a boy punches another boy in the schoolyard, father tells young daughter to punch a boy in his throat if the boy tries to kiss her and agrees with his daughter that she also can hit him in the crotch
Sex
Light sexual content includes a scene of provocative dancing, and an unmarried woman tries to seduce a married man, but the man refuses
Nudity
Upper male nudity, rear male nudity, and woman places her hands over her chest when she and two men exit three separate rural shower places at the same time
Alcohol Use
Three scenes with alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
no smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Strong miscellaneous moderate level of immorality including greed; rebellion; overthrowing government; disrespect for authority, and hero has a marital problems, but he and his wife reconcile at the end.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Mason has a good job, a wife, and a daughter, yet feels like a failure and can't find meaning. Where does the film suggest he finally finds purpose — and where does Scripture say lasting purpose is found?
Ecclesiastes 2:11 · Colossians 3:23–24The dictator turns out to be very different from what Mason assumed. How often do we judge people before we know the whole story, and what does the Bible say about that kind of hasty judgment?
Proverbs 18:13 · John 7:24Mason and his wife are struggling but reconcile by the end. What does real reconciliation cost, and how does forgiveness make it possible?
Ephesians 4:32 · Colossians 3:13The film ends on the appealing idea that a nation's people should simply share its wealth. What does Scripture teach about honest work, investment, and generosity that actually costs the giver something?
Proverbs 13:11 · 2 Thessalonians 3:10The Final Word
FREELANCE is a smart, funny, well-made action-comedy with a better heart than you'd guess — and language and violence that put it firmly out of reach for kids. For adults who enjoy the genre, it's wait for home — adults only, best watched where you hold the remote. Looking for something the whole family can share instead? Try our latest family-friendly picks.
