Game Night (2018)
Game Night (2018)
Directed by John Francis Daley and
Jonathan Goldstein
Written by Mark Perez
Rated R
I don’t really know why I didn’t catch on to this when I saw the trailers but it occurred to me while watching Game Night that it was something of a cross between a 1997 thriller The Game and a comedy called The Man Who Knew Too Little from the same year. One of them is an underrated gem starring Michael Douglas and directed by David Fincher and the other is an amazingly laugh free affair starring Bill Murray. As Game Night progressed I was relieved to see that it leaned a bit more in the direction of The Game than The Man Who Knew Too Little in that Game Night is actually funny which would make The Game a funnier movie than the Bill Murray “comedy.” Game Night isn’t perfect but for what it is it delivers a good time. I can safely say I got my money’s worth.
Max and Annie (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams respectively) are a couple who share the same passion for party games like charades, scrabble etc. and regularly host game night with their friends. Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler), who is said by some to more handsome and successful, shows up and hosts a murder mystery game night at his place, much to Max’s chagrin, where the prize is a brand new sports car. Because of Max often feeling upstaged and humiliated by Brooks and that the prize is the sports car Max has wanted since childhood, Max and Annie are additionally determined to win. But when crooks show up to beat up and kidnap Brooks, Max, Annie and their friends play along with the game to win. But they later find out that in trying to find Brooks that this is no longer a game for fun and are now involved in serious game of life and death…with some hilarious results!
The plot is fairly straight forward for the most part although at times it was a touch confusing to follow with all the twists and turns that come about. Perhaps there were too many twists in the movie but in that regard I wasn’t entirely bothered by that because the gags that come from the group of characters who go along with what they initially think is a game is what makes this film really worth watching.
Max and Annie are the primary focus and with Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams as the leads they make them likeable and the kind of people you could possibly see yourself wanting to hang out with. Their somewhat hyperactive and playful competitive behavior is rather infectious and it is easy to see how they would be the life of the party. They have their own challenges to overcome in the story as well like having trouble being able to have a baby and Max’s own competitive nature against his brother and wanting to still be able to play games and such being a barrier to having a child.
There’s also Kevin and Michelle (Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury respectively) who are pretty OK in the film even if their spat about which celebrity Michelle slept with during a brief time they were broken up before they eventually married got as bit tiresome. That is their primary gag, I guess you could call it that, and if it weren’t for the fact that the payoff was actually pretty funny it would have been kind of insufferable. Then we have Ryan (Billy Magnussen) who the single guy in their group who always brings a new girl to each of their game nights and since they are all dumb blondes who play on their smartphones all the time, he always loses. For the night in which the story takes place, he brings along a British woman named Sarah (Sharon Horgan) who one can tell right off the bat is far too good for him. The jokes and gags with Ryan are probably the weakest in the entire film as he is so rock stupid one has to wonder how he manages to function in real life. Thankfully, Sarah acts a counterpoint to his stupidity and manages to have some funny spots in her own way.
The humor is for the most part consistent and managed to keep me laughing but it was when the characters are being themselves and having the humor result from the situations that happen around them is when it works best. Whenever characters spout pop culture references when they are acting crazy (which thankfully doesn’t happen a whole lot in this film) is when the humor kind of dies as making references is not the same as making good humor.
Some might be wondering why I started by making comparisons between Game Night and to the 1997 films The Game and The Man Who Knew Too Little. It is because all three of the films feature brothers who set up their siblings for a murder mystery, thriller, espionage etc. play acting thing in which the games become real in certain degrees. But whereas The Game and Game Night actually had moments of genuine suspense as well as humor growing out of characters knowing they are in danger, The Man Who Knew Too Little had exactly one joke: Bill Murray not being aware of the fact that he accidentally wanders into a real and dangerous espionage situation and through his carelessness makes everyone believe he is a super spy and believe me they run that joke right into the ground. I am just happy that Game Night managed to avoid that pitfall of keeping the clueless idiot gag for far too long. It also helps that it was shot to look like a fairly big budget action/thriller and the characters are not in on the joke.
This isn’t a comedy masterpiece or one of those movie that will keep you laughing until your sides hurt or anything like that but I was surprised that this one actually delivered on the fun that the ads promised. And for an R rated comedy I was happy that it wasn’t pervasively unpleasant like last year’s disastrous excuses for adult comedy in the form of Baywatch and Chips. To those just looking for a good time this weekend, Game Night might do the trick. Or you can just stay home and watch The Game since I can’t recommend that film enough.
