Game Night (2018)

Directors: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein

Writer: Mark Perez (Screenplay)

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Kyle Bunbury

 

Plot: A group of friends who meet regularly for game nights find themselves entangled in a real-life mystery.

Tagline – This is not a game.

Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Funny Comedy

 

Story: Game Night starts as competitive couple Max (Bateman) and Annie (McAdams) preparing for the latest game night with friends Ryan (Magnussen), Kevin (Morris) and Michelle (Bunbury) when Max’s brother Brooks (Chandler) arrives to put Max off his game.

When Brooks invites the group and Ryan’s trademark random date Sarah (Horgan) to his hosted Game Night, it involves one member of the party being kidnapped and the rest needing to solve the case. The night takes a twist when Brook is really kidnapped by criminals and the friends must work together to stay alive.

 

Thoughts on Game Night

 

Characters – Max has always been competitive when it comes to quiz or game nights, he has his perfect match in Annie, but has always been overshadowed by his brother and now he must be the one to help his brother. Annie is the perfect match for Max, strangely we don’t learn much else about her through the film, which is easily going to be the problem with most of the characters, we enter just one night of their lives, so we don’t need to learn too much back story. Brooks is the brother that has a shady past that has caught up with him tonight. Ryan and Sarah are funny as the first date couple that don’t want to admit their attraction and Kevin and Michelle as the married couple who are going through a situation.

Performances – Jason Bateman gives us one of his best comedic performances of his career and his chemistry and Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret) who shows she can handle the comedy genre whenever she wants. The supporting cast all get the laughs with Billy Magnussen getting most of the laughs and Jesse Plemons seems to steal every scene.

Story – The story follows a group of friends that entertain on a weekly game night only for the latest one to take a deadly twist as they must take on criminals. The film takes place over one night which helps the story keep the pacing with each situation the friends finding themselves in feeling legitimate for the story. while we don’t learn too much about the characters we get everything we want from the story unfold which does keep us guessing.

Comedy/Crime/Mystery – The comedy in the film hits on the most part with each character offering different moments of laughs with Billy Magnussen and Jesse Plemons giving the most laughs. The crime twists the game night to what is real or not through the film which increases the suspense and the mystery keeps us guessing throughout.

Settings – The film is set in one city over one night, which puts the characters that don’t normally attend.

Scene of the Movie – Nearly every scene with Jesse Plemons.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Tries too much for twists.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun comedy that hits on the laughs more often than it misses and does keep us guessing to where the story will go with characters that will make you laugh throughout.

 

Overall: Comedy film I enjoyed.

Rating