Game Night

 Movie, 2018, R

Premise - A competitive couple bonds by holding game nights with their friends. For Max, the only person he cannot seem to beat in a game is his richer, better-looking brother. To up the stakes, the brother holds a murder mystery game night party at his place, where the lines between what's real and what's a game are dangerously blurred.


Review - I love Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, so I had high expectations of this film. I knew it was a dark comedy made by the same creators of Horrible Bosses (one of my favorites), and I love crazy comedies like that one and The Hangover, where people end up in these bizarre, often dangerous and illegal, situations that are way out of their comfort zones. Compared to fantastic films like Horrible Bosses and The Hangover, this film unfortunately does not hold up in its comedic strength. However, I thought it was an incredibly clever premise and set-up.

What a crazy idea for a film. A mystery party turns into an actual mystery when the host gets kidnapped for real. The characters don't even realize, so they still think that it's all part of a game (until people start actually getting hurt). The premise is so clever, and the different twists and turns were genius too. I suppose what I am getting at is that the plot was excellent. The execution, however, was more or less average. Obviously the two leads were great, but a lot of the other characters lacked any depth. The dumb, blond guy was particularly difficult to find believable. And although I LOVE Lamorne Morris, his character's obsession with his wife's infidelity just gets a little old. I did love creepy Gary though. He was fantastic. (73/100)

Quote - "Never exclude me again."

What to Watch For - THE BLOODY DOG SCENE. As far as dark, situational comedy goes, this scene takes the cake. I'm glad I didn't watch the trailer and have that spoiled for me.

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend Horrible Bosses!

Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
Distributed by Warner Bros.