"Game Night" - Film Review
The most difficult genre to pull off successfully is comedy. Drama is far easier, mainly because there’s a pretty good consensus about what makes us feel sad. Comedy, though, requires an understanding of timing and a quickness that doesn’t come naturally to many actors. It’s also much more difficult for audiences to agree on what is funny, so it’s no wonder that few comedy movies are able to break through and receive widespread recognition. Sadly, it seems that Game Night will be one of those comedies that fails to break through.
Hyper-competitive board game fanatics Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) host semi-regular game nights with their friends Ryan (Billy Magnussen), Kevin (Lamorne Morris), and Kevin’s wife Michelle (Kylie Bunbury). Max has spent most of his life in the shadow of his brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler), who seemingly has it all. While Brooks’ perfection makes Max feel inadequate, he believes that game night is the one part of his life that he does better than Brooks. However, when Brooks unexpectedly shows up and insists on hosting game night, it becomes clear that his life is not as glamorous as it seems.
What makes Game Night special is that it has the same amount of twists, turns, and red herrings as David Fincher’s The Game, but none of the grittiness. Instead, it revels in its goofiness. Jesse Plemmons’ police officer Gary is particularly delightful, and would steal the whole movie if it weren’t for the equally delightful performances of McAdams, Magnussen, and Bunbury. The running mystery about which celebrity Michelle slept with (and the eventual reveal) is the best slow burn joke of the movie.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Unfortunately, Game Night does not have any singular one-liners that could permeate the mainstream and elevate the movie and provide some free advertisement. Movies like Mean Girls hold on to their fame because of dialogue like “on Wednesdays we wear pink.” Most of the comedy in Game Night is situational, which is much harder to share, but McAdams’ delivery of “oh no, he died” deserves to be in the mainstream vernacular.
Harkening back to the mid-budget comedy movies that have sadly disappeared from the mainstream, Game Night is the sort of breezy movie that has great potential for universal appeal, if only people are able to find out about it. It is a great answer to the eternal question parents and their young adult children ask when they’re together: what do we watch? Easy to watch and quick with laughs, Game Nightshould be widely beloved.
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