Game Night

Game Night

Starring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Jesse Plemons

Directed by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein

The Story:
Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) were both avid gamers who were also very competitive, which is why it was perfect that they ended up together.  Now a married couple, they host weekly game nights with their friends: bachelor Ryan (Billy Magnussen) and fellow married couple Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury).  The games get wildly competitive, and it's all in good fun until Max's much more successful brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) comes to visit.  The two have always been in competition, and now Max is jealous of Brooks' success, and is threatened by his wealth and how his friends tend to admire him.

Brooks hosts a game night at his house, and the regular suspects arrive including Ryan's current date Sarah (Sharon Horgan), and Brooks announces that this is no ordinary game night - it's a murder mystery game.  Suddenly men burst into the house and take Brooks, and everyone thinks its part of the game, until they realize that Brooks has some shady dealings in the past and now they have to come up with a way to save him before he's killed.

The Synopsis:
To me, comedies are the biggest hit-and-miss genre out there.  Typically, they tend to go in a few predictable ways: either they're so gratuitous in their vulgar tone and sight gags that it becomes dull and boring, or they always try to achieve a simple goal by the most outlandish ways, leading in comedy that becomes too over-the-top to be enjoyed.  With "Game Night," directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein somehow managed to take both extremes and bring them to the center, resulting in a comedy that I enjoyed completely, finding myself laughing hysterically in several parts and not just a pity laugh here and there.

The concept is a fun idea, something that friends partake in all the time: game nights.  I've participated in a few myself, and I always have a blast playing games with friends and being competitive and wanting to win, and here that same enjoyment can be had with the couples playing.  Plus they add in the murder mystery motif, an event I participated in myself about a year ago and also had a blast doing, so I was already sold on the concept at the beginning.

Then there's the actors involved.  Jason Bateman is a comedic genius, and Rachel McAdams can pretty much do no wrong.  Here, she unleashes her comedy chops in a way that is endearing and extremely humorous, leaving you no other option than to crack up.  Both actors play so well off each other that you'd expect them to actually be a married couple from the start, and that adds to the depth of characterization sorely missed in most comedies.

However, it's not just the two leads who shine, but the entire ensemble cast.  As Max's older, more successful brother, Kyle Chandler's Brooks gives off an heir of superiority that's equal egotistical and pompous, so when he suffers the brunt of the torture, you can't help but feel a sense of poetic justice.  Billy Magnussen's Ryan is your typical dim-witted former frat boy who brings a fellow dim-witted girl to the game nights every week, in a hilarious montage showing how poorly they perform.  This time, he brings Sarah - played by Sharon Horgan - who's older, smarter, and Irish (despite the fact that Ryan keeps calling her British).  Longtime married couple Kevin and Michelle - played by Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury - are also equally entertaining, as throughout the night Kevin tries to guess which celebrity Michelle slept with, also resulting in a hilarious flashback.

Yet it's Jesse Plemons who steals the show.  As Max and Annie's next door neighbor, he was once a fellow member of their game night activities with his wife, but after they divorced, Max and Annie distanced themselves from him, due to his deadpan sense and totally unnerving stance.  He remains stoic through everything, never showing any kind of emotion and is excessively protective of his pet poodle.  Yet even he has a bigger role to play in the film than you'd expect, and somehow manages to add an even deeper feel to the character that could've been one-dimensional.

When it comes to the comedy, there's a perfect blend of vulgar and slapstick, with just enough F-bombs to not make them gratuitous, and impossibly intricate car chases that add the sense of action to the film.  There's so many segments of the film that hit every note perfectly I can't adequately explain them all, but needless to say there's some very memorable moments that will have you rolling on the ground in laughter - especially a well-timed game of hot potato.

The story itself is so well-written, it's one you'd expect to see at a murder mystery theater.  There's twists, turns, double crosses, triple crosses, and everything in between, proving that a comedy can also be a highly thoughtful piece of film.  It's not stupid or dull, but rather sharp and edgy, with even some emotional moments - such as Max and Annie's subplot of trying to conceive - that never takes away from the humor of the film as a whole.

The Summary:
Blending a smart story, terrific acting, vibrant characters, and just enough crude and slapstick humor, "Game Night" is a rousing success in the genre of comedy, resulting in a film that will have you laughing long after it ends.

The Score: A+