Game Night (2018)

Game Night (2018)

7/10

Starring

Jason Bateman

Rachel McAdams

Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein

When Game Night starts, you get this feeling that everything is going to drive down Cliché Avenue, based on what you’ve read about it and the way it begins. The great thing is, it doesn’t (for the most part). The script of this movie is explosive, the comedy is unexpectedly good and funny, and the cast is clearly having way too much fun.

The fun the cast members are having spills over to us, the viewers, as we watch them try to unravel a mystery they got dragged into unwillingly. The subplots in this movie are minimized to the barest minimum, with the focus directed squarely on the main plot.

The unexpected twists and turns in this movie start with a simple game night—which is what the movie is about. A group of friends is having a game night when everything goes off the rails. Our leads, Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams), met at a bar during a competition. Their competitive behavior is what brought them together—they got married and continued to host game nights with their friends at their house. Max has an older, richer brother, Brooks, who is everything Max wants to be. Brooks comes to visit and joins the game night, only to make Max feel inferior, as he’s just as competitive.

Brooks makes some arrangements for a better game night and invites Max and his friends to his house to be part of it. His plan for the game night is different—he even puts up a car as the prize for the winner. The game is simple: someone is going to get “kidnapped,” and the others must solve the case. The problem is, someone does get kidnapped—but it’s for real, and the others have to solve it to save the kidnapped person’s life.

At first, this plot seems simple enough to not gather much excitement or laughs, but trust me, the way the movie is put together, only a god could have known how things were going to turn out. I loved Horrible Bosses (2011)—the first part only—and this movie was directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who were the screenwriters for Horrible Bosses (2011).

This is a movie you’ll enjoy watching, though sadly, the excitement is a one-time ride. This is also why the movie didn’t make much at the box office, but it’s one you’ll love when you get to see it.