Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Jesse Plemons
Director: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Release date: 2nd March 2018
Annie (Rachel McAdams) and Max (Jason Bateman) meet at a quiz night and after a whirlwind romance, the pair get married and set up home together. Both of them are extremely competitive and so decide to have ‘Game Nights’ in their home with a small group of close friends. Max finds out that his brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler) is coming to visit and is immediately on edge. His brother is successful and popular and the two are not generally as close as brothers should be. Annie and Max’s neighbour, Gary (Jesse Plemons) is more than a little strange and so they try to keep their Game Nights as low key as possible. One night, Brooks holds a Games Night at his rented house and tells the group that one of them will be ‘taken’ using force and then the remaining players must solve the clues and discover the kidnapped person’s whereabouts. Not long after, two masked men burst in and have an extremely violent fight with Brooks. They bundle him out of the house, with him screaming for help. The rest of the players are totally oblivious to Brooks’ plight and think that it’s all part of the charade. It soon becomes apparent that ‘other forces’ are at work and the game suddenly becomes all too real. Who has Brooks and can they follow the clues to find him before it’s too late?
‘Game Night’ would probably be classed as a ‘black comedy’ and with Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, Horrible Bosses) in the lead role, you pretty much know exactly what you’re letting yourself in for when watching this movie. I wouldn’t really have watched say, Arrested Development, but have seen Jason acting in quite a few movies before. I’ve really enjoyed anything I’ve seen him in, but I’m starting to wonder if he’s just playing this whole ‘deadpan’ thing a little bit too much. Rachel McAdams has come a long way since she starred in ‘The Notebook’ back in 2004, and has played some quite big roles, including; Irene Adler in the Sherlock Holmes movies and a boxer’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) wife in ‘Southpaw’. It’s nice to see her doing some comedy stuff. She’s a very talented actress, who should definitely be given some beefier roles. The story is a teeny bit predictable in places but there are plenty of laughs to be had along the way, the bit with the dog and the blood was pretty crazy.
I think that it could very much depend on your sense of humour, whether you laugh while you’re watching this movie or not. For the screening I went to, all the guys were laughing pretty much constantly through the whole thing, whereas I found it funny but maybe not as hilarious as some others were making it out to be. Really great ensemble cast though and plenty of action. I’d say if you’re looking to go see a comedy movie that has a little bit of a dark side to it, then definitely go see ‘Game Night’.
Overall: 7.5/10
