Game Night (2018)
“You’re not going to know what’s real and what’s fake.” – Brooks.
Game Night (2018)
Directed by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Written by: Mark Perez
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman, Jesse Plemons, Kyle Chandler, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Sharon Horgan, Kylie Bunbury
Sorry Scene It Gang,
Just dot points for this one as I’m too lazy to grace it with a proper extended review:
~SYNOPSIS~
Suburban married couple Max (Bateman) and Annie (McAdams) host a weekly game night at their home for family and friends. However, when Max’s brother Brooks (Chandler) offers to host, and promises a game night “to remember”, the group gets drawn into an immersive game where things are more dangerous than they seem.
~SPEED REVIEW~
I’d categorise this as a fun, light-hearted parody of ‘The Game’, a movie starring Michael Douglas from 1997. In that film Douglas is gifted a special ‘game’, where he must solve riddles around the city. However, it turns dark when the people running the game start meddling in his home and work life.
The bare-bones of the plot here are similar and work well; characters believe they are playing an expansive ‘murder mystery’ game, and when Brooks is ‘kidnapped’ they believe this is part of the game, when he has, in fact, REALLY been kidnapped.
This template hits all the right notes the first half-hour: McAdams and Bateman are fantastic, and the rest of the cast are equally amusing as the oblivious games group.
However, once the illusion is shattered and characters realise everybody is in danger, any semblance of logic flies out the window and the plot falls apart.
Endless plot holes and silly twists tarnish the rest of the film, as logic is sacrificed for witty quips.
Luckily the humour is funny (particularly Plemons as the unhinged policeman neighbour), but it certainly loses its way.
~VERDICT~
The perfect ‘plane’ movie. With the writers prioritizing humour over plot, you don’t have to play close attention, and can drift in and out for the jokes. McAdams, Bateman and Plemons all turn in impressive performances, but the final act falls a little flat after a promising opening.
Rating: 6.5/10
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