Game Night is a dark comedy that’s heavy on both laughs and plot. It also scores points (no pun intended) for some true originality in the execution of its premise that could’ve gone off the rails real fast, but chooses a more clever approach to the material.
Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams star as a married couple who host game nights every week with their friends much to the chagrin of their neighbor cop (Jesse Plemons) who seems a few fries short of Happy Meal. They invite over two other couples to join in on the festivities, until Bateman’s character reveals his more successful brother (Kyle Chandler) is in town.
Chandler’s character arranges for a murder mystery to take place, but plans go awry when two real kidnappers show up at his door, beat him up, and then kidnap him. Meanwhile, the couples all think this is part of the show.
The movie produces some wildly entertaining sequences including one where Bateman and McAdams track Chandler to a bar still under the guise that it’s part of the mystery only to find out the kidnappers’ motivation which I won’t reveal. Another entertaining scene involves breaking into a mansion and stealing a Faberge egg while an underground fight club takes place. Fight Club is just one of many movie references made and nearly all of them work.
Game Night does lose a bit of its originality during the climax mainly due to being a little overstuffed but even with that, this provides some solid laughs. Much of the credit goes to screenwriter Mark Perez and directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein of Horrible Bosses fame for delivering a fun and outrageous script and the cast turns out a smart, hilarious take.
It’s much more witty and clever than it should have any right to be and given the choice between having a real game night or going to see this, I actually would choose the latter.
Grade: A-
(Rated R for language, sexual references, and some violence.)
