Game Night

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons, Michael C. Hall, Danny Huston, Chelsea Peretti, Jeffrey Wright (uncredited)
Directed by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Comedy
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A game night goes awry when one of the players (Kyle Chandler) is actually kidnapped.

Review:

Tim: I suppose Game Night is a fairly decent comedy. It's not a classic movie or one that will have you bent over in hysterics, but it does more things right than the average comedy and it did create a few humorous moments. I can't say I was a huge fan of the film, but it had its moments and was at least mildly entertaining from start to finish.

I suppose the premise of the film is interesting. A group of friends who meet for game night show up and start a murder mystery game, which ends up not being a game at all. The film toggles between keeping the story somewhat believable and descending into pure absurdity. It fortunately stays away from the unbelievable vein just enough. The story is also twisty and somewhat unexpected. While some of the "twists" are seen a mile away, others were somewhat surprising, which I appreciated.

The cast was at least decent and probably slightly better than that. I'm not a big Jason Bateman guy, but he's at his best when he is playing the incredulous guy to more over-the-top characters. This film gives him ample opportunity to play in his wheelhouse. Rachel McAdams is solid as his wife. She's a good actress and elevates the character more than another actress would have been able to. Kyle Chandler is in great form, bringing energy and glee to his character. Sharon Hogan felt surprisingly bland next to the other characters. I'm not sure what happened there, but she wasn't very interesting. Billy Magnussen had a few great moments, but his dumb routine didn't always work. His performance was fine outside of those few solid scenes. Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury worked well together. Jesse Plemons added a weird but fairly decent supporting performance. I loved seeing Michael C. Hall in a small role, Danny Houston was wasted, Chelsea Peretti added a few laughs and I loved the too-small uncredited role of Jeffrey Wright. The film brought some good talent to the table.

I was a big fan of the work directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein did on the Vacation reboot/sequel. That was a truly funny, entertaining film. Game Night doesn't reach those heights, but there's not a lot to complain about when you get a decent comedy movie. I have to say, even though this isn't a good movie, it gets pretty close. Daley and Goldstein are directors to watch. They handled a fairly weak script as well as could be expected and elevated the material. In another director's hands, this movie would have been awful. I do give them some credit for the work they did, noting that they were hampered by the script.

Game Night doesn't do quite enough right for me to consider it a solid movie, but it's still better than a lot of comedies we get these days. It has a number of funny sequences and entertains slightly more than it doesn't. You can certainly find better comedies, but this won't be a waste of your time.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Vacation, Office Christmas Party