Game Night is a 2018 Comedy/Mystery movie and stars Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams as couple Max and Annie who are huge fans of various games, board games, pub quizzes and video games, if you can play it they love it. It tells the story of the couple as they play their way through various game nights with friends and colleagues. Until one day Max’s brother Brooks played by Kyle Chandler shows up to host his very own game night that seems all a little too real.
I saw the trailer to this movie and instantly it hooked me in, it was funny and the concept was great and it didn’t give too much away to ruin the whole movie, and watching the movie I can say that is a great comedy movie and i’ll tell you why.
First of all the performances, Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are great in this movie both are really funny, their chemistry is great and the banter between the two of them make you believe that these two are actually a couple. Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury are also great as a duo with a running joke between them about Denzel Washington ( i won’t spoil it) but it served some great gags. For me the stand out performances come from Billy Magnussen and Jesse Plemons, first of all Billy who plays Ryan. Now Ryan is the cheeky guy of the friend group and everything that comes out of his mouth had me laughing, his joke delivery and his little afterward giggles is like he is a child who has just heard the word ‘Boobies’ for the first time, he just makes one of the most memorable characters in this movie especially with his back and forth back handed compliments and insults with Sharon Horgan’s character Sarah just makes for such a good time. Jesse Clemons plays Gary, a police officer who the group sees as a little odd and they go all out to avoid him joining in at Game Night. Now I can’t say much about this character but he has the best story arc of the film.
The plot and story is very cleverly written all throughout the movie once Brooks game night starts you are left wondering what is real and what is fake, even though some of it does seem pretty on the nose that it is the ‘real deal’ but you can’t help but wonder if it is all a set-up and the screenplay is a prime example of clever writing.
The way the movie is shot is also pretty great; it uses all sorts of different shots including one long shot of the group trying to steal a diamond encrusted egg which isn’t something to expect to see in a comedy movie but the shot was really impressive. It also uses long aerial shots that make the world scenery look like it is a board game which was also a nice little subtle touch.
I think the movie does lose some of its appeal on a second viewing, as even though the jokes hold up and are funny, the biggest thing the movie has going for it is the twists and when you know what is going to happen it is quite as entertaining but it’s hard to find a film that is as good the very first viewing replay upon replay. However upon first viewing i actually think it has some of the best twists even though they are made for a comedic purpose rather than a revelation they’re really great to see for the first time.
Final Score.
Title:Great
Game Night is a smart comedy movie and an even smarter mystery, with great gags and really enjoyable performances, and if you suck at real life game nights this is definitely better than sucking up a loss.
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