I’m not the biggest fan of game nights in general. I’ve found people that participate fall into 2 camps: those that take the games too seriously, and those that are there for their friends and think the games are a means to an end because the games can be hokey and kinda dumb. So when a movie called Game Night was going to hit theatres, I was pretty sure the movie was going to lampoon the serious game players in really lame ways and dismissed the movie as February fodder. Then word of mouth started coming in that it was pretty great, so I thought I’d give it a shot. After seeing Game Night, I’m no closer to participating in the real thing, but I am more open to seeing movies where the premise sounds flimsy because this one delivers the laughs for days.
Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) were made for each other when at trivia they have a common knowledge of the Teletubbies. The two DDR their way into marriage, but are having issues conceiving. The pair realize that Max’s brother Brooks’s (Kyle Chandler) return home is stressing Max out and might be the problem. So they plan to cheat a little to beat Brooks at their weekly game night with couple Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury), and Ryan (Billy Magnussen) and his Instagram model of the week. However, Brooks crafts a poorly timed game night kidnapping mystery to coincide with actual kidnappers who want Brooks for nefarious purposes.
So when you try to win at a game, you usually need a good strategy, and Game Night’s success relies heavily on execution and set ups. All credit goes to the movie’s planners: directors John Francis Daley and and Johnathan Goldstein and writer Mark Perez. Great comedies usually have one or two stellar callbacks, where they reference something that will get used later in the movie. Game Night layers its callbacks from beginning to end, and sometimes drops them in out of nowhere. Perez’s story also is built around a mystery caper concept coupled with Tropic Thunder. The Tropic Thunder element of people in a real life kidnapping thinking that it isn’t keeps the setting light and sets up some fantastic jokes until the joke reaches its stellar Bateman buildup joke, where it seamlessly switches into a a mystery thriller. It’s pretty clear early on that people are withholding information from each other, but we don’t know for what reason, and how deep the rabbit hole goes, and the movie plays with the conventions of a story like this in really fun and funny ways. The directors get to spice up the story as well with some inspired ideas. The two best involve scene transitions that look like pieces of board games, and a wonderfully directed chase inside of a house that looks like one giant take as we follow the object being taken, not the characters. The improv world had hijacked comedies recently, letting people say stuff until they found the funny. Game Night proves that if you think and plan ahead of time, you can also deliver the funny in really satisfying, continuous ways.
The other part of a game night is the people you choose to spend it with, and Game Night picks the perfect ensemble here. Bateman and McAdams are dynamite together, riffing so easily off each other you feel like they’ve been doing it for years, especially in an early scene at a doctor’s office. This is as good of a use of Jason Bateman since Arrested Development, making him mostly likable and smart with just enough bite to keep the movie going. As many laughs as he gets, McAdams is even funnier, reminding me that she played Regina George at one point. Though not as Mean Girl as that role, McAdams plays the perfect foil to Bateman, trying to one up and emasculate at times but also there to remind him how much they care about each other. Oh, and she gets some of the biggest laughs in the movie, especially at an early scene in a bar. Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury are stuck in their own little movie, which is also funny with the limited screen time alotted. They have a nice easy repartee and provide a nice diversion when the stuff gets too serious. Billy Magnussen plays a better dumb blonde than any guy or girl I have seen recently, dopily throwing himself into nonsensical diversions with childlike enthusiasm. His stupidity is a nice fit across from the smarter McAdams/Bateman pairing, and his won’t they/won’t they with partner Sharon Horgan is very silly. Kyle Chandler is also pretty good playing with his straight man persona, but he’s mostly there for plot and emotional purposes. However, once you watch game night, there’s no doubt in my mind the star of the movie for everyone will be Jesse Plemons. Playing the lovesick former game night neighbor of Bateman/McAdams, Plemons channels his Breaking Bad Character chiseled into steel my a terrible divorce. The opening scenes with him are cringe inducingly hilarious, as he terrifyingly and funnily interrogates his neighbors about game night while holding his adorable dog and not breaking face. Plemons’s performance is so strange, but the actor grounds it in loss, so as weird as this guy is, we’re a little wary of him, but we’re more just sad at what his life has become. Plemons does know this is a comedy though, so he works in that hurt in very funny ways that keep you laughing while you’re going “Awww, that sucks” at the same time.
Game Night is shockingly close to being a perfect comedy. With a stellar cast, strong direction, and a well put together screenplay, the movie finds that perfect taco dip to complement its assortment of chips and vegetables. The only thing missing is a cameo alluded to in the Lamorne Morris/Kylie Burnbury discussion; if they had gotten that person, yes it would’ve changed the story, but it would’ve been a big win and icing on the Game Night cake.