* * * 1/2
Game Night walks quite the tightrope. Not only is it a comedy, but
it doubles as a mystery-thriller
with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. The
balancing act of being a comedy and a thriller is not only risky but also
difficult: it could be too easy to be so focused on being funny that it
completely forgets to be thrilling (and vice versa). The purpose of comedy is
to produce laughter, and for laughter to occur, something must be amusing. On
the other end, for a thriller to work, the audience needs to feel like there is
something at stake – something must be taken seriously to a degree.
This is a difficult and
outrageous balancing act, but Game Night manages
to walk the tightrope from start to finish, fully aware of the wackiness of its scenario (which it revels in). Yes, it walks a few unsteady steps, but
it always walks with good-humored confidence.
Jason Bateman and Rachel
McAdams take the lead as Max and Annie, a couple brought together by gaming. In
an adorable montage, we see the progression of their romance through trivia nights,
board games, card games, and arcades (at their wedding, they play a round of
Dance Dance Revolution in place of the typical newlywed’s dance). Cut to present:
still gamers, they host weekly game nights at their house.
They are trying to conceive a
child, but with no luck because of Max’s low sperm count, seemingly due to the
stress of his competitive nature. To add to his stress, his brother Brooks
(Kyle Chandler) is in town. Brooks is everything Max wants to be – successful,
stylish, even drives a Sting Ray (Max’s dream car). When Brooks shows up for
weekly game night, he shamelessly recounts embarrassing childhood stories at
Max’s expense.
Then Brooks has an idea: game night
at his place next week, where he will host a murder mystery party. Before the
game starts, Brooks announces that he will be kidnapped, and the players will
not know what is real and what is part of the game…all of this is discussed
just before a pair of armed thugs barge in and take Brooks away by force. From
this point forward, Game Night becomes
a zany snafu of a plot.
Probably the biggest reason Game Night works so well is because of
its characters. We are treated to three wonderful comedy duos. We’ve already addressed
Bateman and McAdams. Alongside them, we have Ryan (Billy Magnussen), a
plot-lost dimwit who brings a different date to game night each week. This week,
his date is Sarah (Sharon Horgan), a businesswoman – she is also British, so
that means she’s smart (according to Ryan, anyway). And then there is Kevin and
Michelle (Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury). They have been together since
middle school, but trouble in paradise begins when it is discovered that
Michelle may or may not have slept with a celebrity at some point. This will
become their main concern for the rest of the evening.
While it is clear that Bateman
and McAdams were most intended for the spotlight, nobody is overshadowed. All
three of these duos are funny and electrifying, and the two in each party
complement the other so well. Thanks to Game
Night’s great sense of pacing, there are always antics to look forward to with
each duo.
The antics are wonderful and hilarious,
and it’s all fueled by Game Night’s great
sense of dramatic irony. It is evident right from the start that there is
something deeper and more sinister going on than simply a game, in spite of
Brooks’ glitzy promises regarding the game (he apparently invested a ton of
money for the murder mystery). For the players, though, everything is part of
the game for them. Jealous Max even gets some enjoyment in seeing Brooks
roughed up and kidnapped (albeit, simulated – at first, anyway).
Seeing these characters
blamelessly clueless in a serious situation is a promising setup, and it pays
off – the scene that got me is when Max and an armed Annie enter a bar and
playfully hold the kidnappers hostage (I was laughing out loud when Annie
guides them to the ground by way of a yoga pose). As you might imagine, the
humor in Game Night is dark – the hilarious
bullet-removal scene (featured in the trailer) is pretty much the epitome of Game Night’s sense of humor. But it is never
overbearingly dark to the point of discomfort.
If there is anything that
doesn’t quite work, it is undoubtedly in Game
Night’s frequent movie referencing as a joke resort. At best, sometimes it’s
amusing (seeing McAdams reenact Pulp
Fiction’s Amanda Plummer was cute), but this is rare. Otherwise, it is not
only obnoxiously pandering but also forced beyond belief.
Game Night runs on an outrageous premise that requires a lot of verisimilitude
from the viewer. Fortunately, this was not a problem through most of the movie,
but the film’s final act was stretches the suspension of disbelief a bit too
far with its high speed chase and subsequent cat-and-mouse hijinks on a runway,
things I don’t see any of our colorful cast being capable of. While it might be
unbelievable, it wasn’t enough to distract from the fun factor that ran throughout
the movie.
Nowhere to go tonight? No
festivities to be had, or maybe indecisive in your plans for tonight’s
entertainment? If you’ve got nowhere to go, do yourself a favor and make a trip
to your local theater for Game Night.
And for those of you with evening
plans; don’t throw them out by any means, but consider rolling the dice with an
unplanned trip to the movies, because there is nothing but fun to be had with Game Night, an outrageous, clever, and –
most importantly – hilarious movie.
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