Have I ever mentioned how much I love Jason Bateman comedies? Horrible Bosses and The Change Up are 2 of my favourite movies of all time, and I’m also a big fan of board games and game nights in general so you can imagine how gutted I was to miss the cinema release of Game Night! It was just one of those incidents where plans were made, the showtimes didn’t work, and then by the time the plans are made again, it’s not in the cinema anymore.
Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) met at a quiz night, fell in love, and hosted a weekly game night for their friends ever since. Things get tense when Max’s extremely successful brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) comes to visit, and suggests hosting the ultimate game night at his rented accommodation. It’s a murder mystery night where one of the group will be kidnapped, but things take a strange turn…
Sadly if you’ve seen the trailer you’ll know what that turn is, but although it gives away far too much of the story (in my opinion anyway) there’s still a lot of fun to be had, and plenty of surprises along the way. There’s always that fear with comedies that all the good jokes are in the trailer, leaving nothing left, but I found loads more to laugh at this time around.
If you’re a fan of American sitcoms like I am then there’s also a lot of familiar faces to spot which I always find fun. Jason Bateman gives you exactly what you would expect, but the show-stealer this time round was without a doubt Max’s weird neighbour Gary (Jesse Plemons Am I the only one who had to do a double take to check he wasn’t actually Matt Damon?
Anyway, Gary used to be a part of Max’s weekly game nights but when he split from his wife the group started to avoid him (because he’s quite weird), leaving the gang having to creep into the house so as not to make Gary suspicious.
Despite all of this though, there’s just something stopping Game Night from being up there with the ultimate comedies for me. Perhaps its a movie that will grow on me more and more, as I’ll definitely be rewatching it at some point, but maybe it’s just that I had to wait so long to see it. It’s still a great comedy by all counts of course!
I feel like the last 20 or so minutes is where most of the real enjoyment is, and if you’ve already seen Game Night you’ll know why. I wondered how many times the movie was going to turn the tables on us! It gets a solid 4 out of 5 squeaky dog toys from me.
Nice Review, i reluctantly gave this a go, mainly because i dislike most comedies, Gary and Billy Mangussen (The one that brings a different date) were my favourite characters
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Thanks Darren! Did you end up enjoying it in the end?
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Yes I did, i likes all the characters which is strange too
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I adore this movie so much. I laughed so hard I thought it was over for me.
Glad you liked it!!
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I need to see it again and soon I think. It’s going to be one of those that grows on you every time you see it, I know it.
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I’ve got this in my Netflix queue and will check it out soon. It’s not something I was going to rush out to theaters to see.
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I really hope you like it when you get around to it!
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This has been one of my favorite comedies of the year so far. Bateman and McAdams are so good together. It is great to see McAdams in a comedy again.
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They bounce off each other really well! I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy it more on a re-watch you know.
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Plemmons ain’t an idiotic pig so no he is not Matt Damon 🙂 Really liked this movie. I was dying at “Eyes Wide Fight Club” line
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Haha! Yes that bit was brilliant. The pair of them gagging at Bateman’s bullet wound was what had me crying. I think I like this movie the more I think about it to be honest!
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Hi! I agree, the comedic banter in this movie is on fire, but true it’s not going to be a top classic comedy movie. Also I personally was bothered by these weird moments where Rachel McAdams was given dialogue that made her sound dumb . . . how was that necessary? Still, the credit sequence in Gary’s basement was absolutely incredible.
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You know, I didn’t really pick up on that dialogue but now you’ve said it there were some really odd lines!
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