IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (J.. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review
Game Night [2018] (codirected by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, screenplay by Mark Perez) is an amiably goofy comedy about a 30 something couple of (mostly old-school board) game fanatics -- Max (played by Justin Bateman) and Annie (played by Rachel McAdams) who literally met at a collage scrabble (or what-not) tournament and began to date after "becoming allies" one evening after playing Risk with friends. "Oh come on, Alliances never last" warned their friends ... Yet, they took their Alliance all the way to the Altar and 10 years later, seem to be as happy as ever, their weekly "Game Night" with friends being the cement of their relationship.
Okay the premise is rather corny and though the two love gaming, neither seems to "need to win." Instead, they seem to "game" for literally for "the love of the game" (almost any game). Moreover the circle of friends with which they game seems to be of the same spirit. As such, though nerdy, the characters, even at their nerdiest -- and neighbor cop, still smarting over why his wife left him, Gary (played wonderfully by Jesse Plemons) is one heck of a slow-moving nerd -- remain fundamentally like-able.
Their quaint if fundamentally happy existence is rattled, a bit, with the re-entry of Max's far cooler and apparently far more successful brother Brooks (played by Kyle Chandler). Now, HE'S super competitive and so soon after he arrives HE invites Max, Annie and their group to HIS (much larger than Max/Annie's) house for the next "Game Night" where he promises to take their quaint weekly night of gaming "up a notch."
When they arrive, it appears that Brooks had set-up for them an "evening murder mystery" game, 'cept ... of course Brooks _isn't_ what he seems. Yes, he has a lot of money, but it isn't because "he invested in Panera" really "early in the game." Instead, he has apparently several groups of mobsters chasing after him. SO ... this initially "friendly evening murder mystery game" begins to blend reality and fiction in ways that both take the story somewhere and ... at times gets confusing (how many groups of mobsters were after him, and why?).
Still, as experienced gamers, it turns out that Max and Annie and friends become what Brooks really needs in this moment of crisis and confusion (even he might not have fully realized how many baddies were after him).
It all makes for a kinda fun, and generally harmless movie, though some of the jokes are definitely geared to an R-rated audience. And so, it's not necessarily a bad film for a "date night," but leave the kids at home ;-)
A pretty job folks! Pretty good job!
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