Game Night movie review

Here's what you need to know; Max and Annie, having been married happily for several years, are ready to take their relationship to the next level, but are struggling due to Max's feelings of inadequacy to his more successful brother Brooks. To sate their highly competitive nature, they host weekly game nights with their friends, but tonight's game night is going to be different, as Brooks is hosting, as has found himself in the crosshairs of a gang of deadly criminals. Now with their lives on the line, and not knowing what to believe, it will indeed be a game night to remember.
I really should get used to this; going to the cinema to see films that aren't really on my radar, as once again it was my dad's idea. However, the reason that I said I should get used to it, and not stop agreeing to go is fairly simple, so far he hasn't recommended a bad film. But is this time going to be different, let's see.

Game Night's introduction, as is expected, introduces the audience to its main characters, but what I found cool was how effectively and how sweetly (kill me) it did it. The relationship between Jason Bateman's Max and Rachel McAdams' Annie is immediately likable, as are they, their chemistry is positively adorable, and both work off each other very effectively in the comedic scenes. What surprised me was how hard I was laughing for a sizable amount of this film, and a lot of that's down to the comedy being smart and well written, but it's equally down to fantastic execution; the creepy neighbour character could have been one of the many things that brought this film down, instead his awkwardness and unsettling demeanour is really funny, the discomfort Max and Annie feel around him is darkly funny, and the surprising amount of development these characters get makes you at least partially sympathetic to Garry, even if he is a creep. The black couple, whose names I don't remember, could have easily fallen due to a joke that persists with them for most of the film, a joke that had a really entertaining, and surprisingly unexpected payoff. Then there's the other couple, who I also don't remember the names of; though that's more understandable since they're easily the weakest duo of the film; him being a moron was funny at times, but other times it was just an unnecessary hindrance, and while I much preferred his smarter, Irish partner, I was often watching their scenes and wanting Annie and Max to come back. The reason for that, in addition to me now probably being in love with Rachel McAdams, is just that they were really good; not only was I laughing my arse off at many of their scenes, but as I said before, their chemistry was really good, and the relationship in this film is nicely developed and very heartfelt. Easily the funniest scene in the film is those two in an alley trying to get a bullet out of Max's arm themselves, it's sounds dumb, and looks dumb if you watch the trailer, but it was fantastically executed, and has mixed in with the grizzly humour a decent amount of adorableness, I loved it.

Game Night surprised me in another way while I was watching it, the film is unpredictable. While things appear to be straight forward when the film starts, the film throws several twists and turns in at numerous points. One such twist is rather morbid, but feeds into that excellent character development that Annie and Max have, it's remarkably heartfelt, even considering the morbidity of it. And towards the end of the film, there's one big twist that's similarly morbid, and a little bit less sweet. The big twist does however recontextualise a significant amount of the film's events in a way that I obviously can't spoil. But when the film goes into its climax, with the new context of the twist, a lot of the events of the film, especially the finale, start to become far-fetched; it gets difficult to believe that all of these events could happen in a single night, by pure coincidence, as the film does a bit of an Inception with all of its fake over real over fake sequences, and it's a stretch to believe that all of the pieces miraculously fell into place without anybody dying. It's not enough to ruin the movie, far from it, but I found the film more enjoyable and intriguing for the first two thirds as opposed to the finale, even with the handful of really funny gags in said finale. A final thing that I found interesting was the way the film looked; the film was filmed very standardly in several scenes, albeit with a comedic element, but at several points the film employs miniature faking, my guess is it's to invoke thought of a board game, like Monopoly, and in the context of the twist, that makes a lot of sense, but whatever the reason, it's not something I see that often in film, and I liked it. The film also had a cool way of framing car chases, though if that technique has a name, I don't know it, again though I reckon it's to gamify the film's presentation, like the miniature faking, and if so, it works, I like it.

I had a really good time watching Game Night, it was far better than I was expecting it to be; I thought it'd be fine, instead I really enjoyed it. The film had far more character depth than I was expecting, an aspect that greatly benefits it, as it's very easy to get invested in Annie and Max, who are both extremely funny and likable characters. By comparison however, the other two couples are less entertaining, but even they were funny at times, and the film's humour is very well executed and written, resulting in a film that's as funny as it is sweet. The film does struggle in its finale though, as it strays into the realms of unbelievability, but it's not enough to spoil the film as a whole. Game Night is a lot of fun, and it's definitely worth watching.